I’ll confess right up front that I’m not the biggest fan of the band Epica. I’ve enjoyed their music, but they’ve often suffered from the problem that many bands of their genre share. They’re a Dutch gothic metal band, blending melodic and speedy guitar riffing with often operatic vocals and heavy symphonic sounds made using keyboards or the occasional real orchestra.
Too often, this tends to result in the metal portions of their sound coming second to the symphonic elements, leading to strong vocal performances and great keyboard sounds, but also to guitar riffing that ranges anywhere along the spectrum from standard to terrible, leaving the more melodic and symphonic elements to carry the music.
I can’t in earnest say that I saw those problems leave Epica at their Feb. 2 show at the Masquerade, but I will say that the band proved the power of a strong live performance, in which those issues ended up secondary.
The electric crowd made it all the easier to get into the show. Within minutes of their opener “The Second Stone,” I felt the irresistible urge to headbang and chant along as guitarist Mark Jansen raised his fist into the air and led the crowd in that metal mainstay, a big collective “HEY HEY HEY.”
But the band itself helped keep that electric crowd crackling. Perhaps because the relative simplicity of what they were playing allowed for a great deal of movement, but whatever it was, Epica avoided simply standing still and playing their instruments. A particular move that got the crowd going was when the band’s guitarists (Jansen and lead guitarist Isaac Delahaye) stood atop two monitors, their hair blowing in the wind in full music video guitar god mode.
Two members in particular deserve to be singled out for their live energy. The first is keyboardist Coen Janssen. A solidly different presence on stage (given that he’s the only person without long hair), he managed to keep all eyes on him, especially when he broke out a bizarre free-standing keyboard in the shape of a parabola that was attached to his body, allowing him to move throughout the stage and even through the crowd. To be frank, you’re going to remember a show if the keyboardist is jamming out next to you as you’re standing by the sound booth.
The other is lead singer Simone Simons. I mentioned earlier that I found Epica to be a band that found greatness in fits and spurts, and Simons is certainly one of those fits and spurts. I’ve considered her to be one of the strongest female metal voices since I first heard her on Kamelot’s album, The Black Halo, and she’s continued to impress since then. Her crystal-clear and soaring operatic voice has always given Epica the truly epic kick they need as a band over the often more standardized riffing.
Performing live, she brings a stage quality you don’t often find in metal: playfulness. Simons dances and shakes around on stage, bringing a show-stealing, almost poppy presence that makes an Epica show feel almost fun. In fact, her biggest concern seems to be the fun that the audience has during the show (as she mentioned multiple times throughout), and she certainly can be credited with making an Epica show feel legitimately energetic and enjoyable.
Musically, I’ve never been a huge fan of Epica, but their fiery live presence does manage to paper over that for me. While their recent album, The Quantum Enigma,came out middling in the studio, the songs pop live, and filled the Masquerade with a sheer visceral thrill, holding the grandiosity of a really pulpy fantasy novel. “Unchain Utopia” was a highlight, a song that went from feeling bog-standard to one that really became a quick favorite.
The biggest problem with the band was an oddly arranged setlist. It felt as though there was a need to slow down, get some gothicism or grandiosity through slower songs, but Epica went full bore metal almost the entire time, which can be exhausting, especially from a band that operates at different speeds. They're not Slayer or Amon Amarth, so I’d have liked a little dynamic range.
And it seemed as though some of their bigger songs were placed at moments that dulled their impact, specifically Epica anthem “Cry for the Moon.” Off their first album, The Phantom Agony, it’s undoubtedly the finest song they’ve made. An epic, gothic rage against control, it works in both its death metal growls and its soaring soprano. As soon as the crowd heard Simons state that the song was up next, they lost it.
Except “Cry for the Moon” was placed firmly in the middle of the set list and followed up by “Chemical Insomnia,” one of their weaker songs off their newest album. Hitting one of your fan favorites in the middle of the performance dulls its impact significantly, leaving it feeling less like the event that it should be when a band plays their biggest songs and more like just another track along the way.
I can better recommend Epica now, thanks to this live show. While I may never count them among my favorite acts, the crackling fiery energy on display, as well as the strong performing powers of the band, will manage to help any metal fan look past and even grow to appreciate Epica’s brand of symphonic metal.
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