DESIGN YOUR UNIVERSE

Now as some of you know, im an Epica nut, i admit it, i love this band and indeed this genre, i feed of the power of those fantastic guitar/keyboard interplays, and just the whole epic scale of things, and of course ive been following Epica like a hawk after hearing there 2007 opus The Divine Conspiracy, so i had BIG expectations for this new release, 2009's Design Your Universe, now did it fill my expectations? well yes and no. One of the first flaws i kinda had with it was the title, meh something a little too picky i know, but i cant help it i just did not like the title although i have grown to think its not too bad now, another flaw i thought was some of (now not all of them, just some) were not as powerfull as the ones on the prevoius album, an example of some that were though is RESIGN TO SURRENDER, what a way to start this album, just fantastic the single UNLEASHED was one of the weaker ones in my opinion, now i have grown to love it since then, especially since i heard the song before i heard the album, putting this one song within the context of the album though really made me like it a lot more than before, the EPIC 13 minute KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is a big highlight as is the final song and the title track DESIGN YOUR UNIVERSE. Now of course the production didnt let me down as usuall as did the musicmanship everything on that side is just first class

Samadhi (Prelude) - 7/10 Resign To Surrender (A New Age Dawns - Part IV) - 10/10 Unleashed - 9/10 Martyr Of The Free Word - 7/10 Our Destiny - 8/10 Kingdom Of Heaven (A New Age Dawns - Part V) - 10/10 The Price Of Freedom - 7/10 Burn To A Cinder - 7/10 Tides Of Time - 8/10 Deconstruct - 8/10 Semblance Of Liberty - 8/10 White Waters - 9/10 Design Your Universe - 10/10

MY CONCLUSION? not as strong as TDC but still worth your attention anyway, fantastic album, fantastic band.