Epica - Omega (2021)

Unleashing one of the most explosive and bombastic releases of 2021, today we have Epica and their latest opus “Omega”. Featuring over 70 minutes of music, this release capitulates on the band’s experience, execution, and expansive sound to deliver their strongest album to date. With all of their signature elements taken into a new level, this release is exactly what all fans are expecting.

After setting a magical and mystical tone with the opening intro, the band’s explosive sound in “Abyss of Time - Countdown to Singularity” perfectly delivers their well-balanced bombastic sound with rich classical arrangements and crushing distorted guitars. One of the band’s virtues is how they can create very playful tracks while pitting the sweetness of Simone’s vocals against Marc’s growls and aggressive riffs, as crafted in “The Skeleton Key”.

While the band’s style is undoubtedly recognizable, they effortlessly manage to craft songs that are engaging and don’t sound repetitive, like on “Seal of Solomon” and “Gaia”, while at the same time creating very epic melodic passages. The balance on tracks like “Code of Life” showcases their songwriting maturity and how they can craft very catchy and memorable passages while keeping things far from formulaic and throwing in additional instrumental elements and influences.

The most epic track of this release has to be the gigantic “Kingdom of Heaven part 3 - The Antediluvian Universe”, a 13-minute epic that features just about everything we love from the band: lush arrangements, dramatic choirs, craft heaviness and varying levels of excitement. As the release closes, the heavy songs keep coming with excellent pieces like “Synergize - Manic Manifest” and “Omega - Sovereign of the Sun Spheres”.

As a whole, “Omega” is one of those extremely epic albums that everytime you listen to it, you will discover new details and elements you didn’t find before. Epica has evolved over time to be a well-oiled machine that cranks out excellent songs one after another, without sounding formulaic or repetitive at all. If you are a fan of lush and bombastic Symphonic Metal, look no further and get this killer release.

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: February 26th, 2021

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Country: Netherlands