I've doubted for quite some time about writing this review but I think I should. If you're expecting a technical review you better go read another one because this will be my opinion and nothing else.
Epica is my favourite band and it has been for quite some time now so I was really looking forward to this album. Unfortunately it's not what it could have been.
The Classical part
I have no idea whether the songs are well chosen or not, I hadn't heard of most of them but that's because I'm not much of a classical music fan. It was very nice to hear the well-known film music (Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars and Spiderman) played in a different way and as usual Ariën's drumming adds a whole new dimension. The songs from the Score sound awesome live and it's a shame that they can'tp play them more often. It's a shame that they chose to play 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King' because it's sooooo well known and I instantly compared it to Apocalyptica's version (which I prefer to be honest). That said, the rest of the set was well played (obviously I have not a single remark for the choir or orchestra as they simply did an awesome job) and Simone sang the classical songs surprisingly well.
The Epica part
Here's where they could have done better, I don't think the songs were very well-picked but I guess that's a matter of taste. I found it a shame that they didn't play Fools of Damnation which would have done the orchestra and choit much more right than Blank Infinity. The Last Crusade however was a nice opening song and I think a very good atmosphere creator. Sensorium and Quietus, again good songs to play in the beginning of a set but then...
Without a doubt the worst part of the entire album are the talks in between songs. Please Epica, work on your English. Organisator is not a word in English! Someone who organizes an event is called an organizer. Everyone who knows me is aware of my annoyances when it comes down to language, it's my (and not only mine) opinion that as a band they have a bit of a role model function. Is it too much to ask to properly learn the language you sing in? I could post a whole list of errors here (which I won't because that would be mean) but a little bit of attentiont to your language wouldn't hurt.
Right, back to the music. Chasing the Dragon and Feint were very nice to hear with a full orchestra and I don't have any major remarks about those, Never Enough however is ALWAYS a bad choice. Although Simone hit the end note (which was the first time I've heard) she couldn't hold it long enough which is truly a shame. Beyond Belief was, again, nice to hear with full orchestra but then they play Cry for the Moon. This is absolutely my favourite song and it's also the first Epica song I ever heard so as you can imagine I looked forward to hearing this. But they just don't seem to get it right. I hate to say this but Simone's pronunciation isvery bad on this album, particularly during this song. She needs to pay more attention to correctly pronouncing her vowels, especially the O. I realise I'm being kind of harsh here but it's really annoying to hear a beautiful song being ruined by Simone not paying attention to pronunciation.
Safeguard to Paradise, Not one of my favourite songs but a good one to play on a classical festival and her pronunciation seems to have improved a bit. As I said before I wouldn't have played Blank Infinity but one of the more epic songs, that's a matter of taste I guess. Living a Lie however is my favourite track of the album. I absolutely love how they altered it to contain less grunting. To be honest this is how I always imagined the song should sound (well not quite but when I play the album version I usually sing along to the grunted part).
The last four tracks (The Phantom Agony, Sancta Terra, Illusive Consensus and Consign to Oblivion) are predictable but good nevertheless (Sancta Terra as usual being one of my favourite songs to hear live), all are often played as final songs or encores on gigs and this was obviously no exception.
That concludes my review of the Classical Conspiracy. In all it was a bit of a disappointing album. I'm usually a real sucker for live albums but this one just doesn't have the X-factor other do seem to have.
I really do realise I've been quite harsh towards Simone 're a well-but proper English is in my opinion something quite essential if you're a relatively well-known band with English lyrics. Their lack of attention for language is the one thing that almost constantly annoys me about Epica. Neither their site nor their Royal Artist Club profile seem to ever get checked for grammatical or orthographical mistakes (or even typing errors) which doesn't come across very professional if you ask me.
Then again, apart from language geeks like myself no one probably ever notices...
Epica is my favourite band and it has been for quite some time now so I was really looking forward to this album. Unfortunately it's not what it could have been.
