The Eighth Mountain
# The Eighth Mountain

The Eighth Mountain is the twelfth studio album by Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. It was released on 22 February 2019 via AFM Records.

The album is the first chapter for a new saga, written by Alex Staropoli and Roberto De Micheli, entitled The Nephilim's Empire Saga. It is the first saga not written by Luca Turilli, who had left the band in 2011. It is also the first studio album without vocalist Fabio Lione, and the first without longtime drummer Alex Holzwarth since 1998's Symphony of Enchanted Lands. They were replaced by Giacomo Voli and Manu Lotter respectively, though it would be the only studio album with drummer Manu Lotter.

A music video for "Rain of Fury" was released on 11 January 2019.

## Concept

The posthumous narration by the late Christopher Lee at the end of the album explains the concept:

   "In ages past, the Nephilim Empire ruled the earth. But they fell from grace. Once their slaves, humanity rose up, and defeated their gods. The Nephilim were purged from the earth and banished to the darkness. For centuries they watched and waited. The Nephilim Empire would one day rise again. And when they rose from the ashes, they formed an alliance with a highly evolved race, known as The Konstrukts. Together, they wiped out every last remnant of Homo sapiens DNA. Despite the genocide, the dream of humanity would rise again. Time flows like a river, but there are many streams. The end of flesh is come before me, for the Empire is filled with violence and hatred. Behold, I will destroy the Empire and those within. I am become death, the destroyer of worlds!"

## Track listing

All lyrics are written by Giacomo Voli, Roberto de Micheli and Alex Staropoli; all music is composed by Alex Staropoli and Roberto de Micheli.

## Personnel

Credits for The Eighth Mountain adapted from liner notes.

Rhapsody of Fire

* Alex Staropoli – keyboards, production, engineer, recording, orchestra and choir arrangements, songwriting, lyrics
* Roberto De Micheli – guitars, songwriting, lyrics
* Alessandro Sala – bass
* Giacomo Voli – lead vocals, lyrics
* Manu Lotter – drums

Additional personnel

* Christopher Lee – posthumous narration on track 12
* Manuel Staropoli – flute, oboe
* Manuel Tomadin – harpsichord
* Vito Lo Re – orchestra conductor, scoring
* Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra – orchestra

Choir

* Alex Mari, Angelo Guidetti, Beatrice Bini, Chiara Tricarico, Enrico Correggia, Fabio Sambenini, Gabriele Gozzi, Marco Vincini, Monica Marozzi, Niccolò Porcedda, Raffaele Albanese, Stefano Ciceri, Stefano Corradini

Production

* Karsten Koch – photography
* Alex Charleux – cover art
* Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann – engineer, recording, mixing, mastering
* Marco Straccioni – recording, mixing (orchestra)
* Slav Slavtchev – orchestra contractor
* Maurizio Assenti – layout

## Charts

| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 148 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 185 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 22 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) | 88 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 118 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 25 |
