The Divine Conspiracy

We all know Epica’s skills to perform great music; their previous releases were solid efforts in many ways, and most for our musical pleasure, different between them.
So, the time has come for their 3rd. release: The Divine Conspiracy. What we get is a heavier onslaught of metal perfectly mixed with symphony elements. So is the heaviness that sometimes it reaches the boundaries of black metal elements.

The emphasis this time goes on the powerful drumming (their first drummer is gone) so I guess this guy is much much more metal focused. Second aspect is the vocals of Simone Simons; she is not longer the power of the record. Indeed she hits some really high tones and they are very cool, however, she goes more into the background due to the powerful guitar and drumming section that comes straight.

More guttural chords, more complexity in the composition and songs structure is what this has to offer. I just purchased the digibook edition with the bonus cd including video clips and with these I think they are trying to reach new markets, since the singles are really cool for commercial purposes, which is ok, the clip is cool anyway.

So, with the 3rd release Epica is evolving by pounds and tons and for good, although we get the same cd structure (symphonic intro, 2 killer pieces, the mandatory ballad and an epic super long song at the end) this metal feast will please most fans because of the heaviness, for those who expect more classical vocals they will be disappointed, because Simone is barely the focal point of the cd but the overall top production, more diverse lyrics and more focus on the power of the guitars and drums. If you like this kind of music and these bands go ahead and but it, this guys are going to be around for a while, so give yourself the chance to get this cd and enjoy it!