The Classical part
I have no idea whether the songs are well chosen or not, I hadn't heard of most of them but that's because I'm not much of a classical music fan. It was very nice to hear the well-known film music (Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars and Spiderman) played in a different way and as usual Ariën's drumming adds a whole new dimension. The songs from the Score sound awesome live and it's a shame that they can'tp play them more often. It's a shame that they chose to play 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King' because it's sooooo well known and I instantly compared it to Apocalyptica's version (which I prefer to be honest). That said, the rest of the set was well played (obviously I have not a single remark for the choir or orchestra as they simply did an awesome job) and Simone sang the classical songs surprisingly well.
The Epica part
Here's where they could have done better, I don't think the songs were very well-picked but I guess that's a matter of taste. I found it a shame that they didn't play Fools of Damnation which would have done the orchestra and choit much more right than Blank Infinity. The Last Crusade however was a nice opening song and I think a very good atmosphere creator. Sensorium and Quietus, again good songs to play in the beginning of a set but then...
Without a doubt the worst part of the entire album are the talks in between songs. Please Epica, work on your English. Organisator is not a word in English! Someone who organizes an event is called an organizer. Everyone who knows me is aware of my annoyances when it comes down to language, it's my (and not only mine) opinion that as a band they have a bit of a role model function. Is it too much to ask to properly learn the language you sing in? I could post a whole list of errors here (which I won't because that would be mean) but a little bit of attentiont to your language wouldn't hurt.
Right, back to the music. Chasing the Dragon and Feint were very nice to hear with a full orchestra and I don't have any major remarks about those, Never Enough however is ALWAYS a bad choice. Although Simone hit the end note (which was the first time I've heard) she couldn't hold it long enough which is truly a shame. Beyond Belief was, again, nice to hear with full orchestra but then they play Cry for the Moon. This is absolutely my favourite song and it's also the first Epica song I ever heard so as you can imagine I looked forward to hearing this. But they just don't seem to get it right. I hate to say this but Simone's pronunciation isvery bad on this album, particularly during this song. She needs to pay more attention to correctly pronouncing her vowels, especially the O. I realise I'm being kind of harsh here but it's really annoying to hear a beautiful song being ruined by Simone not paying attention to pronunciation.
Safeguard to Paradise, Not one of my favourite songs but a good one to play on a classical festival and her pronunciation seems to have improved a bit. As I said before I wouldn't have played Blank Infinity but one of the more epic songs, that's a matter of taste I guess. Living a Lie however is my favourite track of the album. I absolutely love how they altered it to contain less grunting. To be honest this is how I always imagined the song should sound (well not quite but when I play the album version I usually sing along to the grunted part).
The last four tracks (The Phantom Agony, Sancta Terra, Illusive Consensus and Consign to Oblivion) are predictable but good nevertheless (Sancta Terra as usual being one of my favourite songs to hear live), all are often played as final songs or encores on gigs and this was obviously no exception.
That concludes my review of the Classical Conspiracy. In all it was a bit of a disappointing album. I'm usually a real sucker for live albums but this one just doesn't have the X-factor other do seem to have.
I really do realise I've been quite harsh towards Simone 're a well-but proper English is in my opinion something quite essential if you're a relatively well-known band with English lyrics. Their lack of attention for language is the one thing that almost constantly annoys me about Epica. Neither their site nor their Royal Artist Club profile seem to ever get checked for grammatical or orthographical mistakes (or even typing errors) which doesn't come across very professional if you ask me.
Then again, apart from language geeks like myself no one probably ever notices...
I totally agree with you. As a fan of Symphonic Metal -coming from Northern Europe, you know-, the only singers who have a proper pronunciation of English are Nightwish's Anette Olzon & Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel. Phonetically speaking, they do it just well -speaking, however, sometimes singing live they just round too much their vowels or strengthen the syllables turning some words impossible to hear, just like the case of ex-Nightwish lead singer Tarja Turunen. Her English in the albums was quite acceptable, when it turned to be live, God Croecious! My ears burst into bloodtears, pronouncing forever |'foriva|, water |'wota| or poem |'poum|... Too much for me. I speak from a technical aspect of their pronunciation since I'm a philologist, however... Simone can improve her English, at least I think she can.
ReplyDeleteTake care.