Review : EPICA – “Design Your Universe”

Epica – Design Your Universe
released October 16, 2009 on Nuclear Blast

Strings? Check. Choir? Check. Distorted guitars? Check. Operatic female vocals? Check. Welcome to the universe that Holland’s favorite symphonic metallers Epica has designed.

Clocking in at just about 1 hour and 15 minutes, Design Your Universe feels way too long. It’s not like this is a new trend for the band (their last effort was even a tiny bit longer), but I must emphasize that with such a repetitive style, you need to slim down the music. They suffer from roughly the same disease that has plagued Dream Theater over the years: the ability to write some pretty cool parts, but an incredible difficulty with putting them together in a coherent way. For example, “Resign to Surrender” really does have its moments, but they are not unified.

There is also the issue of the immense cheese factor here. The ‘acting’ in “Kingdom of Heaven”  is absolutely abysmal, all but ruining an otherwise decent epic. The over-the-top choral feel can also be a bit overindulgent at times. However, if you do like these guys, that’s probably what you’re looking for, so in that respect, they do a great job of hammering extravagant synthesized orchestras and massive choirs at you. In the chance that you are like me and that isn’t your thing, I would not go too far out of your way to check this one out.

You may recognize Sonata Arctica lead vocalist Tony Kakko on track 12.

FCC OK
Try 2, 3, 6, 12, 13

01. Samadhi
02. Resign to Surrender
03. Unleashed
04. Martyr of the Free Word
05. Our Destiny
06. Kingdom of Heaven
07. The Price of Freedom
08. Burn to a Cinder
09. Tides of Time
10. Deconstruct
11. Semblance of Liberty
12. White Waters
13. Design Your Universe

Rating: