?Classics? of power metal #8: KAMELOT - Epica (2003), early impressions

Past exposure to this band/record:  As mentioned before, I had a moment with Austrian symphonic-power-proggers Serenity* around the time of their first two records, at which time anything written about them involved a comparison to Kamelot.  So, with my limited piggy bank money - after getting confused and spending a little time with Katatonia, a very different sort of interesting metal band - I ended up grabbing a copy of Ghost Opera.  I liked it quite a bit, even if it wasn't an all-timer, and still find myself humming "Rule The World" from time to time.  But then Poetry For The Poisoned just somehow failed to grab me, and not for lack of trying.  So I drifted away from all things Kamelot, until now.  It sounds like some would argue I picked the right time to jump off that train, but since I never really rode it much to begin with, this is a great opportunity!

I'm a classifier when it comes to music just because there's so much of it that it's so hard to sort out.  Someday I'll maybe even be able to stop the endless apologies for relying so much on labels and subgenre tags; I find comparisons and schemes really useful as a means for those not musically inclined to describe what exactly it is that they're hearing.  The fact that classification either isn't emphasized - most of us listen to metal to either feel things or rock out, not to fill out a card catalog - or is just daunting to one not steeped in it makes it really hard for someone trying to, say, taste test a broad swath of power metal.  "If you like X, try Y" is a much easier thing for the internet collectively to provide than "if you kinda like X but wish it were a bit more like Y, try E-G to see where the component elements of X came from, because either M or Q is probably what you really want but it's hard to say."  

 

What's my point with all that?  Just to say that when I started this writing project, I didn't know what I didn't know.  We've seen examples like me originally not knowing about the existence of "USPM" not only as a label but the very fact that there were/are a big batch of bands making music that has clear commonalities with whilst sounding quite different from typical EUPM, in a specific way.  Similarly, I knew that there were a bunch of "symphonic power metal" bands out there without knowing their phylogeny.**  So when assembling my list, I just picked a few "symphonic" bands to write about, including Kamelot, and figured that'd be representative enough.  As above I've been vaguely curious about their pre-Ghost Opera work and never got around to listening to it.  So once I had a few symphonic bands in my list, my standard quip at the time was that it seemed easier not to have to try to try to untangle the "[Luca] [Turilli/Lione]'s Rhapsody [Of Fire] Cinematic Universe" as a beginner.  Now that I kinda-sorta-a-little understand power metal history, I would tell the version of myself from six months ago "hey, Benjamin, given that you've never listened to early Rhapsody, just please do one of those.  Symphony Of Enchanted Lands seems to be the consensus choice, so at least listen to that.  At minimum, it'll probably help you put Avantasia in context."  But I didn't know what I didn't know.  I'm sure I still don't.

(I have since listened to Symphony Of Enchanted Lands.  It's okay.***  But we're not talking about that right now!)

In a roundabout way, this does bring me back around to Epica.  Unlike Rhapsody****, unlike anyone I've written about so far, the moment "Center Of The Universe" hits, I'm filled with a sense of familiarity.  This is what I grew up (so to speak) thinking all symphonic power metal sounded like.  There's a clear pop structure despite the crunchy guitars and rapid-fire PM drumming.  The first big note, and the most prominent riffs, and all the choruses are based around keyboard bombast.*****  Roy's vocals are uniformly smooth and melodic.  Exactly the sort of record I was expecting to hear when I took on the task of listening to a lot of a power metal.

 

Getting back to my rambling about classification from above, if the band you stumble into randomly is Serenity, where are the "if you like X, try Y" suggestions going to lead you?  To Kamelot, and maybe to early Sonata Arctica.  Maybe back to Stratovarius.  Maybe sideways to the likes of Delain.  And not really outside of that pocket.  To me, Kamelot neatly falls into what I consider to be this sort of smooth poppy strain of keyboard-and-guitar music.  I'm not pretending that it has no elements in common with, say, The Metal Opera, just that my brain immediately puts Epica into a specific niche that my sense of order is anxious to put a label on.  ("Groove-oriented symphonic EUPM?")  

