Epica
The Holographic Principle
Nuclear Blast Records
2016
Epica took shape when Mark Jansen (brother of Floor’s) left his then band After Forever to try and go into a somewhat more symphonic direction, first hiring Helena Michaelsen (Trail Of Tears etc.) and then the unknown Simone Simons, who’d also become his girlfriend around the same time. Following a name change from Sahara Dust to Epica (inspired by Kamelot’s album), the band was born. Their first couple of albums put the band on the map, but it wasn’t until their more daring third album, a concept and their debut for Nuclear Blast that the band really got something really going on for them. A rather tireless cycle of albums in the following years (7 of them in the band’s 14 year existence) has cemented their reputation as a comparable, although decidedly second class pretender to the thrones of Within Temptation and Nightwish (who did seem to have a bit of trouble with their dames).
Simons despite her good looks remains through all these years a frightened mezzo, with a nice enough timbre that’s probably a real soprano that hasn’t really untapped her true potential. The band’s production in the meantime has upped the ante several times, with a ton of orchestrations becoming the band’s trademark in recent years, along with somewhat “nerdy”, pseudo-scientific lyrical concepts.
If their last album indulged into “quantum physics” topics, the current one “deals with the near future, where in virtual reality has taken off and allows people to create their own virtual worlds which can’t be distinguished from “reality as we know it”. This raises the question whether our current reality is a kind of virtual reality on itself, a hologram. This implies the existence of a higher reality, which we currently do not have access to. The lyrics challenge you to think out of the box, to reconsider everything you thought to know for sure and to be open-minded towards recent revolutions in science – yup, that kind of bullshit – if we’re a simulation, why do you even bother… or why does anyone bother… it sounds like groundhog day on repeat.
Filling up a CD almost up to the brim at some 72 minutes spew over, twelve tracks dense with orchestrations, the album becomes quite tiresome, with only momentary glimmers of real inspiration drowning out in an ocean of lush orchestrations. A chorus here (“Universal Death Squad”) or a solo there ie (“The Cosmic Algorithm”) and don’t quite manage to save the album from becoming quite repetitive and even when the band winds things down ie on “Dancing in a Hurricane”, they can’t seem to resist screwing things up with some “aggressive” parts added, just for the sake of it. They even drug their big finale “The Holographic Principle – A Profound Understanding of Reality”, a bit too long, for no good reason, just watering it down with rather useless sections. Let’s not even go to the 5 “bonus” tracks on the special editions, all “funky”, “joke” and “acoustic” tracks that just go to show the lack of real inspiration and substance that the band tries to cover with grandiose orchestrations and choirs.
So over the top that it ultimately sort of crumbles a little under the weight of its own ambition and orchestrations, with Simons not really being able to rise above the hubbub and make the album a real “win” for the band. Fans will probably dig it, but I’d rather go for something similar but less overindulgent.
Simons despite her good looks remains through all these years a frightened mezzo, with a nice enough timbre that’s probably a real soprano that hasn’t really untapped her true potential. The band’s production in the meantime has upped the ante several times, with a ton of orchestrations becoming the band’s trademark in recent years, along with somewhat “nerdy”, pseudo-scientific lyrical concepts.
If their last album indulged into “quantum physics” topics, the current one “deals with the near future, where in virtual reality has taken off and allows people to create their own virtual worlds which can’t be distinguished from “reality as we know it”. This raises the question whether our current reality is a kind of virtual reality on itself, a hologram. This implies the existence of a higher reality, which we currently do not have access to. The lyrics challenge you to think out of the box, to reconsider everything you thought to know for sure and to be open-minded towards recent revolutions in science – yup, that kind of bullshit – if we’re a simulation, why do you even bother… or why does anyone bother… it sounds like groundhog day on repeat.
Filling up a CD almost up to the brim at some 72 minutes spew over, twelve tracks dense with orchestrations, the album becomes quite tiresome, with only momentary glimmers of real inspiration drowning out in an ocean of lush orchestrations. A chorus here (“Universal Death Squad”) or a solo there ie (“The Cosmic Algorithm”) and don’t quite manage to save the album from becoming quite repetitive and even when the band winds things down ie on “Dancing in a Hurricane”, they can’t seem to resist screwing things up with some “aggressive” parts added, just for the sake of it. They even drug their big finale “The Holographic Principle – A Profound Understanding of Reality”, a bit too long, for no good reason, just watering it down with rather useless sections. Let’s not even go to the 5 “bonus” tracks on the special editions, all “funky”, “joke” and “acoustic” tracks that just go to show the lack of real inspiration and substance that the band tries to cover with grandiose orchestrations and choirs.
So over the top that it ultimately sort of crumbles a little under the weight of its own ambition and orchestrations, with Simons not really being able to rise above the hubbub and make the album a real “win” for the band. Fans will probably dig it, but I’d rather go for something similar but less overindulgent.