- Mar 7, 2009
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Was out an about yesterday and went into Newbury Comics killing some time while my wife got a manicure (Yup - went to the local mall - God I hate malls), and low and behold I saw that Epica had released a new disc titled "Design Your Universe" produced by the band and Sascha Paeth (love his work with Kamelot and Avantasia to name a few).
While I know it may not be everyone's cup of tea per se, I do happen to like Female Fronted Symphonic Metal and this one sort of snuck up on me - I did not even realize they were back in the studio. But I'll tell you this - it's the best epica album to date. They have gone all out on this one, stepping up all the attributes one would expect in this type of music. The symphonic qualities are extravagant, the guitars are more present than ever, and Simone Simons is just incredible. I'm happy that she is choosing a less operatic voice as Epica progresses - while I like the whole operatic diva thing, I tend to like it when these women with beautiful voices just sing if you know what I mean.
Mark Jansen has crafted a combination of orchestration, soprano vocals by Simone, death metal grunts by Mark and Ariën van Weesenbeek (God Dethroned) - Mark has always been a great "Beast" in the "Beauty and the Beast" vocal styling - one of the reasons I was greatly disappointed when he left After Forever, and great guitar work brom both Mark and lead guitarist Isaac Delahaye - the guitars are really there on this album.
It's a really long disc - clocking in around 74 minutes. Stand out tracks for me are the epric (no pun intended) "Kingdom of Heaven" which starts out with heavy guitars and vocals before heading into orchestral territory with Simone's vocals. Other highlights for me are Martyr Of The Free Word and "White Waters" which has guest vocals by Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica. All the song's on this disc are rich and complex - I'm loving it as you can tell.
I like all sorts of metal and really dig heavy ass shit - but sometimes I really like beauty in my metal (odd combination but it works for me). Hope others here get to listen to it and enjoy it as much as I am.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGzltK_tlc&feature=fvw[/ame]
While I know it may not be everyone's cup of tea per se, I do happen to like Female Fronted Symphonic Metal and this one sort of snuck up on me - I did not even realize they were back in the studio. But I'll tell you this - it's the best epica album to date. They have gone all out on this one, stepping up all the attributes one would expect in this type of music. The symphonic qualities are extravagant, the guitars are more present than ever, and Simone Simons is just incredible. I'm happy that she is choosing a less operatic voice as Epica progresses - while I like the whole operatic diva thing, I tend to like it when these women with beautiful voices just sing if you know what I mean.
Mark Jansen has crafted a combination of orchestration, soprano vocals by Simone, death metal grunts by Mark and Ariën van Weesenbeek (God Dethroned) - Mark has always been a great "Beast" in the "Beauty and the Beast" vocal styling - one of the reasons I was greatly disappointed when he left After Forever, and great guitar work brom both Mark and lead guitarist Isaac Delahaye - the guitars are really there on this album.
It's a really long disc - clocking in around 74 minutes. Stand out tracks for me are the epric (no pun intended) "Kingdom of Heaven" which starts out with heavy guitars and vocals before heading into orchestral territory with Simone's vocals. Other highlights for me are Martyr Of The Free Word and "White Waters" which has guest vocals by Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica. All the song's on this disc are rich and complex - I'm loving it as you can tell.
I like all sorts of metal and really dig heavy ass shit - but sometimes I really like beauty in my metal (odd combination but it works for me). Hope others here get to listen to it and enjoy it as much as I am.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGzltK_tlc&feature=fvw[/ame]
