REQUIEM FOR THE INDIFFERENT

Although I am quite taken with some symphonic-inclined "Beauty and the Beast" metal - I quite like the debut by The Sins of Thy Beloved, for instance, though it's more gothic than symphonic - I've always found myself markedly underwhelmed with Epica's work. The fact that they've released an album called "Requiem for the Indifferent" seems to me an act of unintentional self-parody, since indifference is precisely what the album inspires in me.

Sure, the production is alright, the performances are up to scratch, in general it's not terrible, but at the same timethere's a certain soullessness to the proceedings. It feels to me that, in common with many symphonic acts, Epica realised they've hit on a style which, whilst it won't make them global megastars, at least consistently yields a reasonable level of commercial success (they might not be mainstream material in the UK but they've done alright in many of the European album charts, for instance) and so they're yet again going through the motions. An alright listen if you're into this style of metal, but hardly a classic, or even on its way to being a classic.