Review: Epica - The Classical Conspiracy
Posted by Victoria Long , Sunday, June 14, 2009 2:29 PM
As many of you know, Epica has released their much anticipated new live album The Classical Conspiracy. I was absolutely thrilled to hear of this show, and was really hoping they would film it. When I heard it wasn't being recorded, it made me really sad. Liek sooper sad lawlz.);
But then I heard it was being released on a two-disc CD album? Get out of town!! That made my day. And us frantic Epica fans were just waiting for May 8th.
When I got this CD, I was very much excited. Epica, Epica, Epica, Epica - PLAY!
With The Classical Conspiracy. I was very much impressed. Palladium, the opening song, is done excellently. Choir sounds great, orchestra sounds even better. Dies Irea is one of my personal favorites; Epica does it's best on bombastic and crazy songs like this, in my opinion.
As for the other classical pieces like Stabat Mater Dolorosa, In The Hall of the Mountain King, and Montagues and Capulets, those are very well done. The medleys from Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean are also among my top-favorites on this one. The Imperial March sounds FANTASTIC! I wish they could perform it at every concert. I don't think you can ever get bored. Epica does the best job at transforming such beautiful and rekowned pieces into something even more than they could be. Mozart never dreamt of heavy-metal versions of his songs, now did he? I bet he would be proud though. Well...perhaps.
Moving on to the more fan-recognized Epica songs, we start out the second disk with Indigo. It is so graceful, and is everything you could imagine it to be. The fans start it off with a bit of chanting the band's name, and I think that was awesome. It adds to the experience of listening to the album. This song never fails to send chills down my spine each time I listen to it. My only problem is the choir at the beginning with the "Queastio nostra est". They sound a tad bit young, and take away from the beauty of the orchestra. But that is later changed when we reach the climax of the song, and the sopranos reach that high note which just makes everything ten times better. After Indigo you expect them to play The Obsessive Devotion like with The Divine Conspiracy. But no!
They lead right into The Last Crusade. And it works PERFECTLY! But I'm not surprised, even though it is a little unexpected.
Epica continues the concert with their high-energy songs like Sensorium, Quietus, Never Enough, and Beyond Belief. They manage to maintain all their enthusiasm thoughout all the songs. My personal favorites are Chasing the Dragon, Cry for the Moon, and Safeguard to Paradise.
With Chasing the Dragon, Simone does some low singing which is really neat and adds to the darkness of the song when it nearly reaches it's climax with "The dragon is wreaking havoc in my brain" and Mark growls after her on those parts. Let's give big kudos to Mark, he always sounds amazing.
The most significant song in the Epica set, is Living a Lie. The lyrics are changed so that Simone and the choir are singing nearly the whole time. And it works out really well. It's unbelievable what this band can accomplish. I only wish Mark could've memorized the parts where he growls, because I always have loved his grunts. Call me a fangirl(I am), I love him!!(:
What I especially like about this concert is that you can clearly hear the keyboards! Normally when listening to concerts, the keyboards are barely heard. But Coen lets himself be heard! I really appreciate that, seeing as keyboards are very important to alot of the Epica songs.
One of the things I dislike the most is the interaction between the band and the audience. You get tired of hearing Simone's frequent "Are you guys having a good time?" shouts. But her beautiful singing makes up for it.
Mark adds to her shouts by his "Hey!"'s during the appropriate times of the middle of the songs.
All in all, it's an experience that makes you feel as if you were there. The whole set list is great, and there's barely a complaint I have about this album.
I strongly suggest all fans of classical or metal music to pick up this album and give it a listen. Whether you're an Epica fan or not, this is a treat for all ears.
Stay tuned for more reviews!
Victoria
