Written by Torelli on 19.05.2006 at 17:07

@Lost One: Thank you so much for making that effort! The book seems intresting but I wouldn't lay my money on that, i guess band biographies isn't really my thing.
I could be wrong, put isn't this band becoming more and more commersial? I don't mind that they are getting popular but there is a certain risk that they will start creating music they think the masses want intstead of focusing of what feels right for them... To come out with a biograhpy so soon worries me a bit...

Do not despair yet, friend. I don't think Epica are trying to aim for the masses. Mark Jansen, the mastermind behind Epica's sound, has a strong and powerful will and many fascinations that find their way into te music. Take his fascination for other cultures, for example (Eastern culture on TPA and Mayan culture on CtO). His passion for travelling. Or his worries about politics, religion and governments. Do you ever hear mainstream singers taking on such topics?

Besides.. Epica have become so popular because they do whatever it takes to please their fans, something which attracts more fans in turn. When giving signing sessions, they stay until EVERYONE had his/her turn, and when the crowd asks for a second encore, they never fail to deliver. They do lots of stuff for charity as well, not to improve their image but because they genuinely feel that they should do something as a well known group.

Epica is magic, and I have no doubt that they will both stay true to their own music and use it as a tool to do good for this world. And I will support them in every possible way.

EDIT:

I might as well go on for a while. Simone indeed sings with operatic vocals less often on the new album, but she has her reasons for this. Remember me saying that she had never learnt how to sing before taking on TPA? Well, while recording TPA and after the album was done, she was taking lessons specifically for this type of singing, but on CtO she wanted to explore her possibilities as a vocalist more and thus, she tried other stuff like singing 'poppy', or singing really low here and there (give it a good listen and you'll pick up on those moments).

I don't mind tha simone sings 'poppy'. Infact I don't mind pop at all. they could relise a popalbum and I wouldn't mind that at all, as long they did good and original pop. What was worring me was that they will produce music they don't like at all in order to sell more.
it's just that they have been a massive meda coverage on them, in the style of nightwish. And that creates alot of pressure, and the need to satisfy the audience could become more important than the music itself.
That's what is really worring me.
But on the other hand, bands with more media pressure has been able to relise good album without recalling on the personal music taste.

Sorry, couldn't help myself..
I got it and it rocks! Totally worth it for any fan (and I know you are)!

Yes, everybody says that the DVD is amazing, maybe on the next days I'll see it when a friend of mine lend it to me
The DVD has stuff from The Consign To Obvilon only, or from The phantom Agony too?

Only album what i hed hear from them are '' The Phantom Agony '' and well if If wright mood I canliste them, and also I thinknother albums are more simmilar how firts and I had hear samples too its werry great

''Now on friend get ''The Road To Paradiso'' CD and well i borrow it for weekend and there are some unrealised songs too

Well finally I have seen Epica live! They played Friday night with Kamelot, and it was an awesome show! Definitely worth the years of waiting and wondering if they would ever tour the U.S. And I have to say, my occasional complaints about the extreme male vocals on "Consign To Oblivion" are not an issue live, as they sounded evenly abrasive. Simone of course looks as good in person as I thought, and sounds just as great.

The venue was small, but was mostly crowded, a great sign for this type of music here... and from what I noticed from talking to others, most people had driven an hour or more to get there (It took us nearly 3!) And Epica's setlist essentially was a carbon copy of all my favorite songs from them, so yes, I was pleased on the setlist choices.

And regarding Kamelot, damn, they were equally as impressive! One of the better metal shows I've seen, ever, and with an extremely friendly crowd of metalheads.

I think, this band may be boring at a point, but anyway it has great songs, excellent vocals and instruments, just that it becomes boring if you hear it a long time.

Uhm, I like them pretty much, especially the "Phantom agony" album
What do I like more? Epica or Simone Simons?
Guess once

It is unbelievable how much better this band is live than on the CD. They sound so much more like a HEAVY METAL band live that I couldn't believe it. If anybody is worried about them sounding wimpy live, rest assured, they are anything but! Simone is also a very nice front woman.
The show even convinced me to buy the CD that I don't have. Eh...that was a mistake.
Anyway, it was a great show!

Oh, Simone has great scene moves

For example:
http://gothgallery.gothmetal.net/albums/200505May/20050521Rotonde/Epica/20050521_Rotonde_Epica_IMG_1618.jpg

Question, who is in charge of the classical compositions within the music? Do the band come up with everything or they have collaborations? I ask because I cannot find that information myself.

I think the music is mada by the band, mostly by keyboardist

All written by the band I think they all had a bit of a part in it. Mark usually writes most of the music, but always together with someone. The instrumental song Palladium for example was written by Yves, the bassist. And i guess the album 'The Score' kinda shows that the band knows what they're doing when it comes to this

Thanks to both of you for clarifying that for me. I just bought the "The Phantom Agony" and their "We Will Take You With Us" DVD to satisfy the lukewarm fixation that I am currently having for this band.

