Epica

Is it just me or Simone doesn't sound so well live in the past few years? On this video she sounds better than on pre-pregnancy videos, but still doesn't sound 100% ready. It's not too distracting, but it's noticeable.
 
Although she has grown, indeed, still some unstabilities in parts of some of her performances can be found. Not the most stable vocalist, but at times she can shine very well. Haven't noticed that it went worse than before her pregnancy.
 
It's time to reveal some more info about our upcoming album The Holographic Principle! We know it is still a long wait until the 30th of September and we ourselves cannot wait for its release too.... but in the meantime, feast your eyes on the tracklisting of what we think is our best album to date! “The Holographic Principle” will be released through Nuclear Blast on September 30th.

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01. Eidola
02. Edge Of The Blade
03. A Phantasmic Parade
04. Universal Death Squad
05. Divide And Conquer
06. Beyond The Matrix
07. Once Upon A Nightmare
08. The Cosmic Algorithm
09. Ascension - Dream State Armageddon
10. Dancing In A Hurricane
11. Tear Down Your Walls
12. The Holographic Principle - A Profound Understanding Of Reality
 
Lyrics are silly. I appreciate the thought though, at least it's not same old beauty & the beast stuff that other bands of their genre do.

Solid song but I expected something catchier from the first single, singles from last 3 albums were much better :/
 
EPICA / FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE / XANDRIA / THE AGONIST
Nov. 04 + Imperial Theater + Québec City, QC
Nov. 05 + Corona Theatre + Montréal, QC
Nov. 06 + Phoenix Concert Hall + Toronto, ON

EPICA / FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE / ARKONA / THE AGONIST
Nov. 08 + Concord Music Hall + Chicago, IL
Nov. 09 + Cabooze + Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 11 + Saskatoon Event Centre + Saskatoon, SK
Nov. 12 + Marquee + Calgary, AB
Nov. 13 + The Ranch + Edmonton, AB
Nov. 15 + Vogue Theatre + Vancouver, BC
Nov. 16 + Studio 7 + Seattle, WA
Nov. 18 + Social Hall + San Francisco, CA
Nov. 19 + The Regent + Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 20 + Vinyl at Hard Rock Hotel + Las Vegas, NV
Nov. 22 + Summit Music Hall + Denver, CO
Nov. 23 + Granada Theater + Lawrence, KS
Nov. 25 + Gas Monkey Live + Dallas, TX
Nov. 26 + Empire Control Room + Austin, TX
Nov. 28 + State Theater + St. Petersburg, FL
Nov. 29 + Masquerade + Atlanta, GA
Dec. 01 + Soundstage + Baltimore, MD
Dec. 02 + Webster Hall + New York, NY
Dec. 03 + Palladium + Worcester, MA

European leg, with Powerwolf:
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Gonna relisten to their albums a bit in the next few days.

Starting with Design Your Universe.

Production is amazing. Loud and clear just the way I like it. Most noticeable improvement over their earlier stuff which was much lighter.

Samadhi and The Price Of Freedom are useless intros. White Waters is awful - Tony Kakko is unlistenable. Deconstruct is forgettable and Tides Of Time's only good part is the chorus. But other 8 songs are all kickass.

Kingdom In Heaven in particular is incredible. One of those unrelenting epics in the vein of Halloween and Rime.
 
Heard the first three albums recently. Very consistent songwriting. In my memory they went a step down with the 4th and 5th album. Simone might have grown into a better singer, the production might have been better. But the songs, no, they went downhill. And that's what matters most to me. Not all songs of course, but certainly on average base. The amount of uninteresting work increased. The 6th, The Quantum Enigma, has a lot of memorable songs again.

That said, it's been years since I heard the 4th and 5th album. Time to hear those again.
 
I actually think Simone has been regressing. She's not very good live in the past couple of years, at least from the videos I've seen. Struggles a lot.

I think I'll try the earlier albums too, but I'll need time to get to them.
 
I'm sure you'll like the production of the third. Way heavier compared to first two (guitars were less loud in the mix on the first two).

I like most songs from the first three albums (in this huge majority I have some clear favourites, but I like them all to a certain extend!). The rest: I have some "beef" with the following six ones only. Sometimes it's just a (small) part of a song.

Consign:
- Trois Vierges: maybe a bit too dull ballad with Khan. Has some good melodies but also less impressive moments
- Another Me: repetitive chorus
- Quietus: A bit too unimaginative for my taste. Souns like a Within Temptation

Divine:
- Menace of Vanity (not a big fan of the melodies / not that much variety)
- part of the chorus of Beyond Belief sounds like a literal melody in Like a Prayer by Madonna
- Sancta Terra: just a little part: annoying melody from 2:34-2:58.
 
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Requiem For The Indifferent

Intro is useless as always. Then the first (real) 3 songs are all excellent.
Monopoly On Truth is another excellent opener with probably their best guitar solo by that point in time.
Storm The Sorrow is my favorite Epica song :notworthy:
Delirium is probably their best ballad with another great guitar solo.
The rest of the album sadly isn't as good.
Internal Warfare, Deep Water Horizon, Avalanche and Serenade are all solid songs but not close in quality to the first 3. The other songs are forgettable.
 
I don't like Delirium. Unoriginal melodies (too musical like for my taste). Feint and Solitary Ground are more grabbing I think. By the way, Epica didn't do guitar solos on the first three albums, apart from one song on the third record (Beyond Belief)! Ad was a fine player (probably still is) and they could have used him more often. A solo would fit very well in Feint I think. Still a fine ballad without it. I love that bridge "This black page in history... etc."
 
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Night Prowler said:
Deconstruct is forgettable and Tides Of Time's only good part is the chorus.
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Tides of Time is fantastic. And Deconstruct has a great bridge (with choir). Design Your Universe has more good than I remembered! Kingdom of Heaven has some good parts (I like the verses!) but also lesser, lengthy ones.

What disappoints me in the title track is that it blatantly copied The Phantom Agony's outro in a few passages (bridges?).
 
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