“Unchain Utopia” features the choir probably more than any song on the album, and ends up being one of my favorite tracks.īy far, the highest point on the album for me happens right in the middle. Simone Simons of course has the main vocals, with guitarist Mark Jansen and drummer Arien van Weesenbeek back up on the gutturals. It’s not used as just an effect the choir maybe has a good 1/3 rd of the vocals on The Quantum Enigma. There is actually a lot more choir vocals on this album than in other albums. You can’t have awesome intros and solos like in the beginning of “The Essence of Silence” unless you have a live player.Īnd much like other Epica albums, a live chamber choir also accompanies the band in the entire album. As far as synthesized strings have come, it still doesn’t beat the live instrument in the studio. The band decided to use a live string ensemble for their string tracks again for The Quantum Enigma a decision that I think paid off in spades. The lush build of harmonies from the choir, live string ensemble and the other orchestral elements all come together to make a beautiful musical and cinematic picture that’s impossible to resist. And yet, I couldn’t change the track while listening. I have to admit, when I first popped it in, I groaned a bit. This is such a bombastic intro, and I know it’s something that’s been done way too many times to count, (many times by Epica themselves), but it doesn’t take away from the stunning force this intro builds. It starts out with an instrumental orchestral intro, (“Originem”), building straight into the opener, (“The Second Stone,”).

It follows their standard formulas as far as how songs are written and albums are laid out. I think the thing that makes The Quantum Enigma more amazing is that it’s really nothing new from Epica. Every song is just filled to the brim with emotion, atmosphere, and just musical grandeur. This is the very best of Epica, amplified and expanded in every best way. To say the absolute very least, this album is astounding, from beginning to end. All teasing aside, I’m going to jump straight to the point and just straight up say that this album blew my mind to the wall, and then blew the wall away.

I m asking why enigma album