FEINT is a four-track EP by Epica. The release contains previously unavailable and alternate versions of already released songs.
Double single taken from the goth-metal band's 2003 debut album 'Phantom Agony', features eight tracks on two CDs. Disc one features the title track, 'Feint', b/w 'Leif Al Din', & two non-LP tracks, 'Feint' (unreleased piano version) & 'Triumph Of Defeat' (unreleased instrumental track). Disc two features the title track, 'Cry For The Moon', b/w 'Run For A Fall', & two non-LP tracks, ''Cry For The Moon' (unreleased single version) & 'Run For A Fall' (unreleased single version). Transmission. 2004.
-- synths & piano, orchestral and choir arrangements
Yves Huts
-- bass guitar
Jeroen Simons
-- drums
Epica Orchestra:
Thomas Glöckner - violin
Andreas Pfaff - violin
Tobias Rempe - violin
Marie-Theres Stumpf - viola
David Schlage - viola
Jörn Kellermann - cello
Cordula Rhode - cello
Andrè Neygenfind - contrabass
Epica Choir:
Melvin Edmonsen - bass
Previn Moore - tenor
Bridget Fogle - alto
Cinzia Rizzo - alto
Annie Goeble - soprano
Amanda Somerville - soprano, vocal coach
Additional musicians
Olaf Reitmeier - acoustic guitars on "Feint" and "Run for a Fall", engineer
Annette Berryman - flute on "Run for a Fall"
Marcel, ProgPower Online, 7/03
"A new chapter in the successful book of Gothic Metal is written by guitarist and composer Mark Jansen (ex-After Forever), so forget everything you have heard so far and prepare yourself for the awesome beauty of Epica. Inspired by the Arab culture, Epica brings a unique blend of classical orchestra and choir, brutal grunts and screams and the exquisite mezzo soprano vocals of Simone Simons. (...) From the moment you hear the first notes of ‘Adyta’, you are captured by the beautiful and mysterious atmosphere of 'The Phantom Agony', where Arab and Latin influences are mixed with powerful drums and shredding guitars and garnished with grunts and screams by Mark Jansen. Vocalist Simone Simons is a true revelation, as she seemed to have walked right out of an opera, straight into Epica, and it is a pure delight to hear her sing. The use of a real choir as well as choir samples add to the atmosphere in the songs. (...) Of course, if you listen to The Phantom Agony, you hear a sound which is very similar to After Forever, no surprise as mark Jansen was one of the main songwriters in After Forever. However, do not make the mistake to view Epica as just a clone of After Forever! Epica is an entirely separate band with their own sound, that differs enough from After Forever, as it is less metal and more classical influences...."
07. Death of a Dream - The Embrace that Smothers Part VII
08. Living a Lie - The Embrace that Smothers Part VIII
09. Fools of Damnation - The Embrace that Smothers Part IX
10. Holy Man (Glenn Hughes Remix)
11. Beyond Belief
12. Safeguard to Paradise
13. Sancta Terra
14. The Divine Conspiracy
In a year that saw new releases by Within Temptation and Nightwish, I was rather surprised to find that Epica's new offering turned out to be my favorite female-fronted symphonic metal release of 2007. The Divine Conspiracy is far from perfect — in fact, it has some glaring problems — but when it hits the mark, it really hits the mark. If you've heard anything in this general stylistic niche, you generally know what to expect: zero subtlety, tons of bombast, lots of catchy vocal melodies and grandiose keyboards mixed in with the chugging guitars. There are a few reasons The Divine Conspiracy rises above the rest of the pack. For one thing, Epica have gotten heavier, and at this point they're much heavier than any of their better-known peers, especially in the drumming and male vocal departments. For another, Simone Simons is at the absolute top of her game, possessing maybe the best voice in this niche now that Tarja Turunen is out of the picture.
The first five songs on this album, not including two brief instrumental introductions, are almost entirely the reason that I hold it in such high esteem. There's Simons' beautiful voice, yes, but there are also some pleasant surprises. Mark Jansen's vocals vacillate between black metal howls and death metal growls, and he is surprisingly effective at both in this context (though his death growls, which are kind of in the Mikael Åkerfeldt/Dan Swanö mold, probably wouldn't cut it in a straight-up DM band). Coen Janssen's keyboards are ridiculous and over-the-top as per the norm in this genre, but the sounds he uses are fantastic — I actually wondered if there was a real orchestra performing on this album, and when I saw them live I was pleasantly surprised to see that no, all those extremely real-sounding string sections, choruses and more are all coming from the synths. Most importantly, the compositions meld black metal brutality and symph-metal bombast (and Simons' angelic voice) seamlessly, more so than any other similar band that's tried to be this heavy.
These five songs are all almost beyond reproach in my book, with the exception of the fact that some of them are unnecessarily long by two minutes or more. This turns out to be my main criticism of the album as a whole: it's just too damn lengthy. The second half of the album tails off badly in terms of quality, to the point that "Sancta Terra" is the only song out of the last six that I listen to. It's not that these songs are actively bad, rather that they lack the hooks, melodies and memorable symphonic arrangements of the first five songs, and become just so much bombastic sonic wallpaper. Even the title track, which at 14 minutes closes out the album, is disappointing; for a closing epic I expected it to be one of the best pieces on the album, but no such luck. It starts off with suitable pomposity, all movie soundtrack drama and widescreen grandeur, but it soon loses the plot, failing to present enough ideas to justify its enormous duration.
While the same could be said of this album as a whole, the six songs that I do like are easily good enough to ensure that I think good things when I listen to this record. All the usual caveats for this kind of music apply: you absolutely have to be in the mood for extreme bombast, while at the same time accepting that a band that gives so much air time to a soprano vocalist just isn't going to be as metal as your favorite tech-death group. Still, as far as these things go, The Divine Conspiracy is one of the best albums of its kind, despite its many weaknesses, and it's certainly a massive step up from Epica's previous albums, which never really made much of an impression on me.
