I listen to Epica for the first time ever⎮Metal Reactions #24

[@jamescurfman3284]

Simone Simons was only nineteen years old. In the studio recording videos for Cry For The Moon and Phantom Agony (those two songs at the very least), Amanda Somerville was in the backing choral lineup. Amanda was Simone's Vocal Coach at the time. By Amanda's body language, she was incredibly proud of Simone during recording those songs. :)

[@forsakenquery]

"I don't know what to do with myself I need to reevaluate my purpose in life" - the appropriate reaction to this music.

[@imaKaiya]

This is Epica - The Movie. Enjoy! 🧙‍♂

[@felipecampos3045]

OMG!! Love epica!!! 😳😳 Hope you did the live versions of design your universe and consign to oblivion, they are way better than any other.

[@rolsen1304]

Loving it, Epica is such a musically talented band

[@cancelled_user]

Please do much more Epica. As a hardcore Epican I can give you some great suggestions if you wish :)

[@fritsyt2090]

Epica forever and ever!!!

[@MasterOZero]

Since you love Mexican food, I'll let you know I'm Mexican, 6'7 tall, and I have a collection of merchandise from epic on my walls and closet. Some sweet ass memorabilia, 3 ear books.

[@theCrownofSympathy]

I'm looking forward to this! Epica are my favorite symphonic metal band.

[@irenetorres6778]

You can try more current and heavy songs of the band like: - The Essence of Silence - Victims of contingency - The holographic principle - The Skeleton Key

[@chrisunderwood129]

Love the skeleton key, and freedom the wolves within

[@yotambraunshtein9786]

Yes skeleton key is incredible

[@giljensen1132]

Sirens of blood and water as well

[@deminybs]

more like : entire discography in order lol

[@bigg2988]

You ARE one brave girl! To start getting into EPICA not through one or several of their more accessible anthems, but by piling on basically the epic long "statement" tracks from 4 of their albums?! Hell yeah! I bet one must feel spent after such a session. But the majesty is all worth it. Do continue! \m/

[@MilesDashing]

Well, if you want to get into/understand/analyze a band, this sort of deep dive is the way to do it. If your primary motive is to get views/make money, then a series of reactions to individual songs is the way to go.

[@InfinityZ808]

Oh btw, to answer your question about where's the other three parts of "The Embrace That Smothers", they're on the other band's first album called "Prison Of Desire" by After Forever. It was a band that also formed by Mark Jansen before he left to form Epica instead.

[@nicolasangelini3441]

Epica is my favorite band in this moment Im patiently waiting for this

[@randywhite2646]

If you like interesting instrumentation in metal, may I suggest Eluveitie? Solid Celtic/Folk Metal.

[@kirashadow98]

We need a second part of Epica! I suggest 3 song with a little different vibe and shorter: -"Chasing the dragon" (from 3rd album Divine conspiracy) -"Tides of time" (a ballad from Design your universe) -"Beyond the matrix" (From The holographic principle album) Or you can do a full walkthrough over their entire discography, none of their albums are bad, actually they evolve with every record

[@hestiatrace1852]

It is Mark Jansen on vocal.

[@chrisunderwood129]

Yeah him and Simone make a very good Duo

[@MarcelCox1]

I suggest you also check out some of the balads or less ehavy songs. It shows the diversity of Epica: - Chasing the Dragon - Once upon a Nightmare - Tides of Time . Dancing in a Hurricane try to always pick official live videos where possible.

[@whirledpeaz5758]

I concur

[@jamescurfman3284]

Yes, they are AWESOME live! :)

[@kuplung22]

Faint

[@beldin2987]

Solitary Ground (live @ Openluchttheater Hertme, Hertme, 29-06-2019)

[@Sarcasticron]

This video should have been called "Singer has EXISTENTIAL CRISIS listening to Epica for the first time!"

[@lynnef1988]

Their sound has changed a lot over the years, they will keep surprising you! Omega was fire, the production is insane. From Omega, check out Abyss of Time and The Skeleton Key, or even an album reaction if you had the time. I also recommend: The Essence of Silence, Unchain Utopia, Once upon a Nightmare, Beyond The Matrix, Fools Of Damnation....

[@WanderingSoulsWebzine]

YES, finally a reaction video to my fellow Dutchmen Epica. A fantastic band. You really got to see them live. Live they are magical. I am glad you like 'em! Btw: the growls and screams are done by guitarplayer Mark Jansen, who was formerly in After Forever. Also a band you gotta check. That band also features Floor Jansen on vocals (no they are not family), the singer from Nightwish. The Embrace That Smothers parts 1-3 are on the After Forever album Prison Of Desire. The concept on those stories are made by Mark Jansen. The last parts of this concept are on the Epica album The Divine Conspiracy.

