Gig Review: Rhapsody of Fire @ Brooklyn Monarch

In the time separating Alestorm, Cannibal Corpse, and Lorna Shore in the coming weeks, this autumn is absolutely overflowing with the premier Halloween season tours. Fall’s looking formidable, but we needed to inflate metal’s sing-song style in our lives while challenging the wind. Some of us caught Rhapsody of Fire, celebrating twenty-five years of Dawn of Victory, as the mercury began to dip throughout September. That’s not to say that Striker, Witherfall, and Enforcer didn’t bring the wavering, crushing speediness right back with those who turned up, and we certainly didn’t need to complain about that. The last stop was the Brooklyn Monarch, where we found older fans and those discovering metal, and we were ready for an incredible journey. The last date of a tour is usually one of the best for a night of traditional metal, and getting to witness some end-of-tour antics happening on stage between the support bands was also a treat.

Like getting smacked in the cranium with a powered-up hockey puck, the only way to kick off this final gambit of the trek, an absolutely hammering half-hour-plus set from Canada’s speedy Striker, our undivided attention was fully locked in. They started with Best of the Best of the Best, pummeling the early throng of retroactive metal fans, where the band began their escapades by japing the crowd with an improvisational match of backyard wrestling for the title bout between some members of the road crew. And on the other end of the musical theatre spectrum, we had a blast hurtling along with seven all-out bangers like Blood Magic, Ready for Anything, and Former Glory. Slinging some of the era’s best time-honored music à la the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, Striker delivered a world-class example of fast-paced canuk heaviness from Dan Cleary (vocals), the twin-axe attack of Timothy Brown and John Simon Fallon, bassist Pete Klassen, including their live drummer Gord Alexander to show Brooklyn that they are a Ford GT in a live setting. But Striker was just the beginning of an overarching night of sacred music. Throwing down one more reversal in Phoenix Lights, they went full speed ahead to sweep the swarm of golden-eared metal fans into the avalanche of Witherfall.

Striker photos by Mathieu Bredeau @ Brooklyn Monarch on 9/25/2025

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

Sinister or icy, Witherfall’s style chooses both—they who conveyed some hazy power-prog with their half-hour-plus time on stage—as a shadow force of a quintet. How does one band find the soundness to stand out and engage with an otherwise uptempo bevy of fans of the more sing-along, anthemic style of metal? For this ominous quintet, it is simply letting the music take its course. Witherfall conveys musical strokes of astonishing dark art that rise when Witherfall and their spectators are together in a room. The songs on Witherfall’s set list revamped the vibe of an overall four-star, noisy end to a supersonic tour, but without sounding miserable. Witherfall threaded together five bone-chilling songs in the names of set-opener, They Will Let You Down, the gargantuan astral barrage of Insidious, and it was a comedy of errors as the tour wrap-up pranks continued for what can I can best describe as a Trailer Park Boys version of the last supper hosted by Striker’s Timothy Brown and Pete Klassen playing Uno while drinking wine as a few members of the crew dressed up in Buc-ee’s onesies during Moment of Silence.

Joseph Michael, as much of an infernal martyr that he is to vocally bring his spectral Warrel Dane-influenced trills to the core of the band, even with his magnetic power, lost his articulation throughout Moment of Silence, offering glimpses into a shared sense of humor with the audience during Striker’s rollick, resulting in a hilarious payoff, showcasing camaraderie between bands. In addition to Joseph Michael blessing us with mystifying pipes, Witherfall features four other supreme professionals – Anthony Crawford keeping it locked in the bottom end with Chris Tsaganeas’ thunderous percussion and Gerry Hirshfeld stinging the electronic ivories while strumming alongside the unmistakable Jake Dreyer, who brought it all together in deadly phantom harmony. You can definitely notice the metallic side of prog in their sound—complete with respect to the greats like Devin Townsend and Dream Theater and clear, outrageous vocals from Joseph—but there’s an intense heaviness in the crunch factor of Jake’s riffs, as well as the benefit of not sounding overly grandiose.

