The formulae which made
"The Divine Conspiracy" the very same symphonic treasure that it was is now being used again in
"Design Your Universe". I don’t mind this when it comes to Epica – they’re not such an experienced band as many of their contemporaries from the same musical genre and basically this is their fourth serious effort. They never said
"we’re a big time band" though they recorded their own classical movie soundtrack in the face of
"The Score". Heck, they even went further and experimented with some classic magnum opuses and famous movie scores, making their own interpretations in
"The Classical Conspiracy".
Thing is, I wasn't such a big Epica fan several years ago – sure, their debut
"The Phantom Agony" was a literal sympho-masterpiece attempt (a very successful one!), and its follower
"Consign to Oblivion" set things even more right. Beautiful compositions, great music, high class vocal performances and all… But at some point it became to bore me so that I couldn’t "cycle" both albums like mad as I did with
"The Divine Conspiracy" some time later. The high-point contrast between it and the first two Epica efforts is what actually shocked me – the progress in every little aspect of all the musicians without exception faced me with the question "
is this the same Epica?!" For yes, such a cosmic positive change in the range of only two years is not something that I’m used to when it comes to nowadays bands.
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So, "The Divine Conspiracy" sounded as the familiar soundtrack once again, but sharpened like Hell, this time more "metal", done with tons of professionalism and feeling - Mark Jansen really outdid himself in terms of compositional approach, which in the end turned the record into a total winner and placed it second in my TOP 10 for the year of 2007 in general, smashing albums of some absolutely favorite bands of mine to dust. The story with "Design Your Universe" is pretty much the same, but as I said, the repetitive approach in this case is more than just acceptable; On the contrary, it's a wise decision - they can play with that idea a lot more if they want. The modern production sound is also justified – both guitarist and drummer of God Dethroned did an amazing job here with the aggressive death metal riffs and the fastened rhythm section - it’s clear that Epica seek more modern analogies instead of the good old medieval/fantasy/romantic music style. Yet, there are some innovations, but they’re more like just additions instead of general elements – I even wonder why hadn’t they gone after the Gregorian chants long time ago. The album itself doesn’t follow the concept of its predecessor (though there are some vague parallels), but on a musical level it’s a very logical continuation of it. The contrast between the death metal spirit and the lyrical moments is exquisite; Simone keeps on liberating her beautiful voice and surely doesn’t sing in one general spectrum which serves the songs perfectly, while Mark participates with his growls even more (there are three "growlers" now – him, Isaac and Arien).
The balance between the tracks is also brilliantly performed – the long-lasting compositions "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Design Your Universe" are enriched with a lot of melodies, movie-stylized sound and killing choruses, and of course there are some easily digestible songs such as "Unleashed" (which is for this album what "Never Enough" was for "The Divine Conspiracy"), but I wouldn’t go as far as to call the song simple. Mostly I’m impressed with the middle of the album – "Burn to a Cinder", "Tides of Time" (the beauty of this ballad could be easily compared with the majestic "Chasing The Dragon"), the perfected "Deconstruct" and "Semblance Of Liberty".
There are even some really clever add-ons here and there – the speeches of famous political figures which gained popularity in this kind of music are present here, but Epica decided to include most recent ones. For example, it was interesting for me to hear the following in the interlude "The Price Of Freedom":
"...The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
One can detect it from the middle, but nevertheless it’s a part of Obama’s speech from this January concerning the same freedom aspect. Furthermore, in "Semblance of Liberty" I can clearly distinguish the voice of George Bush and his speech with the famous "Read My Lips!" motto that took place before the USA congress some time ago, hah.
Clever, interesting, worth all the attention, listening and time – so far "The Divine Conspiracy" still sounds a bit more homogeneously oriented, but I believe I’ll get to the same level with "Design Your Universe" very soon. Once more, congrats to the band for the high standard level; I purchased the mailorder edition of the album some months ago and now I know in advance that it's worth it all at a maximum.
чет по первой прослушке я остался совсем равнодушен...
заодно и звук сравнишь
Спасибо!
Such a disgusting thing, I really hate it. It was the worst moment of The Phantom Agony, it creates a very special feeling, but not good feeling at all. Just hypocrisy and disguise.
раздражение еще чего доброго можно получить.
