I'm going to tell you a little secret. I like metal music. No that's not the secret. Hell, you all already know that. My secret is that even though I like metal music, the guitar is not my favorite instrument. Oh like guitars just fine but in metal music it just goes with the territory. What really gets my attention is any and all of the following things augmenting and enhancing, even overpowering the guitars.

Give me choirs, pianos, organs, violins, bells, cellos and great female singing. This is why I like the music of Therion, Within Temptation, Nightwish and Edenbridge to name a few.

Enter, Epica!

Epica is good! Epica is very good! Epica is magnificent, Epica is, well....Epic! Epica is a breath of fresh air in this genre of music I like to think of as the new wave of metal music for the new millennium. Not really better but a little different.

I never thought anyone would top Within Temptation until fellow Dutch band Epica came along. I'm still not sure they have but it's close. Epica is a new Dutch band following in the footsteps of two Dutch giants - Within Temptation and After Forever. Founder Mark Jansen is very familiar with After Forever since he was one of their founding members and a former guitar player. He left A.F. citing artistic differences. Like W.T.and A.F., Epica plays Symphonic Metal with a female singer, Simone Simons whose voice is pleasant enough but doesn't seem to have the power of some of the other European divas.

Phantom Agony

The first thing I notice and like about this album is the increased use of a choir. This is probably to make up for the loss of a top notch soprano such as Floor Jansen. As much as I like Floor, I like this new direction. It also reminds me, somewhat, of a musical score for a historical movie. I can see myself turning down the sound and playing this album whilst watching The Highwayman or the Count of Monte Cristo, emoting romance, tragedy and adventure.

Phantom Agony is also reminiscent of Therion's recent efforts, which is another reason I like the CD, with the intrinsic use of a choir of two sopranos, two altos, a tenor and a bass and a small orchestra of three violins, two violas, two cellos and a contrabass. Occasionally heavy, but never hard, keyboards and the orchestra play a more sifnificant role on this album than the guitars and that's fine with me.

Song/Track list
1] Adyta (The Neverending Embrace) (1:26)****1/2
2] Sensorium (4:48)****1/2
3] Cry For The Moon [The Embrace That Smothers - Part IV] (6:44)*****
4] Feint (4:19)****
5] Illusive Consensus (5:00)****1/2
6] Facade Of Reality [The Embrace That Smothers - Part V] (8:12)*****
7] Run For A Fall (6:32)****1/2
8] Seif Al Din [The Embrace That Smothers - Part VI] (5:47)****1/2
9] The Phantom Agony (8:59)*****
10]The Phantom Agony (4:34)***** single version

Out of necessity all songs have a similar sound and feeling so I will describe the highlights.

"Cry For The Moon" (The Embrace That Smothers - Part IV)
the songs starts out with Simone and is taken over by the choir, which is magnificent. The middle contains faster drums with a clever mixture of soaring violins answered by the choir. There are some male growls but it feels like it's part of a story. This is an intriguing song.

"Facade Of Reality" (The Embrace That Smothers - Part V) bombastic guitar and violin laden sounds prevail. The pieces of Latin lyrics and dark grunts give this song an epic quality. Halfway through the song becomes much slower and cello and violins support Tony Blair commenting on terrorism after the events of September 11th. Thereafter the pace gets back to normal.

"Phantom Agony", the title tracks uses recurring refrain consisting of short violin notes, the choir, the bass guitar and bass drums throughout this 9 minute epic masterpiece. The whispering in the beginning and ending adds a nice touch. The last couple minutes of this song is a good example of how this album feels like a movie score.

"Phantom Agony" single version is a bonus track on the ltd edition. It's about half as long as the epic version.

Conclusion

If you are under the impression that I like this album, good for you, you got that right. Now that you're on a role, you need to check this out and at least see why I'm so impressed. Why? Because you don't want to get the most important thing wrong, do you?

For those of you who have never experienced this genre of music but would like to give it a try, this would be an excellent place to start.

Requisites; a] a love of melodious symphonic music, b] a classical orientation, c] an open mind on gruff male vox(not unlike in an opera), d] some heavy metal influences.

Similar bands

Within Temptation, After Forever, Therion, Nightwish, Penumbra, Orkrist, Tristania, Thy Sins of Thy Beloved, Sirenia

Here is a link to a recently completed review on Decipher by After Forever, which I consider a sister band to Epica
http://www.epinions.com/content_130996342404

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Romancing