Witherfall gives those who show up to see them their money’s worth, beckoning bystanders into the boundless performance that is about to unfold. Nevertheless, all five members set you up for an execution of haunting, technical tension and high-caliber, awe-inspiring musicianship. For their final eleven minutes before it was time for a wild heavy metal rager from Enforcer, Witherfall chilled out their set with the final Iced Earth influenced tour de force of the menacing Vintage, and in timely devotion to Peter Steele of Brooklyn’s Type O Negative during this SPOoOOooOooOOOOOoOoky time of the year. Never a group to rely on technical noodling, give Witherfall a listen if you’re into the varied avenues of progressive metal, like Nevermore or Savatage. They are as compelling live as they are in the studio.

Drawing inspiration from Mexico City’s El Chopo metal flea market, if you attend a gig at a club in Brooklyn and are in the mood to spend some additional merch money for something other than a few favorite items from the official merch stands, be on the lookout for the Rock and Metal collection merch area. Patches featuring Acid Bath, Mercyful Fate, or even Taco Bell? Wall tapestries donning the artwork of a Judas Priest or a Sepultura album cover? Pop Figures of your favorite metal icons? You want it? It is all yours, my friends, as long as you have enough rupees.

Witherfall photos by Mathieu Bredeau @ Brooklyn Monarch on 9/25/2025

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

After Witherfall more than captivated Brooklyn with their Helstar-like expertise to briefly subdue the concert, Sweden’s Enforcer was about to distill the balance of the gig as the penultimate raiders of the night: bright, classy, restless, the exuberant mad-lads burst onto the stage and tore into Destroyer. Crushing our souls and breaking our necks, disguised as the integral connection between music and the gathering of an now-erupting audience – featuring the central eyewall of crowd surfing and slam-dancing at the event. Dressed in leather, one of the leaders of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, the two of the literal brothers in metal, guitarist and vocalist Olof Wikstrand, Jonas Wikstrand on the drums to unleash the inferno with guitarist Jonathan Nordwall and bassist/lone American band member, Garth Condit, the firey foursome went above and beyond deliver the goods for forty-eight unflinching minutes.

Enforcer could not have been more thrilled to supply us with a punchy, mixed bag set-list — catchy in their own right. Their set highlighted ten gemstones in Mesmerized by Fiiiiireeeee, new cuts like Unshakle Me, and what started with Striker causing mischief at the start of the show, secondly pranking Witherfall, the end of a September long journey concluded with one final gag from the supporting band members as a dramatis personae between some of Striker and Witherfall with a few of the navigators throughout this U.S. circuit donned their finest novelty mustaches to aid in the background vocals during From Beyond! Both as artists and as fans of one of music’s greatest singers, Enforcer also honored Dio’s legacy, fronting Black Sabbath with a cover of Die Young in the middle of a charged set.

Enforcer photos by Mathieu Bredeau @ Brooklyn Monarch on 9/25/2025

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

Based on the band’s revisionist, self-defined mission to crush our souls and break our necks with some true heavy metal style, a celebration of the genre they helped revive and nod to alongside their Canadian brethren in Striker – Enforcer makes metal for the diehards. Before the gloriously all-encompassing might of Rhapsody of Fire took the Brooklyn Monarch’s stage for the final incineration, the ethereal, four-sided affair sent electric chills down the collective spines one more time with Midnight Vice. Enforcer’s sound is as dangerous as it is unmistakable. A magma storm of twin leads, an ironbound lower edge, Rob Halford-style piercing vocals, and a ceaseless drive to their craft have made them one of the most genuine and heated bands to see live today. Watch out: Enforcer has you in their grasp!

