Thrilling album, a welcome successor to TQE, and a must for any Epica fan, or symphonic metal fan.News from EPICA EPICA - Live Q&A On Sept 30th Announced!ĭutch symphonic metal band EPICA is set to unleash their new record 'The Holographic Principle' this Friday. I still can't get over the fact that Simone Simons actually sang "it's the groove that makes my booty move". The Funky Algorithm is a wonderful addition to the CD. I adore the acoustic tracks, especially Beyond the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly which is surprisingly chilled. The album is incredibly entertaining, with songs like A Phantasmic Parade, Beyond the Matrix (a contender for catchiest chorus ever), and the spellbinding Once Upon A Nightmare being major highlights for me. A Phantasmic Parade is flawless, the melody is right, the choir is on point. Edge of the Blade is wonderfully melodic and heavy, with a catchy chorus. The Holographic Principle is a symphonic metal masterpiece! Eidola opens with a cinematic drum beat and a haunting child's voice. I was worried that Epica's follow up, The Holographic Principle, would not reach the heights that they had set. The balance of both symphonic and heavy with the vocal contrast of Simons and Jansen really did it for me. Epica's 2014 record, The Quantum Enigma, is one of my favourite albums of all time. I joined the Epica fanclub last last year and I proudly own all of their studio albums. It is miles ahead of other bands in terms of production and their compositions really dwarf the likes of Nightwish who stumbled pretty badly on their previous album. The Holographic Principle is an album that in my opinion crowns them as the leaders of this sub-genre. In terms of sound, I think this is the most natural and bombastic that Epica have sounded so far and despite their sometimes pretentious lyrics, they have done a damn fine job on this album.Īt this point, there is absolutely no reason not to recommend this to fans of Epica and symphonic metal. The production is much improved over the last release with no unnecessary distortion with the choral and orchestral moments sounding more clear and generally much more pleasant to listen to. Fans of previous albums will not find much to complain about at all on The Holographic Principle. The other songs on the album are all more of the same, the good kind. It has a huge chorus sang by a choir wrapped around some great guitar playing along side some top notch drums and bass. This is less speed metal and more of a marching rhythm. My personal favourite song on the album was the almost Manowar-esque Beyond The Matrix. Thankfully the band move onto more creative territory with songs like A Phantasmic Parade, the single Universal Death Squad and the wonderful ballad Once Upon A Nightmare. The gigantic classical intro drifts very fluently into Edge of the Blade, a fine opening track but not one of their most memorable. The opening track Eidola is a fantastic orchestral piece that does not hold back. The Holographic Principle in comparison to the previous albums is harder, faster and generally a lot more infectious. Some are more memorable than others but they are all very well recorded with their fair share of great songs. I will go on record and say that I honestly do not think that Epica have released a bad album. Epica on the other hand have done a great job of keeping it fresh with The Holographic Principle and have actually produced what I think is one of their better albums. By the time most symphonic metal bands get to their seventh album they tend to run out of ideas, write lyrics a little pretentious and rock a stale sound.
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