Based on my previous knowledge of this band that I've always enjoyed without loving, Epica sounds, well, a lot like Kamelot.  To me, where other substyles can stand out in different ways, groove-oriented symphonic EUPM 100% lives and dies on how catchy its pop hooks are.  Yeah, I suppose that I do think that about pretty much all music, but somehow even more so with this style.  Otherwise, you end up with a listening experience that, however pleasant it is, will leave no lasting impression.  So far, Epica has been a thoroughly pleasant listen that has done very little to stick in my mind.  As always with the "early impressions" posts, this is a very tentative conclusion.  It is, however, where my mind is rushing to file it.

Early highlights?  "Farewell" and "Lost & Damned" have my two favorite choruses within what I think of as the standard groove-oriented symphonic EUPM formula, so the latter I guess gets my early nod for incorporating a bandoneon part.******   I overall like the way the interludes add fun musical elements that then flow neatly into the metal songs to which they're attached, like the way "The Edge Of Paradise" folds in the chanting from "Opiate Soul."  Lowlights?  Pretty far between.  Nothing really sounds  particularly bad.  I don't think the drippy ballad "Wander" necessarily portrays the band at its best, given that they lean drippy and ballady as it is (I prefer it when they just go full acoustic, like on "On The Coldest Winter Night").  And whilst I love bands with multiple vocalists, and get Thomas wanting to give his wife a gig, I'm not sure that her voice is the right fit for Kamelot (it does work well enough in small quantities, like on "III Ways To Epica").  That's all I've got for now.  I could see "The Mourning After (Carry On)" potentially either being a huge grower or getting annoying, so we'll see. 

Stray thoughts:

- My encyclopedic knowledge of German folklore - by which I mean having had to read a play once in high school and now having listened to a metal album that claims Goethe's Faust as its primary lyrical inspiration - leads me to conclude that Goethe had a considerably more interesting take on the Faust legend than Marlowe did.

- Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've heard a power metal song about signing a contract before.  Unless one is counting Sonata's "X Marks The Spot," which isn't really the same thing at all.

- I'm way too amused that my streaming service's first two "you might also like" suggestions for Epica are first a record by the band Epica, and second, one of the Sonata Arctica records with an "ia" title (not Ecliptica, unfortunately, because that'd be funnier).  

Favorite track:  "Lost & Damned"

Runner up:  "Farewell"

Least favorite track:  "Wander"

Preliminary rating:  3/5

Next:  More on Epica whenever I get around to it!

*I don't think I can bring myself to do their all-caps thing.

**And without being aware that people have different ideas about whether "symphonic" is itself a subgenre of metal, or whether the word should be used exclusively as a modifying adjective.  

 ***Fine, fine, mini-review:  It's an interesting record that deserves credit for how thoroughly it commits to the "symphonic" bit whilst tucking in pop hooks just under the surface.  The record definitely has a distinct identity.  The playing is strong across the board, including (especially?) from the rhythm section.  And even if I think that some of Rhapsody's proggier leanings need more structure to make the long songs more cohesive, the "collection of random bits of music" syndrome is not nearly as serious as I thought it was on first listen.  The compositions grew on me.  

 

One thing that did not grow on me was anything and everything about the vocals.  Not great if you're a vocals guy!  Simply put, I don't care for Fabio Lione's voice, I don't care for the vocal approaches and melody lines he chooses across the record, and I don't care for the lyrical word salad that makes me, an avowed fantasy nerd, want to shove the record into a locker.

Listening to Symphony whilst doing my best to pretend that I'd never heard a heavily orchestrated symphonic power metal record before, I'd call it both an incredibly clever way to do something different with the groundwork laid by Helloween et al and something that someone with better pure songwriting chops could greatly improve upon.  A record/band that walked so that others could run.  At least from the perspective of my own personal and developing tastes.

****Despite Luca's guest spot!

*****I am rather stunned that at least at this time, Kamelot did not have a dedicated keyboardist as an official member of the band.

******Hence forcing me to learn what a bandoneon is.