After more than two hours of bombastic music, a multitude of fans for glorious music took an intermission to start another round or have a late dinner of chicken tenders with fries courtesy of the Brooklyn Monarch’s kitchen before getting ready for the featured presentation – an hour and thirty minutes of Italian, epic, Hollywood metal. Rhapsody of Fire! The operatic cadence of the late Christopher Lee set the mood to introduce the melodious journey ahead as the five conductors of symphonic metal graced the house with their holy presence and began the final journey of their 2025 U.S. excursion, telling tales of dungeons, dragons, kings, elves, and epic battles of good vs. evil with Unholy Warcry. To harness the power of their live show, and started with a helluva of an opener, the Brooklyn Monarch, band included, with Rhapsody of Fire’s maestro keyboardest – Alex Staropoli – at the helm burned up the heart of Williamsburg, with exquisite new songs like Challenge the Wind dedicated to sir Christopher Lee and five rarities landing on the commemorative twenty-fifth anniversary of the Dawn of Victory album, in glamorous spirit of five deep cuts that included the title song, The Village of Dwarvs, and Holy Thunderforce revealing the group’s classy celebration that will continue over in Europe until mid-December.

As someone who’s been there since Rhapsody (of Fire) took the power metal and live stages, like a mystical fire in the wake of their eternally hailed and great 1997 debut Legendary Tales via Alex Staropoli, fans have welcomed Alex reaching for new horizons with his most consistant lineup to date, Roberto De Micheli plucking the wires that vibrate with Alessandro Sala and Paolo Marchesich holding down the groove of bass and drum heroics, plus choir-like vocals from Giacomo Voli. Giacomo is a unique singer to provide an embarrassment of fresh, melodic, soaring metal riches happening in the midst of interacting with the crowd, by jumping into the pit to vocally engage with some of the moshketeers during Chains of Destiny, of course, but entered the cyclone a final time during A New Saga Begins as R.o.F. happen to be bestowing the first three encores unto Brooklyn. These masters of spirit and song initiated the final two-song ignition of a stacked spectacle of their American expedition with Land of Immortals and, of course, the title of the last song, Emerald Sword, and that meant a standalone stunt, where the stalwarts of this statewide quest engaged in a thematically fitting inflatable sword fight to disarm a historical night of metal, unity, and triumph. By the end of their fiery trials, I’m sure they almost felt the need to shout ‘bravo, bravo, another encore’ and see roses thrown towards the stage. Each song had its own distinct personality, although Rhapsody of Fire has created a unique identity that is often duplicated but never replicated by a few other bands in the realm of power metal.

A hydra of billing like this was custom-built for fans like you and me for maximum metal madness. Rhapsody of Fire, Enforcer, Witherfall, and Striker all contributed to our hearing damage, while continuing to entertain us with some special on-stage tomfoolery throughout the night. All four bands fired up the Brooklyn Monarch, and we had an absolute blast with the talent! Metal ruled in New York! However, if this tour doesn’t make it to your area, each act is a lifelong road warrior, so know that you’ll eventually see everyone again. As long as people keep showing up, it’s very easy to see them live on a metal package event like maybe the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, a club headlining run, or genre-specific cruises like 70000 Tons of Metal—the only seasick fiesta anywhere in the world where these groups will perform together on one deck. As for Rhapsody of Fire, it might take a minute until they tour the States again, but fret not. We will see them again in 2027 to celebrate their stellar thirty-year legacy in America and Canada, without the need to sell feet pictures or a kidney on the black market, so that you can witness an overseas performance before then. As for yours truly, I needed a little more heavy music, so I traveled to a beautiful shed in the Garden State for a night of southern fried doom, British steel, and bloodsoaked Americana from Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, and Corrosion of Conformity!

Rhapsody of Fire photos by Mathieu Bredeau @ Brooklyn Monarch on 9/25/2025

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

Now that the long-awaited Rhapsody of Fire tour with Enforcer, Witherfall, and Striker has come to a close, Metal Insider contributor Mar Morannon captured the September 18th, 2025, stop at The Forge in Joliet, IL. Check out the photo galleries below: