Epica – Design Your Universe (2009)

“Design Your Universe” is probably one of the most expected albums of 2009 based on the momentum Epica has been building up since the release of “The Divine Conspiracy” two years ago. This momentum has been helped with endless touring and a live album released in the mean time.

This album clearly shows that Epica’s success was not a matter of chance or anything and that the band is here to stay. “Design Your Universe” is a good improvement over “The Divine Conspiracy” and a worthy next step in their career, since this album is somewhat better than their previous releases. But here comes the ‘but’ in this last statement; the band does not offer much new in terms of ‘freshness’ to their sound.

“Design Your Universe” follows the Epica sound faithfully, a characteristic sound they crafted in their first two albums and they just have been tweaking in the past few years. However this album shows no new developments into evolving their style much. You do have some things here and there that add a bit more to the overall rich sound they have, like some Gregorian chants in one of the songs, and more complex keyboard arrangements, but this is all just adding more icing on the top of the cake. The addition of Isaac Delahaye from God Dethroned added some interesting guitar lines here and there and the band sounds a bit heavier, something that I like since it shows they are not going the ‘Within Temptation way’ and just completely sell out to a more commercial friendly sound.

Leaving the whole ‘freshness’ issue aside, Epica has released their best album to date, and they have managed to keep true to their sound and not sold out (maybe yet) like other bands have. Simone’s vocals are as amazing as ever, proving once more she is a great front woman for the band (and you can see this in their live performances). Mark Jansen’s harsh vocals, guitar playing, and song writing abilities are still the best in the whole Gothic Metal genre. The keyboards have been constantly improving and now they are more diverse than before so this is a great plus in this album as well.

Another cool thing about this album is the guest appearance of Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica singing a duet with Simone in the track “White Waters”. I could go over each track, but instead I will let you guys discover the little details they hide on your own.

In overall “Design Your Universe” is a very solid release, and it’s currently on my list of top 10 albums of the year. It’s nice to hear that Epica is not changing drastically (like After Forever changed to more Power Metal oriented music) and it’s not going commercial just yet, like Leaves’ Eyes or Within Temptation.

Release: November 11, 2009

Country: Netherlands