[@davidfrischknecht8261]

This band is by far my favorite metal band. I've seen them live four times so far, and I'll be seeing them live in Philly in October when they open for Sabaton, another awesome band.

[@FranciscoSalgado-ezc]

FYI Epica is touring right now. So you may be able to see them in concert. I got tickets for there show in NY.

[@davidfrischknecht8261]

I'll be seeing them in Philly.

[@74Orkay]

Some random Epica suggestions: From the concert 'Retrospect': -Chasing the Dragon / Unleashed / Serenade of self-destruction From 'Live at the Zenith': -Beyond the matrix From 'Omega alive': The skeletton key / Victims of contingency / Unchain Utopia Other official songs: The essence of silence / In all conscience (Epic Metal Fest aftermovie - I would normally suggest the Omega Alive version but there is no official version on KZbin) There is also some really beautyful acoustic stuff: Abyss o'time / Omegacoustic / Martyr of the free world And - since you mentioned "Disney Princess": Simone has made a cover version of "Part of your World"

[@awesomelana7227]

Men and women are not in direct competition. They are made to complement the other. Women have their own unique value that a man could never replicate….. and vice versa. I’m glad you found Epica, they are a wonderful band.

[@cornelius8617]

finally. someone gets it

[@imaKaiya]

Yes. I agree with this fully.

[@krytoderp6920]

that's why feminist movement are stupid

[@hy3na739]

Hmm... I personally think we're a lot more similar than what societal structures have led us to believe in the past... Also I think it can't be generalised at all... everyone is different and likes differrent things... We have seen and treated each others as competitors/enemies for far too long... We should just accept everyone for who they are.

[@AnaShiMusic-my9tu]

yeah, but female and male voices are very different, and i know more people that prefer either male voices or female voices, than people that don't care (even if its in the same tonal range). I for example prefer female voices, but i also like the high-mid range of male voices (mostly sung by females), like the singers of hammerfall, powerwolf, etc.

[@kirashadow98]

Little annotation to the song collections of Mark Jansen was actually a founder of another band called After Forever he composed many song for they 2 first albums and he started a collection of songs, so the first 3 parts of the "Embrace that smoothers" are in the first After Forever record PD. they are only 6 members the orchestra was a gest for their 10th anniversary show

[@rnowak85]

Second time watching your channel. First time was your women in metal video. I am guessing this is your first dive into Symphonic Metal, the glorious mash up of symphonic techniques, instruments, and composition with metal. Welcome! There is a whole wonderful world of this kind of music. Epica and Nightwish are in my opinion the two best bands of this genre and I am a huge fan of both bands. Nice journey through Epica's catalog. Simone's vocals have changed over time because she was originally told that she was a mezzo soprano but is in fact a true soprano. She is a classical trained singer. Mark Jansen and Floor Jansen (current lead singer of Nightwish and also Dutch) were in the band After Forever together and Floor and Simone are friends. Epica doesn't usually have a live orchestra and choir on stage but they did for the Retrospect concert as it was their 10th anniversary. The Retrospect show is amazing. A 3 hour setlist and Simone was 3 months pregnant at the time. My current favorite Epica songs you haven't heard yet are Unleashed, Chasing the Dragon, Essence of Silence, Tides of Time and Rivers. For something a little different you should checkout Simone's version of Part of Your World from Disney's Little Mermaid. Simone looks the part and would be an awesome Disney Metal Princess. Got tickets to see Epica with Sabaton in Boston in October. Thank you for sharing this with us and subbed for the journey.

[@rnowak85]

Please consider giving Nightwish a second chance. Bye Bye Beautiful is not their best metal song. Something from the legendary Wacken 2013 show. Something heavier like Song of Myself, Ghost River or Romanticide would be a good introduction for you.

[@Frankamaria]

yes, Epica and Nightwish are the peak in that genre... of course there are so many awesome other bands outthere

[@rnowak85]

@@Frankamaria Concur. There are so many great bands out there. Bands like Delain, Therion, Ad Infinitum, Within Temptation, Blackbriar, Leaves Eyes and so many more.

[@bencekeomley-horvath385]

I've just seen them live this weekend at FEZEN, Hungary it was a beauty. And next day Nightwish on game festival, one of the best weekend of my life

[@nebulajumper6216]

Welcome to the amazing realm of European Metal. And thank you for this extended homage to one of the greatest bands in the world.

[@russull5589]

welcome to epica! mark jansen was pretty much my first 'celebrity crush' getting on the internet and discovering new music as like a thirteen year old in the early 2000s, both with After Forever (his old band with friend, not relative, Floor Jansen) and with Epica. let's call epica symphonic power metal for a genre. one of the things I like about epica's take on the genre is that it leans hard into both the heavy and the symphonic elements while managing to de-center the macho aggression of so much metal. beauty and the beast vocal style, like mark and simone do, is one shortcut to that end, but even the false end in design your universe is very bombastic without being especially aggressive. it makes the music comforting and welcoming and energizing. wild how much they've all just gotten better (and hotter lol) over time. having heard Simone singing recently, I recommend going back and listening to some of those very first songs again and comparing her vocal style, it's neat! and mark's come a really long way with his growls too. one thing I recommend for people diving into this area of music is to look up Joost van den Broek, a Dutch musician and producer, and giving a listen to basically anything and everything he's been involved with in either role. hard to go wrong with anything, but the obvious first pick is Ayreon if you haven't discovered the work of arjen lucassen yet already :)

[@christophschmedes5975]

Simone the singer came with 17years to Epica and is now 43years old and is one of the Soprano in Metall and she is a liddel bit wild

[@damianvc31]

Hey! As a fan of this band it was cool to see you discover it...some of your reactions I can definitely identify with, for instance the orchestral ending of The Phantom Agony always gives me chills as well You selected some of their most epic tracks. They also have shorter songs that are more simple but most retain their huge multilayered sound The live show you watched is the celebration for the 10th years of the band, hence the live orchestra and choir, they don't usually do touring with it for obvious reasons. A small note here the closer of the show was actually Consign to Oblivion, Design Your Universe was more of a "fake end". BTW the show was 3-hours long and Simone was pregnant on it, she did an incredible job on it. Also, the 'part X' thing in some of the titles refers to a cycle of songs that are thematically close, they spread those across different albums but musically they are not connected. Also the Embrace that Smothers cycle started in Mark Jansen's previous band After Forever. Hopefully you can do some more of this band, it has a really huge catalog with lots of highlights and very few lows For a next reaction I definitely recommend their live streamed show in 2021, they have 4 videos for free in their channel (one is KoH part III) and the rest are in audio form. Superb show.

[@rolsen1304]

Epica: Unleashed live at Retrospect Chasing The Dragon also Retrospect Kingdom of Heaven part 1 (Kingdom of Heaven (Live video) (Lyrics - English / Español | Subtitulado is the best version) Fools of Damnation from the album The Divine Conspiracy Tides of Time

[@bararobberbaron859]

To your point at 30:20, they named their band Epica after the Kamelot album (Epica).

[@ohacade408]

Enjoyed hearing your thoughts, your comments are very insightful. A lot of people are encouraging you to do an Omega reaction because it’s the most recent, but I think most fans would agree that Design Your Universe is their best album ever, so that’s really the one to check out. Your enjoyment of the title track is proof enough of it! Great reaction 🔥

[@rolsen1304]

I agree, for me DUY Gold Edition is the most played Epica album by far, it's such a good mix between their old and new sound.

[@framsaal2219]

You should to listen to "Omega". The whole album is an amazing journey 🤩

[@sam_broesel]

Yes, you‘re right. Incredible Album, just seeing Omega Alive, best Video ever.

[@Nytraz]

This was an awesome video girl! You've earned a sub from me, I enjoyed it immensely. As you already found out, Epica had a fairly big lineup change around the release of their 4th album, Design Your Universe. As you listen to more tracks from the band, you'll notice quite a shift in their music from DYU onward, incorporating more death metal and black metal influences. Both Issac (guitars) and Arien (drums) came from the death/black metal band God Dethroned, and brought their influences to the group. As far as their most recent album, Omega, it has settled in for me in the upper half of their discography. I have a hard time pegging a favorite album but I definitely enjoyed Omega a great deal. It feels like the band is in top form right now, and I honestly don't think they have released what I would consider a bad album yet. Now that you have seen some of Epica's "epics", it would probably be good to see some of their more concise, shorter tracks. I'd recommend: - Essence of Silence - A Phantasmic Parade - Abyss of Time - Unleashed - Unchain Utopia And if you feel like another (slightly) longer song, I can't recommend Chasing The Dragon enough. It may be my favorite song of theirs period. (As another commentor said, always choose Official Live versions when possible, they always deliver in their live performances.) Welcome to the club, looking forward to whenever you take another step on this journey!

[@ArvoR]

Check out Epica vs Attack on Titan Songs EP "Crimson Bow and Arrow", super energetic

[@analovgmza]

What a journey you made! haha I really love Epica's music. Omega is a great album and I love the song Code of Life. As someone else said, I think you'd enjoy their ballads too. I'm really excited because I will see them live for the first time in November, in Argentina. Thanks for the ride ;)

[@ciro73]

The Embrace that Smothers Parts 1, 2 & 3 are in After Forever's albums, which was Mark Jansen (and Floor Jansen) (No, they're not related) band before Epica.

[@ciro73]

Also, Simone and Mark used to date when the band began playing. That chemistry live shows up hard.

[@neils123]

I'm still on "Cry for the Moon", so I don't know if you answered this question for yourself later in the vid, but the harsh vocals are Mark Janssen (sp?), one of the guitarists. Simone is typically considered the lead vocalist, but the two of them do a lot of trading off, her beautiful operatic cleans and his harsh growls.

[@cancelled_user]

* Mark Jansen

[@justitia257]

Fantastica Reaction, Grazie Kaiya

[@matthewmutchman6360]

This is my first time watching one of your videos. Great songs choices! Epica is one of my favorite bands of all time! No one else like them. So I enjoy watching peoples' reactions to this band. Simone is my absolute favorite female singer, no one comes close to her, for me. You should definitely check out songs from their 2007 album The Divine Conspiracy, their 2014 album The Quantum Enigma and their 2016 album The Holographic Principle, so many good songs to choose from on those!!

[@rolsen1304]

This is art. Music not primarily as entertainment, but as art. Absolutely fantastic, like an explosion of light.

[@cancelled_user]

Hello and welcome to the world of Epica! Currently the peak of symphonic metal. This band will blow your mind again and again if you keep reacting to them. Stunning musical compositions, no generic metal, no filler songs on their albums. You have about 120 songs to choose from and you can't really go wrong with Epica :) "I've never heard anything like this before" Yes, this is what many people say when listening to Epica for the first time :)) I subscribed and I hope you really are going to react to much more of this phenomenal band.

[@fritsyt2090]

Read my other comment under the NW discussion lol

[@cranboogie]

🌀🌀🌀👋👋👋

[@leoluna6201]

Epica is one of my favorites bands. I love your reactions Kaiya! ♥

[@kirashadow98]

Yes I'm so happy with this, Epica is my favourite Symphonic Metal band and my 2nd favourite Metal band of all time (just behind Metallica) PD Epica has 2 vocals Simone Simons is the main and Mark Jansen the founder do the harsh vocalist, this style of mixed vocals is known as Beauty and Beast

[@kuplung22]

Epica is in my top 10 bands. Metallica first.🤟

[@richletram539]

Love Epica. Such a good live band. Seeing them for the 3rd time this October in Boston. Mark Jansen was in the band After Forever which was fronted by Floor Jansen (no relation). Floor is the current lead singer (3rd lead singer) of the band Nightwish and is an Amazing singer. You need to check out Nightwish with Floor Jansen! Also, you should React to Eluveitie!!!😁

[@fritsyt2090]

Thank you for doing this wonderful show to the best symphonic metal band in the world, well in my humble opinion hehe :) They are by far one of my two absolute favourite bands besides Eluveitie (the best folk metal band in the world). I hope you do more of Epica and maybe you like to react and listen for the first time ever to Eluveitie as well?! But first more Epica PLS!!! :) Greetings from the Netherlands, the land of Epica! 🤘

[@jaapblaauw3735]

Haha..fans van die andere band totaal van de leg omdat ze het helemaal niks vond na 1 nummer te hebben geluisterd.

[@fritsyt2090]

@@jaapblaauw3735 haha echt he, ik vind het best jammer dat ze altijd zo verontwaardigd reageren en er vervolgens nog een schepje bovenop doen om iemand over te halen om als nog naar die band te luisteren.

[@jaapblaauw3735]

Great reaction tv show! Epica is an amazing band with more than 120 great songs, from soaring ballads to quite some heavy songs and everything in between. After the retrospect show ( this was their tenth anniversary show) they switched to another producer in 2014, dutchman Joost van den Broek. Epica changed their sound a bit to a more heavy sound compared to the early years. There are so many good songs for example: - The Holographic Principle - Unleashed ( retrospect show) - Beyond the Matrix ( official live) - Abyss of Time - In all Conscience Just to name a few. Omega is a great album they used for the first time on this one the Philarmonic Orchestra from Prague to play the orchestral parts on an Epica album. There are youtube 'making of ' videos of the Omega album, 8 parts in total. So looking forward to see more Epica on this channel!

[@fritsyt2090]

Jaap friend! Great recommendations! En wat je zei op die andere video, inderdaad: wij weten wel beter 😁

[@Percy92]

Oh I love Epica, my #1 favorite band!! 😍 Other songs worth checking out: - The Essence of Silence (Official live) - Unchain Utopia (Omega Alive) - The Skeleton Key (Omega Alive) - Victims of Contingency (Omega Alive) - Serenade of Self-destruction (both the studio version and the Retrospect live version) - Martyr of the free Word (Retrospect) - Chasing the Dragon (Retrospect live), this is what they call a powerballad. - Beyond the Matrix (Live at the Zenith) - The Holographic Principle - Dancing in a Hurricane (Official live) Also Epica makes the most beautiful ballads: - Once Upon a Nightmare - Tides of Time - Rivers - Feint - Safeguard to Paradise - Linger

[@AndreLima_bylas]

27:34 Epica made me reflect on some questions I had never thought about. At certain times a phrase in the song with an expressive chord ...yes, it makes you want to cry, but not because of sadness but because of something that really touches your heart. 🤘🏽

[@wernergatterer2953]

Hi! I like your reaction! My favorite Epica live show is the virtual "EPICA - Omega Alive" show they did last year. They need 5 days to film all this and than they made a big premiere day in net with 100.000s of people to see first time live! With many different background things, a nice light and fire show and a great stage design, and they play and sing all live. Simones singing and the whole mix is really great! I really like the songs "The Skeleton Key" and "Kingdom of Heaven Part 3" from this Omega Alive show but the whole conzert is a true Masterpiece! If you have time look it, you can look any song, i'm sure you will like it! Bye!

[@christophschmedes5975]

Simonencame with 17 years to Epica she is now 43years she is now one of the best sopranos in Metall

[@justinvermilyea9192]

Soooo glad you reacted to epica been a huge fan of theirs for years and years they were definitely at the forefront of metal bands with badass female vocalists and of course I always love seeing you Kaiya ❤🤘

[@eckligt]

Great analysis! Sorry I missed the premiere, looked like a good live chat. I know much has been made of the inspiration that Simone Simons drew, in the early days of Epica, from Nightwish, back when Tarja was the vocalist of the latter band. But Nightwish and to some extent Epica also, were themselves inspired by a wave of doom or goth metal bands in Scandinavia starting in the 1990's. Doom/goth metal is slightly similar to symphonic metal, but of course not completely the same. I think the notable doom metal bands have mostly broken up now, and here is a list, together with a couple videos for each one (which may be taken as suggestions for reactions, but also obviously for anyone who is curious): *_The 3rd and the Mortal_* * Formed in 1992 in Trondheim, Norway, initially with classical soprano Kari Rueslåtten on vox, although she left after the first album in 1994 and the band would gradually move on to different styles of music using other vocalists. This band's first album is cited by Tuomas in Nightwish as one of the main inspirations for starting Nightwish, which in turn became the main inspiration for Epica. * kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5jYnXmQm61lr9k (bad TV recording) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5bOqJ6Xiax4q8U (original vocalist Kari with session musicians, when touring as "Sirens" with the singer from the next band + Anneke Van Giersbergen) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXS9fGCCipZgbqs (studio recording) *_Theatre of Tragedy_* * Formed in 1993 in Stavanger, Norway, initially with Liv Kristine on vocals. They combined classical-ish female vocals with male growls from Raymond Rohonyi, turning their songs into small "plays", writing their songs mostly in Elizabethan English, but also using German and Latin. * kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmXRhXyOgtJ_j8k (studio recording, a good fan-made video using footage from the Vincent Price movie "The Masque of the Red Death", from which the band had used some spoken-word parts in the recording) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3PYeqKsbJ2Xbrc (concert footage from Poland) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZebdHieoLljepY (concert footage from Poland again) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/en2viGusmsySqLs (at a reunion show between the two original vocalists, the others are session musicians; this song is the one partially in Latin) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6HGp3amo5uCr6c (studio recording, lyrics inside the video) *_Draconian_* * Formed in 1994 in Säffle, Sweden, they have changed female vocalists a few times, but have kept the same male growler the whole time. This band is still active. * kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4bCY52NoNqea7M (studio recording, fan-made video using live footage) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJ_Tknygl6Zko5I (live recording) *_Tristania_* * Formed in 1996 in Stavanger, Norway, initially with Vibeke Stene on vox. To my ears, the hardest-sounding band in this genre, and I hear a lot of similarities with Epica when Epica is at their harshest. This band is still active, but have moved on a bit stylistically after changing female vocalist. * kzbin.info/www/bejne/epepmYWpjNJpr8k (studio recording, official video but mostly contains live footage) * kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIe5aIuQfsh5n7c (studio recording, just static image)

[@watchtheskies]

Hi imakaiya, this is the latest video to appear for EPICA one of the songs from Omega, with footage from the current tour, this song has a Middle Eastern feel to it, something that EPICA are known for EPICA - CODE OF LIFE (VIDEO) video link posted below

[@watchtheskies]

here is the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZojMiniIbKmeoNE

[@MountainMetal]

"I feel like I need to re-evaluate my life" LOL! Such a pleasure seeing you be Epicafied. Big production? You got that right. The Retrospect Show took an entire year to organize. There are real-world reasons nobody can do anything like that very often. Expensive, too. A few nights every ten years or so, if your pockets are deep enough. More! And some live studio from Wintersun. I know you'll like it.

[@Frogmonkey095]

Love Epica, prefer them over Nightwish. Metal meets Game of Thrones would be the band The Dark Side of the Moon who recently did a cover of the GoT song "Jenny of Old Stones." The band features the amazing vocalist Melissa Bonny, who also sings in Ad Infinitum. She's also been in the band Rage of Light, and does guest appearances in the german folk metal band Feuerschwanz. Check her out, she's awesome. But yeah Epica does give big epic fantasy vibes.

[@MarcelCox1]

Just a month ago, I had the chance to go to a concert featuring Ad Infinitum, Eluveitie and Epica. For those who dont' know Eluveitie, I consider them the gold standard in Folk Metal. Feuerschwanz is good and fun, but with Eluveitie you get blown away.

[@Frogmonkey095]

@@MarcelCox1 sounds like a blast. I know them. There are other folk metal bands I prefer over them, but I like em well enough.

[@roimerlopez1275]

Amazing reaction my friend Kaiya!!...In 2017, the music world was shocked by the bursting onto the scene of a 22-year-old singer named Dimash Kudaibergen, who performed on the famous Chinese competition show for professional singers called “The Singer”... It was just It was necessary for this young man to make his first appearance, making a cover of one of the most difficult songs in the world, a famous French composition called "S.O.S. D'un Terrien En Détresse", to be considered from that moment on as the best singer in the entire planet....No one in the musical field had ever seen a human being, being able to reach vocal ranges above 7 octaves and several semitones, that is, all 88 keys of a digital piano, which reaches a little more than 7 octaves and as if that weren't enough, sing the more than 12 languages...Since then all kinds of experts (Vocal coach, analysts, singing teachers, youtubers, reactors, etc.) have dedicated themselves to reviewing their presentations to try to understand how someone can sing this way...The incredible thing is that that presentation in China was in 2017 and 5 years have passed since then, but what Dimash has done in these 5 years is to further improve his wide vocal range, which is currently practically above of the 8 octaves... The Covid pandemic stopped his concerts worldwide, all with tickets sold in just seconds, via the internet, but at the same time it ended up catapulting him to the top of popularity worldwide...Anyway, since I think you are one of those reactors who have not yet met this impressive singer, here is the link of that presentation in China in 2017, with the song S.O.S. and I would like you to mention my name as the person who recommended him to you..It is a more recent video than the others, so it does not have the same number of views as the previous ones, which have millions of views, but it is a more complete video, with an intro, subtitles in several languages and with the improved quality of audio and sound....kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHW7ZHmeot6Bl8U

[@drneildurrant]

As the only reactor I know who’s prepared to go long - let’s just do the whole 3 hour Retrospect concert…

[@MrSh0110]

Great review of an incredible band. Must say that with this excellent set list you barely covered what Epica is about.. Check these to get a little more - Epica- Chasing the Dragon Epica - Unleashed Epica - Tides of Time Epica - Storm the Sorrow Epica - The Essence of Silence Epica - Unchain Utopia Epica - Universal Death Squad Epica - Once Upon a Nightmare Epica - Beyond The Matrix Epica - Crimson Bow and Arrow Epica - The Skeleton Key Epica - Code of Life Epica - Rivers

[@2112666123]

U got about 30 kick ass BALAD songs to go through An amazing band EPICA is beautiful METAL!!!

[@justinvermilyea9192]

I predict tears but ones of amazing emotions and happiness

[@agustingalindoreyes3362]

First time in your channel and I love this reation, you should try to watch/review Epica Omega Alive it was a streaming event and it has a lot of production, it has 5 chapters and it was mind blowing

[@joebarrera9741]

I saw them in SanAntonio back in 2007 ....opened for SYMPHONY X.great show I met the whole band and hangout with both bands

[@2112666123]

Seen EPICA 4 times wow they give it all Cant wait to see them in September in America U should go see them !!!!

