Epica - The Divine Conspiracy

Unbeliavable superb release by Epica

I feel this is their best album, by far.

Great album, but that cover of Fear factory's 'Replica' is just laughable...

Well Fear Factory itself is laughable, so...

This is a very solid album, but the following one is superior in every way. To bad about 'Replica', one of FF's best songs...

This is an excellent album and would be their magnum opus if Design your Universe hadn't come along two years later and dropped jaws yet again if not more. "The Divine Conspiracy" is definitely their best song and I can't wait to see them play it at their tenth anniversary concert.

Somehow I had remembered that this was way better album than how I find it right now. Maybe I just have heard way better albums in between the listens. Whatever the reason, the songs generally sound kinda boring here. I'd say a classic case of 75+ min album. IMO bands like Nightwish and Epica should just go back to normal length albums and stop boring listeners

Honestly, my least favorite (not to say the worst) Epica release. For me personally, it just doesn't have the atmosphere of the eariler albums nor the energy of the later albums. Some songs just get boring and/or sound a bit too generic. I don't know, it just doesn't have nearly as much power on me as other Epica albums, which I all absolutely love.
It's still good. I guess.
Favorite songs include: Chasing the Dragon, Beyond Belief, Never Enough.

Not as strong as Design Your Universe, but still a good album. Their 2nd best IMO.

8.6/10 for me.

My personal Top 3 songs from the album:

Sancta Terra
Never Enough
Death Of A Dream (The Embrace That Smothers - Part VII)

As someone who was once a huge fan of Epica's first 2 albums, I always tended to overlook this one. Perhaps because it was the last of the "era" in which they still did albums that were actually different from each other, and started a new one where they just kept trying to shamelessly clone themselves in that "complex-epic" style which I had a lot of trouble appreciating at first (and which also got very old after 3-4 albums of essentially the same stuff).

However, after a few more rounds of relistening their discography, I'm suddenly rediscovering The Divine Conspiracy as their best (together with The Phantom Agony). Until now, when I thought of it, I mostly remembered Chasing The Dragon, Never Enough, Fools of Damnation, sometimes Sancta Terra. And these are still my favorite songs from here, but in fact, the whole tracklist is so much better than any of Epica's later releases. And Simone truly shines here. I mean, she isn't a star vocalist for nothing, consistently delivering great performance on all albums (except The Holographic Principle), but the way she carries song melodies in this one is just unreal. All in all, as an album, it's a near-flawless experience. Even when I'm tired and think that I'm not really in the mood for more Epica - it just goes and creates that mood for me.

I just wish Mark had some sense to leave Chasing The Dragon for Simone and not barge in with his scream-rapping into a song that absolutely didn't need any of that crap...