CD Review: Epica – “Design Your Universe”

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CD Review

This review was originally written by Jose Bernardo for www.theweeklyriff.com between 2008 and 2010.

These were Jose’s first impressions of the songs and were not written after multiple spins.

Artist : Epica
Album : Design Your Universe (2009 Nuclear Blast)
Tracks : 13

Artist website : http://www.epica.nl/

OVERVIEW

This is the fifth full-length studio album from Gothic/Symphonic Metal band Epica. The music is breathtaking as are the performances of all instrumentations and especially vocals.

I’ve heard of Epica in passing and this is the first album by the band I’ve actually listened to fully from start to end. I am absolutely blown away by the energy. I don’t often like the voice of sopranos as they tend to sing way too high for my liking but I could not get enough of Simone Simons’ voice.

The arrangements are superb! Very few bands show this kind of mastery of arrangement skills. Not to mention the choral work on this album…

I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of female fronted metal and digs the whole fully orchestrated sound. Fans of progressive metal will definitely enjoy this album.

HIGHLIGHTS : 

Practically phenomenal from start to end!

PLAY BY PLAY

Track 1 – Samadhi (Prelude)
Very cool track that serves as a prelude to track 2. 

Track 2 – Resign to Surrender (A New Age Dawns, Part IV)
Fantastic!

Track 3 – Unleashed
Breathtaking! Wonderfully soulful vocal performance!

Track 4 – Martyr of the Free Word
Awesome. Really heavy and powerful. Cool guitar solo. 

Track 5 – Our Destiny
Very pretty track. Kind of a heavy ballad. 

Track 6 – Kingdom of Heaven (A New Age Dawns, Part V)
Holy (fill this part in)! The intro to this song is the perfect way to draw attention to the music. Not a huge fan of the “cookie-monster” vocals, but the quality of the music more than makes up for that. This track sounds absolutely huge! It’s also the longest track on the album. 

Track 7 – The Prince of Freedom (Interlude)
I’m not quite sure what to think of that…

Track 8 – Burn to a Cinder
Awesome melody. 

Track 9 – Tides of Time
Very nice and mellow ballad. 

Track 10 – Deconstruct 
Great energy again. The growling just doesn’t work for me. Why have growls when the band has such a great vocalist in Simone?

Track 11 – Semblance of Liberty
Cool riff at the start. Still not crazy about the growled vocals. Choral work is very good in this one. Makes the song sound really huge.

Track 12 – White Waters
This was a weak track. I didn’t like this one.

Track 13 – Design Your Universe (A New Age Dawns, Part VI)
Cool track. Some very pretty moments here.

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Posted in CD Reviews, The Weekly Riff (2008-2010) Reprinted.