[@remoteb7183]

What a fantastic performance

[@johanungerer5335]

Hi Imakaiya welcome to the world of Epica and thank you for this amazing reaction. My recommendation's for your future Epica Listens :). Kingdom of Heaven Part1 (Heavy and best of the Trilogy); Edge of the Blade (Metal and Poppy in a Epica way); Divide and Conquer, Universal Death Squad (Progressive and Epic); Chasing the Dragon (Ballad Epicness); Divine Conspiracy (Masterpiece); Serenade of Self destruction, Monopoly on truth and Fools of Damnation (Just plain Epic). The Zenith show Beyond the Matrix and "Consign to Oblivion" and many more,.... Album Reaction wise is very hard since all 8 are great, in order though i would say(In my Opinion): 1)Design your Universe; 2)Requiem for the indifferent; 3) The Divine Conspiracy; 4) The Holographic Principle; 5) Omega; 6) The Quantum Enigma; 7) Consign to Oblivion; 8) Phantom Agony By the way Design your Universe wasn't the last song from their 10th year anniversary, im not gona spoil it for you by revealing the last song since this whole show is amazing and you should check it out as well ;)

[@dasyeah2695]

Yeah i love epica. Insanely good composition and balance and dope lyrics in terms of meaning and estatic and poetry.

[@Cyberplayer5]

I have seen them live along with Sabaton. They are as great live as you imagine.

[@dAmion2306]

Next up: Essence of Silence, Victims of Contingency, Skeleton Key, River, In All Conscience

[@bryanjibodh8806]

The song Cry for the moon is from 2004. The begin of Epica. Mark Jansen started the band. Before that he and Floor Jansen where in the same band. Simone and Floor are best Friends sinds music school. I think you also know Floor Jansen. Our other dutch metal queen who is the lead singer of Nigthwish.. Listen and react also to Epica `Beyond the matrix` and `River` and `Tides of time` and `Code of life`.

[@ezioauditore6038]

Epica were the band that got me into metal of any kind.

[@marcokruijsheer9947]

Yes .LOVE

[@whirledpeaz5758]

You asked "What do you do when you listen to this music?" I play World of Warcraft. Abyss of Time and Beyond the Matrix are on heavy rotation in my playlist. Yes, please come back to Nightwish, there is such variety in their 16 year discography, there must be something you will like. Maybe Ghost Love Score and/or Story Time.

[@chrisunderwood129]

I listen to em when I play video games or mow my yard

[@whirledpeaz5758]

My math bad, Nightwish has 26 year discography.

[@PixTax]

Check out Simone Simons covering Part of your world; Simone being the Disney princess you envisioned.

[@digitalmouse3314]

They have an album with Sabaton and Powerwolf as well fire band Nightwish and Epica are both really good symphonic bands the best really

[@christophschmedes5975]

The Singer Simone came wirh 17years to Epica and is now 43years old and is one of the best sopranos in Metall 🤘

[@guitar_noodle]

I caught the second half of the live stream. So now I’m watching the first half. The Phantom Agony album was my first intro to Epica in ‘04. Been a fan ever since but the Phantom Agony is still my favorite Epica album of all. It’s far less complex than their later music but the simplicity with very powerful Melodies is what makes it for me. Btw I’ve seen them live 3x and they deliver pro quality sound and performance every time.

[@2112666123]

EPICA has one of the best keyboard players WOW

[@justinvermilyea9192]

What you are listening to is symphonic metal badassery

[@KozueMegami]

My favorite band of this century lol

[@tomnagel5769]

Epica = EPIC

[@EmanueleCorsi]

Again from the "Retrospect" concert you should check two of their most emblematic songs, namely "Sancta Terra (ft Floor Jansen)" and "Unleashed", the latter being rearranged with a lovely symphonic intro. I believe you could enjoy both a great deal ☺

[@cwm8565]

Welcome to the incredible world of Symphonic Metal

[@rolsen1304]

Rewatching this after 3 months, Epica is the sound I need in my life.

[@beldin2987]

For Nightwish you for sure picked up one of the worst possible songs. Best is to start with "Ghost Love Score" like most people or maybe "Ever Dream" .. and take the live version from Wacken 2013. There they also have Floor Jansen as singer who played together with Mark Jansen (not related) from Epica back in the days in "After Forever" Also Simone and Floor sang together in the live version of the Epica song "Sancta Terra", this is also something a lot people who know already Nightwish but not Epica, start with.

[@davidlagassee8236]

her mic stand is shaped like an s for simone. very cool.

[@Leviathan62089]

The Embrace that Smothers is a 10 part (9 plus an intro) story told through music starting with Mark Jansen's earlier band After Forever before he started Epica with Simone. Here's a playlist with all the parts if you would like to listen through it yourself. kzbin.info/aero/PLuvROEVoqTuAOHZ-1mQ6VOfm27Tl90st8

[@Leviathan62089]

Also, here's A New Age Dawns, for those interested kzbin.info/aero/PLOcuYo0aAQBfnhvQaci-5wUFOst_WfxLu. Kingdom of Heaven pt 1 (A New Age Dawns pt 5) is my favorite Epica Song.

