Epica – Ωmega Alive Review

As the pandemic changed the lives of many people in this sad and lonely and pathetic little planet bands had to find a way to continue to share their music with all their fans. Epica did that. Ok, the tittle of the album says “Omega Alive,” but it’s not really alive, alive. The album is from a Live streamed on June 12th, 2021 and it is mostly composed of songs from their latest album “Omega” which we had the pleasure and honor to review a frew months ago. The other songs are from their long and sucessful career and as the band told in the press release this album was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

I guess that I’ll say a thing that everybody is feeling and that is the real alive shows. Please, forgive me, but I don’t really consider this kind of album a real alive album. I miss the crowd, the sound of the crowd, the guitars too loud that almost burst your ears, the thundering and scorching drums that fill all the possible gaps of sound. I miss all that. Unfortunately, this is a controled ambient where mistakes and errors can be corrected in time and we all know that those mistakes and errors that make the music grand. Well, Epica are grand enough. Simone Simons’s voice is really outworldly. Of course, this kind of music requires a flawless atmosphere due to the effort the bands make to sound as if they were a symphony. I get that.

What I found different in “Omega Alive”? First of all, the beautiful and breathtaking a capella version of “Rivers.” Simone’s voice gets even more outstanding and jawbreaking. The tittle of “Once Upon a Nightmare” may be wrong because the song sounds like a dream not a nightmare. The contrast of the guitars with Simone’s shining voice is remarkable. And to think that she joined Epica whe she was only 17. I keep wondering how much her voice evolved in all those years. Also did Epica one of the pioneers of the subgenre that now is called Symphonic Metal. Too hot too handle.

Epica “Omega Alive” will be released on December 03rd via Nuclear Blast Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Alpha – Anteludium – Omega Alive
  2. Abyss of Time – Countdown to Singularity – Omega Alive
  3. The Skeleton Key – Omega Alive
  4. Unchain Utopia – Omega Alive
  5. The Obsessive Devotion – Omega Alive
  6. In All Conscience – Omega Alive
  7. Victims of Contingency – Omega Alive
  8. Kingdom of Heaven Pt 1 – A New Age Dawns Part V – Omega Alive
  9. Kingdom of Heaven Pt 3 – The Antediluvian Universe – Omega Alive
  10.  Rivers – A Capella – Omega Alive
  11. Once Upon a Nightmare – Omega Alive
  12. Freedom – The Wolves Within – Omega Alive
  13. Cry for the Moon – The Embrace That Smothers Part IV – Omega Alive
  14. Beyond the Matrix – Omega Alive
  15. Omega – Sovereign of the Sun Spheres – Omega Alive

Watch “The Skeleton Key” official live video here: