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The Phantom Agony
Epica
CD
I had high expectations of Epica´s debut album, because Mark Jansen is one lf my favourite musicians, and I really enjoyed his work with After Forever. I think he’s a very gifted songwriter. From the beginning on I was interested in the promising Epica, so I got myself the album. And it opened my eyes to a total new dimension of music…
The album opens with Adyta, a short intro and a preview of what more is to come. Its very nice to hear Epica used an orchestra and choir, instead of sampling everything. The intro is creating a bombastic sphere that will come back on the rest of the cd. A little like a movie score, which was probably the intention. I really appreciate the Latin texts, which sound good with the choir.
The song takes a run to the next one, Sensorium, which opens with a piano tune and then bursts out into a strong, heavy song. I was surprised when I heard Simone’s first appearance on the album. She uses her voice in a very different way then other (mezzo)sopranos in the genre. Beautiful though. It makes a good contrast with Mark’s grunts. A very dynamic song.
Cry for the Moon was from the first moment on my favourite song. It has a very catchy chorus, which gives a good impression of the diversity of the choir. It is really a sing along song and it sticks in your head.
The next song is a ballad called Feint. It really struck me with its beauty. Simone shows she’s got great width; she can’t only use her voice very high, but also quite low! I do think the song is better when played acoustic, but the album version is also very touching.
Illusive Consenus is a total contradiction to Feint; it immediately opens with powerful guitar riffs, and became one of Epica’s strongest live songs. But despite being a solid metal song, it doesn’t lose its beauty combining it with classical influences.
Façade of Reality is a mixture of all elements within Epica; Latin and English texts, soprano vocals and grunts, heavy guitars and the orchestra. Another masterpiece! This song also features a spoken part, which used to be part of a speech by Tony Blair. Using this was a very good choice, the speech really explains more about the subject that Façade of Reality deals with.
Run for a Fall shows two totally different sides of Epica. It starts as a ballad, very calm, and half way through the songs the band joins in and makes it a really heavy song after all. When the song is played live (which I really enjoy) it starts with waving lighters and ends in a head bangers ball.
Seif Al din stands out for its lyrics. It is really rare within the genre to write about such realistic issues, and I admire Mark’s courage to touch upon such tender strings. Musically it is – again - a loud song, with a relatively short vocal part for Simone this time. In this song there is again a spoken part, done by Amanda Sommerville.
The Phantom Agony is unfortunately the last song, It’s an epic and fascinating song with an excellent intro and outro. This songs contains many orchestra and choir parts and extraordinary vocal parts by Simone. Sometimes the music speeds up, and later slows down again, making it very nice to listen to and never boring (which is a very strong point when a song is a long as this one – nearly 10 minutes).
The two bonus songs are impressive as well. Triumph of Defeat is really like a score. It ahs no lyrics but extra space for all instrument, especially piano and guitar (Ad’s solo’s are stunning ;-)). It is a very melodic track. Veniality reminds me of Within Temptation (songs like Deceiver of Fools) a little, though shows once again that you can’t put a label on Epica´s music.
All expectations have been fulfilled, no matter how high. The music is full of contradictions and surprising new views on familiar music in an increasingly popular genre. It has all been done before, but never in the way in which Epica puts it. All borders are smashed; Epica created the perfect mixture of gothic, pop and metal. A new style is born.
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Epica, Visions of Atlantis & Sengir
Tivoli De Helling
23-11-04
A long awaited day had dawned. Since the fan meeting in Stairway to heaven (Utrecht, 26-09-04) we were curious to see Epica live again. I’ve had the pleasure to see Epica live in the intermediate time, at Metal female Voices fest 2, thanks to Mark (my eternal gratitude!), but Laura hadn’t been that fortunate. So, again it was very exciting to go to an Epica gig. We left from my place, by bicycle (sportsmanlikeJ), at about 6 o’clock. You can never be too early. While getting closer to the venue we started singing (false!) and while we were singing Façade of Reality we suddenly saw the Epica tour bus passing us by! At the venue we took a picture of it, just for fun. We saw the band struggling with the gear. Poor guys! They had just come all the way down here from Spain, I believe.
It took ages for the doors to open. And traditionally the doors opened half an hour after the time which was officially set for opening. We were inside as some of the first people. Laura went to the merchandise stand to put Mariska to work and buy an Epica hoodie (unfortunately it wasn’t opened yet) and I got our coats to the wardrobe. Then we had a little chat with Ad. We made him a banner (which said: Ad is the king!) and he promised to wave at us on stage –so we could feel quite popular. ;-P After that we settled ourselves right in front of the stage, so we would have a nice view and good pictures. Again we had to wait for a long time (damn, the waiting always makes me go berserk!) but finally Sengir started playing.
I had the pleasure of seeing them play at Metal Female Voices Fest 2, and I really liked them (though I only saw one song, but let’s not talk about that). They played a short but good set, it was a good performance. I really liked the singer (Ellen), and her extremely short skirt. We also took a picture of the very nice guitarist (hehehe ;-P) (though Ad is still our number one!) (Okay Mark, you’re our number one as well) The only thing is that they could turn up the tempo a little, which would make it a little more exciting. For the rest it was all just fine.
