Epica – The Divine Conspiracy
Nuclear Blast NB 1956-2 Release Date-September 10th 2007
By Axemaiden
I was fortunate enough to have seen
Epica in concert earlier this year in Belgium, their live show was awesome and had me spellbound from beginning to end so I was particularly looking forward to their latest album release. Well, I wasn’t exactly disappointed with
The Divine Conspiracy, but it really didn’t live up to my expectations.
Epica are probably one of the heaviest gothic/operatic metal bands and the vocals are beautifully done on the album. The combination of death/black metal style menacing male growling with the haunting and gorgeous female vocals is a joy to listen to.
There are two problems though. The first problem is the fact that the music, although good and executed with talent, seems to serve as a background for showcasing the vocals only. I didn’t get the impression that every band member had total equality in the band to be honest. The second problem is that after a while, the vocals started to sound too similar from track to track, and my attention began to wander on some of the longer songs. Although the album is good and worth owning if you’re an
Epica fan, for me it just didn’t capture the passion and energy that their live show provided.
Official Epica website
Official Nuclear Blast website
