Epica - Bristol Review

While symphonic and power metal does not play as big a part in my life as it once did, there are still a handful of bands of that persuasion that I will always make time for. The Netherlands' Epica is one of those bands, as their progressive brand of symphonic metal always resonates. I first became a fan of the band probably around ten years ago, and first saw them in Nottingham in 2011 supporting their Design Your Universe album. While the band's albums are not always an easy listen, with a lot going on in each song, they are a band that rewards perseverance and I have come to enjoy all of the band's seven studio albums to varying degrees. 2016's The Holographic Principle is the band's most recent studio offering, and it is one of their most impressive yet. The production is top notch, and the songwriting is dense, heavy, and beautiful - mixing their usual mix of progressive, symphonic, and death metal for a powerful outcome. I saw the band last year in London, which was the only UK date of their co-headline tour with Powerwolf. While I still enjoyed the show, it was not the best of the four Epica shows I had witnessed up until that point. I was stuck in a rather poor part of the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, so had a bad view of the stage for most of the night. This, combined with the fact that it seemed that many of the crowd were there to see Powerwolf, made for a rather muted evening out. Epica come around fairly regularly however, and towards the back end of last year the band announced a UK headline tour which would bring the material of The Holographic Principle to cities of the UK that were not London. I opted for their show at the O2 Academy in Bristol, which is always a good place to watch bands. I have rarely had a bad experience at the venue, although sold out shows can feel extremely over-cramped, and this was to be no exception. While the band are pretty popular here in the UK, they are not in danger of selling out a multi-date tour of decent-sized venues any time soon. Despite this, there was still a decent-sized crowd for a Sunday night packed onto the venue's floor (the balcony was closed off) and the good turnout helped to make for a good atmosphere without ever feeling too cramped. I managed to get down quite close the front, not something that I have managed to do at either of the last two London shows, which gave me a great view of everything that was going on throughout the evening.

The first band of the three band bill were the Texas-based progressive/doom metal act Oceans of Slumber. They only had half an hour on stage, but made a good fist of their brief slot to demonstrate their murky, technical sound with a handful of their songs. Sadly however, the sound mix was not great which meant that the intricacies of their music was totally lost. The keyboards were totally inaudible, and frontwoman Cammie Gilbert's vocals were often pretty hard to hear. She seemed to be a pretty quiet singer, and indeed talker going by her extremely brief inter-song speeches, which certainly did not help - but Dobber Beverly's extremely loud drums was the main culprit in drowning her out. This sort of poor sound is sadly still common for support acts however, and as a result I feel that I was unable to really get a proper measure of Oceans of Slumber's music - as it seems to be the sort of music that requires all of the nuances to really be heard. That being said, there were plenty of off-kilter and technical guitar and bass riffs throughout, which certainly impressed, so on the strength of these I will probably look to give the band a proper listen at some point in the future.

Up next was Myrkur, the atmospheric black metal persona of Danish musician and actress Amalie Bruun. Black metal is certainly not my favourite genre of music, and any kind of strange off-shoot of it is not likely to impress me either. Even after a day or so to reflect on Myrkur's set however, I am still not really sure what to make of her music. It is certainly atmospheric, with the guitar there mostly to create strange sonic tapestries with the liberal use of effects pedals rather than to churn out traditional riffs, which allowed Bruun to use her siren-esque voice to good effect to wail atop the dense soundscapes. The bass, and percussive drumming, provided the main driving force of the music; which made each song have quite a staccato, tribal feel. There is clearly quite a big influence from Nordic folk music in Myrkur's sound, as was made clear at the end of the set when a version of a traditional folk song was played with Bruun's voice only accompanied by drums and percussion, with plenty of wordless vocal melodies mixed into the swirling sounds. It is hard for me to form an opinion on Myrkur really, as her music is so far removed from the type of thing I usually listen to. I am glad I managed to catch her live however, as seeing different things is always an interesting and educational experience, but I cannot really say that any of what was played resonated with me in any way.

After two support acts that did not really hit the mark for numerous reasons, it was down to Epica to really put their mark on the night. They hit the stage at 9:20pm and played through until the 11pm curfew, treating the crowd to a career-spanning set that included a fair chunk of their recent album and a good selection of older numbers. The short, sharp Edge of the Blade got things off to a powerful start, with the dramatic gothic orchestrations and pin-point guitar riffing filling the venue from the off. Frontwoman Simone Simons has become one of the best female vocalists in metal in recent years, and she sounded fantastic throughout the set. Her approach is far less operatic now than it was in the band's early days, but I think this actually works in the band's favour and allows her to really power through the material. While I would say that there are some songs in the set that really could do with being dropped in favour of lesser-played ones, including the second number Sensorium which is ever-present at Epica shows, the setlist was mostly a strong representation of where Epica are at this point. The tough Fight Your Demons, from last year's EP The Solace System, was an early highlight, with Isaac Delahaye (guitar/vocals) and band leader Mark Jansen (vocals/guitars) churning out the mechanical riffs with ease as Simons owned the melodic chorus. Another early highlight was The Essence of Silence, another relatively new number, which allowed Jansen to really shine vocally with lots of devastating harsh vocals. A key facet of Epica's sound has always been the vocal interplay of Simons and Jansen, and this is one of the rare songs that sees Jansen really take the lead with some crushing verses - before the epic chorus comes along for Simons.

One thing that was apparent from my position near the stage was just how much fun the band were having up on stage. This is always the case for Epica, but being so close this was much more palpable. The band members often played each other's instruments and just generally joked around with each other a lot which was good to see. So often, bands of the symphonic and power metal genres can take themselves all-too seriously so it was refreshing to see Epica having a blast. A couple of tracks from The Holographic Principle: Dancing in a Hurricane and Universal Death Squad; made for a powerful duo as the set entered it's second half, but it was the oldie Cry for the Moon that proved to be one of the best-received songs of the night. This is another ever-present song, but it is one that allows the crowd to take part during the choruses. Everyone in attendance was singing along, including one of the security guards standing near at the front of the stage, which made for a powerful moment. The song came to a close with a short, explosive drum solo from long-time drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek and he unsurprisingly received a big cheer for his efforts. The main set came to a close with the dynamic Once Upon a Nightmare. The song starts out as a ballad, led by Coen Janssen's (keyboards) piano melodies, before building up towards a powerful conclusion. The band left the stage to chants of 'Epica', and of course it was not long before they were back for an encore. Sancta Terra and Beyond the Matrix were rolled out fairly quickly, the latter containing some excellent bass playing from Rob van der Loo, before the evening came to an epic end with the lengthy Consign to Oblivion. Simons instigated a wall of death at the song's beginning, and Jansen took the opportunity to shine with lots of lengthy growled sections. When the song was over the band took their bows to big cheers and, although the place was not sold out, the noise that came from the crowd could have fooled anyone! The setlist was:

Eidola
Edge of the Blade
Sensorium
Fight Your Demons
The Essence of Silence
Storm the Sorrow
Ascension - Dream State Armageddon
Dancing in a Hurricane
Universal Death Squad
Cry for the Moon (The Embrace That Smothers - Part IV)
Unchain Utopia
Once Upon a Nightmare
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Sancta Terra
Beyond the Matrix
Consign to Oblivion (A New Age Dawns - Part III)

It is always great to see bands of Epica's ilk doing full UK tours rather than just the usual token headline show in London. In fairness to the Dutch band, they have usually made efforts to take in more of the country than just the capital, and I hope this continues going forward. They seem to come around twice with during each album cycle now - once during the initial tour which just covers London, and once again the following year with a proper UK tour - so there is always plenty of opportunities to see them.