Interview met Fabio Lione
Fabio Lione: “I have received a proposal from another quite big band of which I cannot yet tell the name”
Begin november had ik op het Brainstorm Festival te Apeldoorn de gelegenheid om de legendarische power metal Zanger Fabio Lione even onder vier ogen te spreken. Op dat moment was de aankondiging dat hij samen met Luca Turilli en een orkest in Zuid-Amerika zijn klassieke Rhapsody repertoire ging opvoeren nog behoorlijk vers. Daar wilde ik wel wat meer van weten en er waren nog wel wat andere zaken die ik met de klassiek geschoolde krullenbol kon doornemen. Lees hieronder het resultaat.
Jori van de Worp Ι 19 december 2025
Thanks for taking some time for us before the show Fabio. How are you?
Good, good, thanks! We did seven shows in for example Spain and Paris, now we have five to go. Tomorrow we will play Dortmund, and it’s all going well because this band is great. We also have a keyboad player now (this is Alessio Lucatti, formely of Vision Divine – Jori) and we re-recorded most of the original Rhapsody backing tracks. I did some new vocals for them and we changed some keyboards and orchestral parts, to make it just a bit different and give the fans something new.
Last time we spoke, was before the Rhapsody reunion/farewell show in 2018. A lot happened since then, so let’s take a short walk through history. First of all we could barely call it farewell. For not even a year after this tour, you kept going with Luca and created Turilli/Lione Rhapsody. Was this the plan all along or did the reunion tour spark a fire that seemed extinguished?
Actually “Zero Gravity” was supposed to be the name of the band, but we received a lot of pressure to again use the name Rhapsody. I don’t think it was a good idea. Luca wanted to make something a bit different, more animated in some kind of way. But it will always be connected to the past and the music we did. I think the record is great and totally on another level than the past Rhapsody work. Yet many fans did not understand the record, mainly because they expected something different, more similar to the past. Now this album is not medieval fantasy in any way and it’s not a saga. Even the sound is different, a more modern production. Of course there still are similar arrangements and epic orchestration and choirs, but in a different way. In my opinion it is one of the best records we ever made. It will never get boring because every song is so different, even in the way of singing. But with the name Turilli/Lione Rhapsody many people expected something different, so that’s why it might have been better to call the band Zero Gravity like we meant to. The most important thing is that it is a great record and there are many people who love it.
That includes me. So now, with the album six years old you suddenly start playing with Luca again. Playing these orchestral shows in South-America.
Yes, we announced two shows, big shows with orchestra and choirs in Chile and Mexico with all the guys and Luca. I can tell you now, the show in chile is already sold out. So we reached sold out in one week, five thousand people. So I guess we will open a second show, because it is june next year and it’s already sold out. That is really great. I hope that I will have the chance to make more shows with the orchestra because it’s a specific format and also Luca liked it. It was me who received the proposal from the promotors. They told me they would really like to make it happen, with or without Luca. So they urged me to talk to Luca, and he told me that we should go for it! We received offers for Argentina, Costa Rica and Colombia so we probably have the chance to make some more.
So that is only South-America? No chance for us Europeans?
I do not think so. Luca is not interested in that, I don’t really know why but he told me that he is not interested in bringing it to Europe. Maybe if we receive some offer for Japan that might work out, but I don’t see Europe happening at the moment.
That is too bad for us then. Do you plan on creating more music together with Luca?
I don’t know. Let’s see first how these orchestral shows will work out. We have been talking ideas, something even more crazy and more varied than Zero Gravity, with less connection to the past. I hope we can really do something with this because I like to experiment and mix styles together like metal, progressive, rap, you know, whatever. If we will make a new record, this will probably be the idea.
Your latest album with Angra is called ‘Cycles of Pain’ and that is not an empty title. Many people in the band sufered tragedies leading up to this record. There is the passing of former frontman André Matos, deaths in the family of guitarist Rafael Bittencourt, the Covid pandemic and how it hit Brazil. How is your relation to this album?
I believe that ‘Cycles of Pain’ is is one of the best records of the band. Of course there is the iconic album ‘Holy Land’ and personally I really like ‘Temple of Shadows’, even though listening it from beginning to end is heavy because it’s a lot of information. Add ‘Rebirth’ and ‘Cycles of Pain’, these are the four Angra albums I think are the best. I would add ‘Angels Cry’ after that, it is an early album and not very mature yet. But ‘Cycles of Pain’ is really various. Every song is different, the production is great and there is not a single weak song on it. And everybody in the band helped compose the album. I was more involved than before, I composed about 80% of the lines and helped Raphael write lyrics for five songs. I feel really proud about this record and the reaction of the fans was really good.