After even more waiting (grr) Visions of Atlantis started their set. I saw them at metal Female Voices fest 2 as well, but I can’t say I was really impressed. And I still wasn’t, this time, though I noticed the singer is way more beautiful when you’re closer to the stage (talking about the female singer, mind you). Their sound was really crappy. Nicole’s voice drowned in the music, the guitars were too loud and so was Mario’s mic. I really liked the tempo variety within the songs, and it was refreshing to hear a clean male vocal (no offence to Mark! His grunts are superb). I didn’t like the similarities with Nightwish. I clearly heard melodies like in Everdream and Nightquest, and the lyrics were quite Nightwish-like as well. It lacked originality, and no band can make a good copy of Nightwish, since they are so absolutely brilliant. And it was really a pity too that Nicole seemed afraid of the audience. She should learn to entertain, that would present her talent way better.
Finally it was time for Epica to show off with their excellent music. The first tunes of Adyta were welcomed with a huge amount of noise (my ears hurt from my own screaming). All evening it had been very cosy and comfy in the audience, but now the party could finally begin. You could feel the excitement in the air when the band entered the stage (Coen´s trying to find a way to enter the stage like a real rockstar ;-P) and kicked off with Sensorium. Simone looked really beautiful and angelic, and her voice was excellent as ever. Of course all brilliant songs of the Phantom Agony passed by, and the crowd went totally bananas with perfect songs as Cry for the Moon, Seif al Din and Façade of Reality.
Half way through the set we got an amazing acoustic version of Feint, with our favourite ‘rockstar’ Jonas Pap on cello! (I still haven’t got his signature and we still haven’t made him a banner…it’s such a shame!) Jonas must be the most popular cellist in the Netherlands; at least he’s my favourite J. We also got After Forever’s Follow in the Cry (one of the best songs they’ve ever done) with a beautiful piano intro from Coen
They also played some new material. It was my second time to hear the Last Crusade, and I was even more impressed then the first time. It’s one of the best live songs I’ve ever heard; it almost beats the After Forever composition ‘My Pledge of Allegiance part 1’! Mark has this talent to write songs, which have –being played live- no competition at all, not of any other song or band (except for Nightwish maybe J ) They’re so extremely touching and exciting, that the entire audience just goes mad. No sensitive person can listen to these kind of songs without loving them. They’re just irresistible.
They also played Quietus and Dance of Fate, from the new album. Both really good songs, nice up-tempo songs which showed that Epica´s talents and musical qualities are ever-growing. Marks grunts in Quietus are absolutely superb, the finishing touch of the song. It’s such a pity these grunts won’t be on the album version. One more reason to see Epica live even more often J. Dance of Fate is a really catchy song and gave Simone the chance to show that her vocals are just as superb as Marks. She’s got an absolutely excellent voice.
The last song was, of course, the Phantom Agony. A good ending to a brilliant concert.
After the concert we spoke to some of the band members and got some stuff signed (again). Then we had to go home. I felt like every bone in my body had broken and I had a huge headache, but I felt very satisfied. They did it again: they got even better, and left me with another perfect memory. Thank you Epica!
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Fanmeet & DVD presentation
Stairway, Utrecht
26-09-04
Epica in Utrecht again! No expensive train tickets for me (though Laura did have to buy them - sorry). There’s no place like home :-). When we arrived we could immediately get inside, no needless waiting, thank God. We found ourselves some advertisements for the new DVD – it’s for free, so take everything with an Epica picture on it! (due to this action I’ve got about a hundred things with the same picture of Simone on it). And we took them round the club to collect all signatures, and we had our picture taken with all band members - except for Jeroen. I still don’t know why we didn’t, but we’ve made up for it by now. We also met Simone’s mother, which was a pleasure.
After that Epica´s manager had a little talk and DVD’s and roses were handed out to the band. A preview of the new DVD ‘We will take you with us” was given. The making of the 2 Meter Sessions, which gave a good ‘backstage’ impression, and one song of the session was shown (Cry for the Moon). Mark frowned at his own grunting image in the screen, very funny. They also showed the acoustic song ‘Memory’ from the musical ‘Cats’. Simone’s voice was beyond beautiful in this song; it really sent shivers down my spine.
It was time for the acoustic performance. The day before we had been listening to Epica´s acoustic performance on radio 3FM (Feint and Run for a Fall), so I was wondering what more they’d play. Ad and Coen entertained us with some music until Simone was found (she had suddenly disappeared) and when she came back they started with feint. I sure do think the song sounds better acoustic. I really embarrassed myself as I cursed my camera when everyone went silent. I was too late to make a photograph during Simone’s superb high note at the end of Feint, so I blamed my camera – yelling at it a little too loud. Thank God they started playing Run for a Fall so everyone looked at Simone again. They also played a new song; Solitary ground. Simone’s voice sounded absolutely thrilling, and the song was very beautiful.
After the performance the manager announced that Epica would write the score for a Dutch movie called ‘Joyride’ (with Georgina Verbaan, yuck) and they showed a little preview of the movie. I thought it was really cool that Epica got this job. Because I know it’s a dream of Mark to write a real score. I love music that is inspired by film scores :-).
We had some time left to socialize and make fun with the bandmemebers. We wanted to take a picture of the whole band together, so Mark called everyone together for us (“Yves, groepsex! Dan komt ie wel, hehehe”) Unfortunately the camera (the fucking camera again…see, it ain’t my fault) got stuck at that very moment. But well, some official photographers took pics as well, so we got them from the internet later on.
At last, we had to leave. Mark gave us a hug, and a kiss, and we of course didn’t mind at all ;-). Said goodbye to the band and went home…it was really nice meeting them all, and we were going to meet them quite often in the future, though we didn’t know yet at that moment ;-).
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