THE QUANTUM ENIGMA

The two or three members out there who follow my reviews probably already know that progressive metal isn't high on my list these days, but I've read a lot of good reviews for Epica, and my local CD store (yes, there are still a few of those around) was selling the new disk for a price I could not pass up.

So. Epica, true to their reputation, on this album plays a strong classical influenced prog metal, with vocals that blend a female vocalist, Simone Simon, with male death metal throw-up-in-the-back-of-your-throat grunts. And for once, the grunting isn't detracting too much from the music, although still overused, because, unusually, the words are unusually clear.

Musically, the emphasis is on energy. Metal is the prominent feature, with obvious classical influence, that often sounds like an aggressively amped up take on Rick Wakeman's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". The addition of a choir and string section adds to that comparison.

But there are some flaws. Despite nearly every song having some passages that draw me in, there is far too much reliance on metal cliches used to fill in between the good parts. Especially grating are the drums of Ariën van Weesenbeek. Technically, the guy is great. His precision licks and fills can be quite astounding. But listening to an entire album quickly shows that while the tricks he knows he knows well, his fills and jackhammer rhythms are all to similar, causing some tedium to these ears.

And while the choral and string arrangements are very impressive, the recording of these sections are not so much. There is a reverb on these sections, probably due to insufficient microphones, that give each group the sound of recording in a canyon. The rock band sounds clear on their own, but when strings and chorus are added in at the same time everything gets mushy.

On the plus side, the track The Essence Of Silence stands out. Delightfully bombastic and dark in it's arrangement, it veers the farthest away from the cliches I mentioned above, and makes me want to hear more. Other tracks, like the title track that closes the album come close to this, but only the one really impresses me.

3.5 stars. Rounded up because I'm in a good mood.