Angra is currently on a hiatus, what do you know about the current state of the band?
We are taking a break after releasing ‘Cycles of Pain’, but also after the 20 years ‘Temple of Shadows’ tour. We released the live DVD of our acoustic show. So we did many things in the same year so I guess now the band has the right to rest a bit and has to think about future movements. We even talked to Kiko (Loureiro, former Angra guitarist and keyboardist – Jori) about him making an appearance in some special shows. Hopefully we have some news the coming time.
Athena XIX’s return with ‘Everflow Part 1: Frames of Humanity’ surprised many. What drew you back to this project after so many years?
Actually this was my first band ever, all friends from almost the same city in Tuscany. And five crazy guys, we are not able to write something simple.You know, we are kind of crazy musicians. And we always stayed in contact during these years and we always wanted to make something new. So this work, in my opinion, is really something unique. Unfortunately, most of the people don’t know the band because the band was not doing anything for 20 years. The band does not have much opportunity to promote itself, but that is not so important. We made this album first for ourselves as mucicians. Then, if the fans like it, we will be happy. If not, it does not matter. Everybody in the band has normal daytime jobs, except for the keyboard player and me who just do music. So it will be hard to do anything like touring so there are not many ambitions. We received a lot of great reactions, but not everybody will understand the record, it is quite complicated. I think it is one of the best records I have ever don’t simply because it is not commercial in any way. Even the way of singing is different sompared to Rhapsody or Angra. Maybe we could have done some more commercial and more accessible songs and something like a single, but that should be a band decision.
Well, there is always room for a ‘Part 2’.
Actually we have five songs almost done. But the point is that everybody is busy so I don’t know how much time we will need, I don’t think we will need another 20 years but for sure we need time. But five songs are almost done for the second part.
In the meantime you’re bringing your Rhapsody legacy back to life with Fabio Leone’s Dawn of Victory. After the reunion and Luca Turulli’s Rhapsody, I hear comments that you might have regrets for leaving Rhapsody in the first place? Do I strike near the mark?
Well, actually it’s complicated because I am not the main composer of most of the music, but a lot of fans don’t care about this. They want to hear the songs with the original singer, drummer, bass player, second guitar player, now we have also a keyboard player and some shows with Luca. I love to sing this stuff. It’s part of my life and I think that everybody of the guys have the right to play these songs. They were playing these songs for 20 years or more. So that’s nothing to do with the current Rhapsody Of Fire. Everybody’s doing what they want. And Rhapsody of Fire are not playing so much old stuff on their shows. Maybe four or five and the rest is their new material. Many fans still want to hear the first records of the band and they play about four songs of this. So I don’t see any problem if we want to keep the legacy alive and even record some new material, why not?
And what do you think the name of that new material might be? I mean, will you release it under another Rhapsody-name or something completely different?
I will not use the word Rhapsody, but we have something. I already have an intro that is amazing. So we are thinking to wait a bit and write some material, why not?
Where do you see yourself in like say five years as a musician?
I am doing quite a lot of shows with this Dawn of Victory band now. And I have received a proposal from another quite big band of which I cannot yet tell the name. I think I will do a lot of solo stuff now because I love to do this. I might consider a solo album because I was never able to do this until now. I left Rhapsody of Fire and then I thought about doing this. Then the guys from Kamelot called after Roy Khan left and then I spent a year on Kamelot. After that Angra called and I am with them for 13 years now. I have some of the ideas I had for that solo record on ‘Cycles of Pain’ now, the same for Vision Divine and Turilli/Lione Rhapsody. So I could have had something like this done by now if I did not give my ideas for those albums but I was happy to do so. But still, I would like to have a solo record at some time in my carreer. But it will cost time and it will go easier if I won’t be so busy with other bands.
And solo ideas that might be in the sphere more of the power metal stuff or more of the Athena 19 stuff or maybe something completely different?
My soul is more like progressive, so the direction will be more Athena than Rhapsody. But I would like it to be more various than my work with other bands. So like maybe one Italian song, one pop rock song, one kind of power metal, why not? But it’s boring for me to make a complete record like this. You don’t need 11 or 12 power metal songs. You just need one or two good ones.
That was everything I could possibly ask you, so thanks! Anything you would like to add to the Dutch and Belgian fans?
Let’s have a good time tonight and let’s that we will be back soon. maybe with new material. Hugs to everybody and thank you for your support during all these years to me and and the guys!
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