I am going to review Epica's newest album, The Divine Conspiracy and be as fair as possible with it. I will start my review with a question and answer:
Do I like this album? I slightly do, but I am disappointed with this album. Epica is a great band with intensely talented members, but they are way too loose! Instead of improving with all of their hard work, they went for something that was much more complicated than they can handle and as a result overlooked what they are good at and in the end created something that was so-so.
Track four is titled Chasing the dragon. The first 5 minutes of this song are really good. But as soon as it hits the dreaded 6th minute, a huge blast of rapid drum smashing and yelling appears from nowhere. It's almost as if someone changed the station from ordered symphonic metal, to a group of 20 year olds who were pissed that they didnt land a record deal and took their anger out on their equipment. It pushed me away from this track really hard.
Later on in the album, the songs seem to repeat this error a bit much more and aside from which get longer and longer with the final track tipping 13 minutes.
The good of this album was the singer and the choir who always do a great job. Simone has a wonderful voice and this time around used it with much more care. She kept the flare with her singing as she has done with the Consign to Oblivion album, but her members seem to have failed her to me.
The good:
Simones singing, the guitarring. A great idea for an album.
The bad:
The drummers, the overworked symphonies and the complication of it all.
The ridiculously long tracks.
The ugly:
Failing to do what you seem to have done best.
Rating:
3/5
Consign To Oblivion comparison and contrast:
Consign To Oblivions final track was long hitting 9 minutes, but it was done well, everything seemed structured and good to go. It had everything it needed to make it a fun and good song and it was SIMPLE.
The Divine Conspiracy: 13 minutes, after 5 minutes I begin to lose interest. That's something that never happens to me with artists that are in my top five (Kamelot, Kreator)
Just disappointed. I'll still listen to it from time to time, but it's not something I see me growing to like any more than I do now.
Do I like this album? I slightly do, but I am disappointed with this album. Epica is a great band with intensely talented members, but they are way too loose! Instead of improving with all of their hard work, they went for something that was much more complicated than they can handle and as a result overlooked what they are good at and in the end created something that was so-so.
Track four is titled Chasing the dragon. The first 5 minutes of this song are really good. But as soon as it hits the dreaded 6th minute, a huge blast of rapid drum smashing and yelling appears from nowhere. It's almost as if someone changed the station from ordered symphonic metal, to a group of 20 year olds who were pissed that they didnt land a record deal and took their anger out on their equipment. It pushed me away from this track really hard.
Later on in the album, the songs seem to repeat this error a bit much more and aside from which get longer and longer with the final track tipping 13 minutes.
The good of this album was the singer and the choir who always do a great job. Simone has a wonderful voice and this time around used it with much more care. She kept the flare with her singing as she has done with the Consign to Oblivion album, but her members seem to have failed her to me.
The good:
Simones singing, the guitarring. A great idea for an album.
The bad:
The drummers, the overworked symphonies and the complication of it all.
The ridiculously long tracks.
The ugly:
Failing to do what you seem to have done best.
Rating:
3/5
Consign To Oblivion comparison and contrast:
Consign To Oblivions final track was long hitting 9 minutes, but it was done well, everything seemed structured and good to go. It had everything it needed to make it a fun and good song and it was SIMPLE.
The Divine Conspiracy: 13 minutes, after 5 minutes I begin to lose interest. That's something that never happens to me with artists that are in my top five (Kamelot, Kreator)
Just disappointed. I'll still listen to it from time to time, but it's not something I see me growing to like any more than I do now.