Epica – The Divine Conspiracy

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Nuclear Blast
Produced by Sascha Paeth

Dutch symphonic metal outfit Epica, led by Simone Simons return after two years with their firth studio album since 2003; an impressive record which has also included a DVD, several singles and several tours.

Things don’t get off to a good start though. Symphonic intro Indigo leads neatly into The Obsessive Devotion, in which all the good work done by the rolling riffs and Simone Simons’ wonderful vocals is undone by the terrible and unintelligible growling of guitarist Mark Jansen. The string intro to Menace of Vanity instantly recalls Seven Seals by Primal Fear and another crunching riff and operatic vocals by Simmons are completely undone by Jansen’s horrible, scratchy growling.

Magnificent, beautiful acoustic ballad Chasing The Dragon emphasises the fact that Simmons should do all the singing. It’s no wonder Arjen Lucassen has chosen her for his seventh Ayreon album. Jansen doesn’t join in until much later during grooving, chugging, heavy riffing which would have benefited so much from a decent singer. Then Never Enough recovers ground already taken care of earlier in the album but Jansen’s minimal involvement does make it more pleasurable than previous tracks, even if it’s musically and structurally no different.

The album centres around three further parts of a concept piece the band started on their first album, called The Embrace That Smothers. The debut, The Phantom Agony included parts IV, V and VI (no parts I-III?), and presumably fans have been waiting a long time for more. The Divine Conspiracy now brings parts VII, VIII and IX. Again, it must be said, these add very little to this album, what they add to the multi-part saga they belong too I couldn’t say. As with the rest of the album, Simons is stunning, Jansen is terrible and the strings and guitars combination sounds like Primal Fear.

This is until part IX, Fools of Damnation, which leads with a chanting, Egyptian-sounding groove. Slow and deliberate it masks faint, ominous vocals from Jansen and trepidation-filled lead lines from Simons before taking off. Unfortunately it returns to the Primal Fear-style riffing and Jansen’s growling, and all building momentum is lost.

Safeguard to Paradise is another delicate, string-led ballad almost exclusively featuring Simons at her finest. It leads perfectly into another grooving, Eastern-influenced track, Sancta Terra which is undoubtedly the album’s highlight. All male vocals are relegated to a chanting in the chorus, thankfully, until later when clean vocals are used to mirror Simons’ chorus. Magnificent.

Finally the lengthy title track closer stars out as an entirely orchestral piece with latin chanting before an unashamed return to the same style as much of the first half of the album with, unbelievably, Jansen’s worst vocal performance towards the end. A disappointing ending after the previous two songs.

Produced by fast-rising metal producer of choice Sascha Paeth (Edguy) the sound of the album is unsurprisingly sharp and the band spend much of the time sounding very similar to Leaves’ Eyes in many respects, except that Alexander Krull can actually growl in an understandable way, enhancing the songs instead of destroying them. Checking out their Norwegian counterparts is highly recommended.

For Epica fans this is probably gold. For the rest of us, there’s better out there.

“ Primal Fear-style riffing ”

Tracklist: Indigo / The Obsessive Devotion / Menace of Vanity / Chasing The Dragon / Never Enough / La’fetach Chatat Rovetz – The Last Embrace / Death of A Dream – The Embrace That Smothers Part VII / Living A Lie – The Embrace That Smothers Part VIII / Fools of Damnation – The Embrace That Smothers Part IX / Beyond Belief / Safeguard To Paradise / Sancta Terra / The Divine Conspiracy

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Gothic, Symphonic, Epica