Over time, a whopping six of Epica‘s extensive arsenal of full-length releases, plus a handful of clips and other shorties, made it onto the RMR zine. And as our internal pecking order goes, this puts them on par with big players such as Within Temptation1 and – behold – Rotting Christ, no less. Meaning, this band is at the top of the RMR food chain as albums covered go. And no wonder, Epica constantly churned out good to great albums over the years with only few disappointments.
Staying true on a carefully charted Symphonic Metal course while working to improve their musical prowess seems to be one of Epica‘s many unsung talents. Already the 2021 piece Omega impressed us in various ways. And Aspiral here continues on the same tack and takes this a few leaps further. In truth, the RMR crew got some advance warning after the release of Arcana late 2024. Albeit that this blurb sailed a tad too close to the wares the newest Nightwish piece just offered. A slight negative apparent on much of this here record.
And as is always the case in Symphonic Metal, the vocalist will make or break the record. To get somewhere in the overloaded genre, top-notch quality is needed to avoid hurtling back into the steamy swamp where all other symph creatures dwell. Luckily, Epica have Simone Simons, and I daresay she gets better with age. The RMR crew still remembers the somewhat bewildered rookie on The Phantom Agony of 2003. Not that it prevented the band from producing one of their most stellar records. There’s that, too. Now, on Aspiral here, her performance is nothing short of flawless. Listening to her soaring clears and soft croonings (Arcana, Obsidian Heart, for instance) is a true delight.
Epica‘s also the only Symphonic Metal band with decent growls yours truly can actually stomach. If you remember, many bands started off with often godawful growls in between the watery dime-a-dozen symphonic vibes but ditched them after a while. Mark Jansen‘s throaty expert growls yet again single-handedly save the band’s bacon in the unclean department. And it’s interesting how Epica perfected the Beauty and the Beast theme not only by boosting Simons’ Creature ov the Light musings. Whenever the bad growly monster appears, Isaac Delahaye switches from light and Disney-ish riffs and leads to a darker tone accompanied by heavy chugs usually reserved for the Extreme Metal spectrum of the metal multiverse.
And speaking about the guitar work, while other biggies in this genre often lose THE main driver of the play and go for stale synths instead, Aspiral uses the axemen as its weapon of choice. Strings, choir, and orchestrations are equally important but the way Epica integrated their guitars with ever rotating riffs, leads, and often otherwordly solos is mindblowing. A juicy one can be found right on the excellent Metanoia – A New Age Dawns (Part VIII). But there’s more. Coen Janssen honed the orchestration to a fine art. The band always used choirs to their advantage. If compared to earlier works, though, Aspiral truly takes the cake. Choirs, strings, keys, and synth now seamlessly integrate into the production. In stark contrast to other wannabe contenders to Symphonic Metal glory, that is. And there are many.
But let’s wrap this up some, shall we? Lest we continue heaping praise on Epica until it gets to the band’s mutual heads. But there’s no denying it. Aspiral is without a doubt one of the best if not THE best and best balanced album the band produced so far. And this while ploughing the very same symphonic patches of the metal multiverse all over again. A record that will dazzle you with an outstanding arrangement and a production that contains almost no negative.
Nothing is ever perfect of course. The uncomfortable closeness to other big Symphonic Metal bands is one issue and the tendency to noodle about the soundscape toward the end another one. But those are small potatoes when considering the overall outstaninging quality of the piece. Aspiral is living proof of masterful symphonic geekery still alive and kicking in an overloaded and oldish metal genre. A record best consumed in one listening session and multiple times to boot.
So now, if you’d excuse us, we need to give this another spin or five. It’s just too good.
Record Rating: 9/10 | Label: Nuclear Blast | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 11 April 2025
- A band we stopped covering. They’re tilling the same old fields all over again. For eternity. -Ed.-↩