Epica - 'Omega Alive' (official album stream)

Το 2021 ήταν μία "γεμάτη" (δισκογραφικά) χρονιά για τους Epica. Ένας "ολοκληρωμένος" δίσκος ("Ωmega"), ένα live album, τρία EPs και ισάριθμα singles ο απολογισμός των Ολλανδών symphonic metallers, με τον "ζωντανά" ηχογραφημένο δίσκο "Omega Alive" να ρίχνει την αυλαία της χρονιάς.

Οι Epica "υπάρχουν" στο μουσικό σύμπαν από τις αρχές της χιλιετίας. Σχηματίσθηκαν από τον Mark Jansen το 2002 όταν αποχώρησε After Forever. Αρχικά (για έναν χρόνο) ως Sahara Dust (με την Helena Iren Michaelsen στα φωνητικά) και στην συνέχεια ως Epica. Το όνομα της μπάντας είναι εμπνευσμένο από τον σχετικό δίσκο των Kamelot ("Epica", Ιανουάριος 2003)...

Coen Janssen: «The whole third act was built around the “Kingdom of Heaven” songs. The third part (from the ‘ΩMEGA’ album) just had to be played, so we came up with ‘Elysia’ - the kingdom somewhere in the sky.

A new decor resembling a throne room and a massive chandelier with acrobats in it set the tone for this song. For the ‘piano-solo’ we had an extra surprise up our sleeve... playing it while it was on fire!

A stunt we could not rehearse since the piano would be destroyed afterwards! Under great guidance from our pyro-crew, we managed to pull it off.

Luckily, the part only lasts about 30 seconds since it was extremely hot, as you can imagine!

Since this looked so cool on stage, we also lit up the gong at the end of the act, with Ariën hitting it with a flaming torch.

These images turned out way cooler than we expected - too bad we can’t do this live!

➜ What we wanted to do was the ultimate Epica show where we could fulfill every dream we ever had, where there was room for all the ideas, effects and props that are just too big to be taken on tour.

Far from your usual streaming concert, the band developed a trademark feature called a living backdrop. We built another stage right behind our stage where lots of things were going on the whole time. And we meant that very literally.

Every song got something extra, something unique that was fitting its world.

➜ After releasing our new album, ‘ΩMEGA’ earlier this year, we found ourselves with great new songs, aching to be played live, but without a stage to perform them on.

We still wanted to give our fans the best possible release-show like we always do, so together with Jens de Vos from Panda Productions we came up with a way to bring the Epica experience into the homes of our fans all over the world.

‘ΩMEGA Alive’ will be Epica’s biggest show ever! We will go all out on everything we have to offer and I can tell you - it’ll be one massive audio-visual spectacle!!!

Immerse yourself in the world of Epica and join us during ‘ΩMEGA Alive’.»

Band: Epica
Country of origin: Netherlands
Location: Reuver, Limburg
Formed in: 2003
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Lyrical themes: Religion, Society, Politics, Philosophy, Spirituality
Years active: 2002-2003 (as Sahara Dust), 2003-present

Album: "Omega Alive"
Type: Live album
Release date: December 3rd, 2021
Label: Nuclear Blast
Format: 2CD, 2CD+DVD, 2CD+blu-ray, Blu-ray+DVD+2CD, Blu-ray+DVD, 5 vinyls+2CD+blu-ray+DVD, Digital

Track listing:
00:00:01 Alpha - Anteludium
01:38:05 Abyss of Time - Countdown to Singularity
06:58:12 The Skeleton Key
12:04:02 Unchain Utopia
16:51:16 The Obsessive Devotion
24:08:18 In All Conscience
29:16:04 Victims of Contingency
32:48:13 Kingdom of Heaven, Pt.1 – A New Age Dawns
46:20:02 Kingdom of Heaven, Pt.3 – The Antediluvian Universe
59:43:10 Rivers
01:04:16 Once Upon a Nightmare
01:11:27 Freedom - The Wolves Within
01:17:03 Cry for the Moon - The Embrace That Smothers Part IV
01:25:34 Beyond the Matrix
01:32:01 Omega - Sovereign of the Sun Spheres

Band members:
Mark Jansen - Guitars (rhythm), Vocals (harsh)
Coen Janssen - Keyboards, Piano
Simone Simons - Vocals
Ariën van Weesenbeek - Drums
Isaac Delahaye - Guitars (lead), Vocals (harsh)
Rob van der Loo - Bass

Miscellaneous staff:
Jens de Vos - Director
Stefan Heilemann - Artwork