Valkyrian Music

Epica
The Essence Of Silence
Released March 2014
Symphonic Progressive Metal
Released via Nuclear Blast

Formed by former After Forever guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen, Epica have been dominating the symphonic metal scene for the last decade. With six studio albums under their belt already, Epica have been busy recording the seventh album which is set to kick start a new decade for the band. The Essence Of Silence is the first single to be released from The Quantum Enigma, which is set for release in May.

Beginning with a mystifying strings and piano arrangement, the song soon throws the listener into a maelstrom of heavy riffs and Mark’s terrifying vocals and Simone’s more tragic yet angelic voice. The choir adds a new depth to the song, sewing the other elements together. The guitar passages, as performed by Mark and Isaac, exceed the strength and heaviness of previous Epica elements, showing a definite evolution in the band’s sound since Requiem For The Indifferent. The rhythm section, made up of Rob van der Loo on bass and Ariën van Weesenbeek on drums, lay down a strong foundation for the song while Coen’s keyboard medleys sprinkle the track with the typical dramatic flavourings found in Epica’s music.

The Essence Of Silence is only a small glimpse into what awaits on the new album but it shows a distinctly positive change in the band’s sound. If the rest of the album is anything like this track, then it’ll no doubt be a masterpiece.

5/5

Nico Davidson

Epica online:

http://epica.nl
http://facebook.com/epica

This entry was posted on 14th March 2014 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Ariën van Weesenbeek, Epica, Isaac, Mark Jansen, Nuclear Blast, Requiem for the Indifferent, Rob van der Loo, Simone Simons, Studio album, Symphonic Metal, The Essence Of Silence, The Quantum Enigma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.