We Will Take You With Us - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
Agony and beauty fuse together into a musical experience which saturates all of the listenera€™s sensesa€, 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.

Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Undeserved Reputation; No class at all. June 4, 2006
12 out of 34 found this review helpful

Recently, I have been in a live performance of Epica, following this album, "We Will Take You With Us". I have heard much of the band, and while I knew none of their songs, I was expecting a good heavy/gothic metal concert.

Music-wise, Epica was rather disappointing. The band lacked harmony between the instruments and vocals, as well as between instruments themselves. There were few solos, and the music felt uninspired. Simone's singing was good, but not great, and the songs themselves weren't exceptional, either. The ballads they played haven't been emotional. The black metal style male vocals simply did not make the songs any better, on the contrary. Of course there have been few good parts, but certainly they didn't live up to their reputation, in my opinion.
But that's the music side. It was disappointing at another level.

I was surprised at how much this band lacks any class. At first, the keyboard player went on the stage with a cigarette in his mouth. The other guitar player (not the one who does the male vocals) went on with a bottle of beer. I honestly think those could be better left behind prior to the show. The male vocalist was the worst- he didn't seem to stop swearing all night long- "Are you ready for another heavy metal f***er?","You are f****ng f****ng f****ng great!" and so on. They made a terrible choice of cover to perform-"Crystal" from the Black metal band "Death"(perfomed without Simone, obviously). And Simone... I was surprised at her, too. Although she disguised it, at least four times she made "the finger" toward the crowd- I imagine few noticed it, as she moved her hand a lot, but there could no mistake about it. I have no idea what driven her to do so. I guess she's just that kind of person. Perhaps she thinks it's amusing, I don't know. Before a ballad she asked the crowd to raise "a cigarette or a cell phone so I can see you".Hmmm...great. I certainly expected more class than this.

I will mention that the fans loved them, but in my eyes (and in the eyes of the two friends that have been with me)- they did so blindly. Outside was a stand of the store that markets their products here, along with many other metal merchandise. The guy who runs it seemed to share my opinion on them. When someone asked for their CD ("The Phantom Agony"), he told him "You shouldn't, it's just after-concert enthusiasm". When his assistant later said he should have brought more of their CDs and DVDs, the guy answered "with the way they behaved tonight, even what we brought was too many". He noted their "bloated Ego" and how they think too much of themselves more than once-probably something they did before the show. If you asked yourself why I've heard all that-I was looking all this time for a specific metal CD, left, and came back to find it when the crowd dispersed, right before the store manager wrapped it up.

I'm a big metal fan, and it isn't my first concert. I know a good band can give a great, satisfying concert, such as the last one I've been to-"Nightmare"(power metal) that have been huge.
But I warn any of you that are considering this band- "Epica" have NO class at all. The performance was not terrible, but the bad easily outwheighted the good. While this band chose a great name, there is better music than this, and there are a number of bands that play better metal, have more harmony and got good female vocals too.

4 out of 5 stars

a musical tour de force, but lyrically . . . not so much November 26, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

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.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Metal and Classical music August 31, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I was amazed after listening to Epica on this cd! First I had never bought any of their music but since I have bought Nightwish and After Forever, one of the bands suggested was Epica! Simone sings like an angel and the band is very good!
The combination of metal with a choir, and string section were awesome!!!The second half is more on the classical side but still shows that Epica can play beyond metal! This is an excellent cd and the DVD is also great!! Epica will be around for some time to come!!

5 out of 5 stars

FANTASTIC January 17, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I've listened to Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation but none of the vocals or music has quite grabbed me as Epica now has. IT'S FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!
Simone's vocals are peculiar in a sense but absolutely gorgeous at the same time. Even the grunts, which i'm generally not a fan of, have something to them that just makes me want to go get more.
My personal favourites on this album would have to be the heart-stopping 'Sensorium', the beautiful 'Illusive consensus' and the headbanging 'Sief Al Dien'.
I highly recommend this album (as well as "Consign to Oblivion", Epica's other fantastic album, yes, FANTASTIC!!!!) to fans of bands such as Nightwish, After Forever etc. You won't regret it, this is no waste of money!!!

4 out of 5 stars

A Pretty decent Listen!!! April 3, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I'm going to say this cd caught me off guard a bit by it's overwhelming operatic vibe. It remains me a lot of Rhapsody's style of writing/music as it has that story telling imagery behind it which is cool.

The singer has excellent pipes and the tunes flow together very well. The musicianship is in fine form and the mix/production is good to.

Overall a good listen, not as heavy as I thought it would be and it took a few listens to truly get into, however it's a worth while listening endeavour that wont waste your time. It sort of remains me of Leaves Eyes last effort Vinland Saga, which is a blessing as that cd is a very good effort indeed.

Overall if you like opera/strings/orchestral style metal, you'll love this!!!!!

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