[@christophschmedes5975]

The Growls do the Gitarrist Mark Jansen And Simone came 17 years to Epica and is now one of the best sopranos in Metall 🤘

[@christorn8499]

Hi there great reaction I'd like to suggest some other Dutch metal queens... Nightwish - Floor Jansen (NW fans valkyrie goddess) Within Temptation - Sharon den Adel Delain - Charlotte Wessels (not a member anymore) Xandria - Dianne van Giersbergen (not a member anymore) I also like Visions of Atlantis from Austria with French singer Clementine Delauney Greetings from Sweden

[@swabia1554]

Nightwish for another type of symphonic and !! Rhapsody for a multi album stretched story doing neoclaasical + orchestra symphonic metal they were there before the others came up.

[@mahdie7530]

You guessed well about the music of the film. epica made the music for Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Attack on titan anime

[@marcokruijsheer9947]

Love you ❤❤❤❤

[@justinvermilyea9192]

Being a fantasy nerd I'm in love with everything about this your background is badass too hey kaiya do you want to go larp ing with me at a Renaissance fair lol

[@wannabedane4046]

Happy you like them. I saw them a month ago at Hellfest (just before Nightwish) and I have a ticket for their 20th anniversary beginning of september in Tilburg, NL. I am pretty sure the 20th anniversary will be as good or even better than their 10th anniversary (Retrospect) and last years stream "Omega Alive" - Welcome to the world of symphonic metal. Remember to check Nightwish too. All bands in europe are connected. Floor Jansen, the current front woman of Nightwish (and best female vocalist in the world, yes, I wrote it) was in After Forever with Mark Jansen - and appears as a guest in the retrospect concert. Floor, Simone, Mark are feature in Ayreon with Joost van der Broek, current producer of Ayreon, Epica (last 3 albums) and many more, but also an ex After Forever member (piano, keyboards, synth. wiz) Floor is married to Hannes van Dahl, drummer of Sabaton. More info on music connection when you get to the other female fronted (most of the ladies are dutch) bands: Within Temptation, Delain, w.m.

[@Daniela-xy3ow]

I haven't read all the comments, but I assume someone has already mentioned that "The Embrace that Smothers" parts 0-4 are songs by the band After Forever that Mark Jansen was part of before starting Epica. You can find playlists on KZbin where all songs are put together if you want the full experience 🙂

[@drewmca]

only parts 0-3 are songs by the band After Forever on Prison of Desire album.

[@paisa20]

great, thanks, wating for more.

[@cranboogie]

🌀🌀🌀🔥🔥🔥 more Epica, please!

[@joebarrera9741]

Damn awesome I saw them with SYMHONY X ...IN SAN ANTONIO 2007 THE WHITE RABBIT NOW ITS CALLED THE PAPER DRAGON

[@marcokruijsheer9947]

Love you 😊😂❤

[@jackjokers3533]

Kingdom of Heaven part 3 is a song that u just experience .... it really is a Masterpiece

[@jandemanist]

great reaction! for big movies and series like game of thrones and lord of the rings this band is perfect if you ask me, nice that you discovered this band just what you say they are unique they don't often sing with choir and orchestra alone on their 10th anniversary because it is extremely expensive to sing live with a live choir and orchestra for a 3 hour concert! they often have vocal tracks in the background which makes the music full and perfect, here are some nice suggestions and it's not all heavy metal! Epica Once Upon a Nightmare EPICA - Unleashed (OFFICIAL LIVE) EPICA - Chasing The Dragon LIVE Retrospect 2013 HD this is live from retrospect really really good! EPICA - A Phantasmic Parade (OFFICIAL EUROPEAN PRINCIPLE TOUR AFTERMOVIE) EPICA - The SKELETON KEY - (ΩMEGA ALIVE) (OFFICIAL VIDEO) EPICA - Universal Death Squad (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO) EPICA - Universal Love Squad (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) same song as death squad but then acoustic

[@fritsyt2090]

Hey Jan. You forget to mention that Epica did it live three times with orchestra and choir. "We Will Take You With Us", The Classical Conspiracy" and 10th Anniversary. 😃

[@jandemanist]

@@fritsyt2090 yes you are right about frits but the orchestra and choir like on 10th anniversary only once as far as i knew 😃

[@luBazan1206]

@@jandemanist No, the other concert with orchestra and choir was a few years before it was called "The Classical Conspiracy "

[@albertopajuelomontes2066]

welcome to symphonic metal!

[@justinvermilyea9192]

Definitely need to check out septic flesh live for some truly badass symphonic death metal you'll love it kaiya