Track Listing

1. Façade of Reality
2. Sensorium
3. Illusive Consensus
4. Cry for the Moon
5. The Phantom Agony
6. Seif al Din
7. Feint
8. Run for a Fall
9. Memory (from the musical Cats) – unreleased Track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117443 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-09
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Agony and beauty fuse together into a musical experience which saturates all of the listener’s senses”, the reviews raved about the titillating debut album. While this CD was contrived with the aid of the German top producer Sascha Paeth (well-known for his work for Aina, Rhapsody and Kamelot), with We Will Take You With Us/2 Meter Sessies Epica prove they can stand on their own feet while simultaneously daring to lift their music to a higher level. You see, Epica was supported in Wisseloord by a genuine string section and eight beautifully blending choir voices. Borders have been smashed to smithereens in We Will Take You With Us/2 Meter Sessies.

About the Artist
Traveling around the world and meeting other cultures; those are in short the major sources of inspiration for singer, songwriter, composer and guitarist Mark Jansen, both as a person and a musician. Proof of his unlimited interest in the world around him is the album The Phantom Agony, the colorful debut album of the Dutch band Epica. Mark Jansen and his fellow musicians harbor a great interest in other cultures, especially Arab ones. The warmth with which people treat one another there, but also the music from that part of the world. The varied sound of Epica reflects all that. Also influences from other parts of the world, including South-America found their way to the songs that figure on the debut album.

After a brief and stormy period as one of the creative king pins of the successful Dutch band After Forever, Mark Jansen felt compelled to start all over again. He didn’t tarry for a second. On the day it dawned on him he no longer had a future in his old band, the plan matured for new challenge. Contacts were made, auditions were carried out and a name for the band was thought up. Initially Sahara Dust was picked as the name of the band, but in the first weeks of 2003 this name was definitely changed into Epica. In the embryonic stage the band worked with the Norwegian singer Helena Michaelsen of Trail of Tears. However, a definitive choice was made for the young Dutch singing talent Simone Simons. The line-up was further established with Coen Janssen (keyboards), Ad Sluijter (guitar), Jeroen Simons (drums) â€" both from Cassiopeia, and Yves Huts (bass) from Axamenta.

The name of the band initially had two special meanings. First of all it is a tribute to the band Kamelot, of which the band members are all great fans. Epica is the title of one of their CDs. In addition to this Epica is a place in the universe where all the answers to vital questions are to be found. A meaning that fits perfectly with the tenor of the lyrics. Recently another meaning was added. Not so long ago Epica was giving a concert in Belgium. Everything went great. At a certain point of time something happened between the stage and the audience. At the end of the concert the audience was chanting the name of the band: ‘E-pi-ca’, ‘E-pi-ca’. It sounded excellently. There and then the band decided that Epica had been the right choice.

Their debut album The Phantom Agony was released in 2003. It can be seen as one of the most impressive Dutch Epic Metal debut albums in the last couple of years. Epica makes a convincing combination of classic and extreme.

Customer Reviews

Unique Talent and Creativity
I was blown away by their talent and by the ease in which they play such full and progressive music. They play without all the pretention, hype and extraverted showmanship you often see in other bands. Keeping their focus on providing quality musical product. They are excellent musicians with tons of talent. I wish others bands would do this kind of "studio" recording session DVD.

a musical tour de force, but lyrically . . . not so much
In a world of highly-marketed pop, rap and hip-hop, and repetitive dance electronica, it's good to see that somebody is still taking their music seriously. The prog rock tradition of the 1970s is alive and well, and it includes death grunts and mezzo sopranos. Epica has given us an excellent effort in this album. Its major strengths are its musical compositions, while it falls flat lyrically in various places.

The album consists of two parts, six metal tracks followed by three acoustic tracks. The final acoustic track is "Memory" from the musical "Cats"- a nice cover, but a bit out of place. Tracks 1, 4 and 6 are parts 5, 4 and 6 (in that order!) of "The Embrace that Smothers," a group of related pieces about the downsides of religion in the world today. This strikes me as a very odd way to present connected pieces, but each one stands on its own just fine.

The first track, "Facade of Reality," is a very carefully constructed piece built around four voices: Simone Simons singing (in a high mezzo-soprano) a lecture about why Islamic fundamentalists become suicide bombers, death grunts for suicide bombers, a chorus for the Latin lyrics, and two cameo appearances by Tony Blair talking about September 11. Most of the lyrics are unintelligible, which is just as well - - it's really hard to pull off something like this. However, the piece is very powerful musically, with the voices beautifully set off one another.