Now, for some guys here in Metal Storm (and some girls as well, why not?) here I post a great pic that I found when looking for Simone Simmons' pictures:



I though I couldn't possibly find a better companion to Christina Scabbia in a picture after I found one of hers in which she was accompanied by Angela Gossow and then I found this one. Anyways, may all of you rejoice in the first Capital Sin after this blasphemous and satanic picture.

^ For me i prefer dark eyes and dark hair


I recently find that dvd "We will take you with us". ANd for real i went with them

Beautiful pic!! They both should record a song together.

Yeah, beautiful picture indeed

Written by Bitch Boy on 22.11.2006 at 20:23

Beautiful pic!! They both should record a song together.

Can you imagine how this would result? Can you imagine the contrast of voices, yet the duet of such charming voices? In my Godless opinion, this comes to be a great idea.

On the side note, I wonder where this pic was taken. I should have read the information from where I took it. :

OMG, the pic is
A duet of Christina and Simone
sounds interesting... but only if Simone would sing it without soprano parts
She has beautiful clean voice

Written by Darth Satanious on 26.11.2006 at 09:43
On the side note, I wonder where this pic was taken. I should have read the information from where I took it. :

I was taken at the Female Voices Fest 3.

(Don't you hate that guy in the middle??)

the lucky bastard

I'm listening to The Phantom Agony right now. The entire album is a masterpiece, though Consign to Oblivion didn't match up, for me. I do prefer Mark Jansen's work in After Forever, but Simone's voice is the perfect compliment to his music. She and Cristina really could make the most amazing song ever if they did a duet...

Eh, I still haven't gotten my hands on The Road to Paradiso, neither the album or the photo book, but I've been looking everywhere for it. Still, I'm sure I'll be very impressed with it once I do. It is Epica, after all.

Written by Bitch Boy on 26.11.2006 at 22:29

Written by Darth Satanious on 26.11.2006 at 09:43
On the side note, I wonder where this pic was taken. I should have read the information from where I took it. :

I was taken at the Female Voices Fest 3.

(Don't you hate that guy in the middle??)

Oh

I must add Tarja with this one and for sure i will kill that bastard so to take me in the middle of them

I've seen them on Pestpop, in April this year. They were really great, awesome show
And indeed, that damn lucky guy

@ Cemelina: the perfect song, featuring Simone and someone else, would be a duet with Floor Jansen, but that, obviously, is never gonna happen...

Written by Bitch Boy on 30.11.2006 at 02:31

@ Cemelina: the perfect song, featuring Simone and someone else, would be a duet with Floor Jansen, but that, obviously, is never gonna happen...

Can i ask you why ? never gonna happen....


But doing this i think that it will result more in a concert rather than a metal band .
Each band with a female fronted , is totally different from each other. Although , some might be simialiar to each other

I think that a duet with Simone and Floor is kind of impossible because of Mark. The only way I can imagine them together is in an Arjen Lucassen's project, but I can't imagine Simone singing an After Forever's song with Floor, or, in opposite way, Floor singing with Simone an Epica's song.

I can't say I'm a very big fan of Floor Jansen, however much I love After Forever. Simone is a much more talented singer than her, in my opinion, but I can imagine an excellent duet between Simone and Cristina because their voices could contrast so beautifully. And it does seem highly unlikely that Floor would do any projects with Simone, given the situation with Mark.

Does anyone know when their DVD 'The Road to Paradiso' will be released? Normally it would be in September last year, but it has been postponed... I just want to have this DVD. I especially drove from Belgium to Amsterdam to see their show there. I just want to dig up some great memories of this awesome show!

There you lie, sitting in a room that seems to be empty? empty because to you nothing else exists, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters but that person who is sitting in front of you. Imagine your pair? idealized, sitting in front of you and staring at your eyes as focused as you over her eyes at the same time. You are both holding hands in this barely lighted room after the feeble piercing rays of light of the morning sun. Holding hands and at the same time, the slitting of wrists by both of you to each other takes place. There is no sadness, no problems between you; it isn't a soap opera fairy tale of a fantastic and impossible dilemma that stands between you two. You are both smiling with a tender look in your eyes of both joy and feeling of fulfillment. Fulfillment of what could this be? Only both of you know. It is the culmination of your story, ended when your love makes your lives to be at their highest, as to preserve this moment, your happiness, for eternity.

If such a scene were to take place, the perfect tune for it would be the one found in this next video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYbViYJBd8

Such melancholy and beauty seem to be like a ray of light of deceiving hope in a silent and unavoidable tragedy.