Luca Turilli

Italian heavy metal guitarist Luca Turilli is quite an anomaly. Born in Trieste, Italy on March 5, 1972, Turilli is right in the Gen-X demographic but is totally untouched by alternative metal trends of ‘90s and 2000s. Turilli's specialty is ‘70s/'80s-style fantasy metal with a strong progressive rock influence; bands like Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche and Savatage are primary influences, and he hasn't hesitated to incorporate elements of Rush, Yes and Genesis as well as European classical music. Turilli's fantasy-based lyrics--which thrive on dungeons-and-dragons imagery--are right out of the Jimmie Carter and Ronald Reagan years. Clearly, Turilli is a Gen-X-er with very Baby Boomer tastes--and he does all this without the least bit of irony. The guitarist comes across as someone who lives and breathes classic fantasy metal and progressive rock; his age puts him in metal's Ministry/Soundgarden/Monster Magnet demographic, but his rock tastes are pure Baby Boomer all the way. Turilli, however, has never listened to rock exclusively. His father was a classical cellist, which explains why he grew up listening to European classical music extensively. Turilli--who has often cited Frédéric Chopin as his favorite classical composer but is also a major admirer of Johann Sebastian Bach, Niccoló Paganini and Antonio Vivaldi--studied classical flute and piano as a kid and didn't seriously study the guitar until he was 16. Turilli was 21 when he formed the band Thundercross in 1993, and he co-founded the Italian metal outfit Rhapsody with keyboardist Alex Staropoli around 1996. Sporting a look and a sound that were right out the ‘70s and ‘80s, Rhapsody (not to be confused with a new age act that was active in the ‘90s) was totally retro. Although not as well known in the United States...