The other tracks follow in the same vein. Each is an impressive construction that explores a series of musical themes. Most of the pieces set Simone's operatic voice against a heavy metal instrumentation, with occasional death grunts and chorus. However, the lyrics tend not to work so well. For example, in "Seif al-Din," a brief spoken word passage falls completely flat, in contrast to the successful use of Blair's spoken words in "Facade of Reality." Aside from the fact that Tony Blair is a better rhetorician than Simone Simons, this simply highlights the lyrical overreach found throughout the album - - Epica is simply trying too hard.

In places, the band's lyrics seem pretentious, as when they combine Latin, Arabic and English in a single song. The band also has a bad case of taking itself too seriously; in both respects, they remind me of Kansas during its heyday. They want to sing about "big themes" such as religious extremism, but they are unable to reach the lyrical complexity of the masterpiece of that genre, Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album. Simons writes most of the lyrics, and is very young - - so we can hope that matters will improve as she gets more songwriting and life experience under her belt.

The band makes much of the fact that Simone Simons has a classic operatic training, and she certainly has a beautiful voice. However, she still sings from low in her throat instead of her diaphragm, so that she loses both power and richness at times. Beautiful as her voice is, the result is that Simone Simons is not as charismatic as other female goth singers such as Tarja Turunen (Nightwish) or Sharon van Adel (Within Temptation). This makes for a less dynamic contribution to the group as a whole. On the other hand, she has a more powerful and charismatic presence than, say, Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes (formerly of Theatre of Tragedy).

In short, "We Will Take You With Us" is a very ambitious album - - but its lyrical reach exceeds its grasp. However, it's well worth your attention for the music.

a musical tour de force, but lyrically . . . not so much
In a world of highly-marketed pop, rap and hip-hop, and repetitive dance electronica, it's good to see that somebody is still taking their music seriously. The prog rock tradition of the 1970s is alive and well, and it includes death grunts and mezzo sopranos. Epica has given us an excellent effort in this album. Its major strengths are its musical compositions, while it falls flat lyrically in various places.

The album consists of two parts, six metal tracks followed by three acoustic tracks. The final acoustic track is "Memory" from the musical "Cats"- a nice cover, but a bit out of place. Tracks 1, 4 and 6 are parts 5, 4 and 6 (in that order!) of "The Embrace that Smothers," a group of related pieces about the downsides of religion in the world today. This strikes me as a very odd way to present connected pieces, but each one stands on its own just fine.

The first track, "Facade of Reality," is a very carefully constructed piece built around four voices: Simone Simons singing (in a high mezzo-soprano) a lecture about why Islamic fundamentalists become suicide bombers, death grunts for suicide bombers, a chorus for the Latin lyrics, and two cameo appearances by Tony Blair talking about September 11. Most of the lyrics are unintelligible, which is just as well - - it's really hard to pull off something like this. However, the piece is very powerful musically, with the voices beautifully set off one another.

The other tracks follow in the same vein. Each is an impressive construction that explores a series of musical themes. Most of the pieces set Simone's operatic voice against a heavy metal instrumentation, with occasional death grunts and chorus. However, the lyrics tend not to work so well. For example, in "Seif al-Din," a brief spoken word passage falls completely flat, in contrast to the successful use of Blair's spoken words in "Facade of Reality." Aside from the fact that Tony Blair is a better rhetorician than Simone Simons, this simply highlights the lyrical overreach found throughout the album - - Epica is simply trying too hard.

In places, the band's lyrics seem pretentious, as when they combine Latin, Arabic and English in a single song. The band also has a bad case of taking itself too seriously; in both respects, they remind me of Kansas during its heyday. They want to sing about "big themes" such as religious extremism, but they are unable to reach the lyrical complexity of the masterpiece of that genre, Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album. Simons writes most of the lyrics, and is very young - - so we can hope that matters will improve as she gets more songwriting and life experience under her belt.

The band makes much of the fact that Simone Simons has a classic operatic training, and she certainly has a beautiful voice. However, she still sings from low in her throat instead of her diaphragm, so that she loses both power and richness at times. Beautiful as her voice is, the result is that Simone Simons is not as charismatic as other female goth singers such as Tarja Turunen (Nightwish) or Sharon van Adel (Within Temptation). This makes for a less dynamic contribution to the group as a whole. On the other hand, she has a more powerful and charismatic presence than, say, Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes (formerly of Theatre of Tragedy).

In short, "We Will Take You With Us" is a very ambitious album - - but its lyrical reach exceeds its grasp. However, it's well worth your attention for the music.

PS. I have been unable to get the bonus track, "Falsches Spiel," to play on any equipment available to me.