Old Composer REACTS to EPICA - The Skeleton Key // Symphonic Metal Reactions The Decomposer Lounge 

Even if you look at their earlier stuff, it is still just as good

Yes! Kingdom of Heaven live

Doesn't have to be live. Geebz want to focus on music, not on videos (which I like).

@@Fermion911 True, that song is incredible on the album too

If you already suggest 2 of the 3 parts of Kingdom of Heaven add in the 2nd one too.

I love how the growl and simone's vocals kinda adds to the recurring theme of their lyrics, like duality, polar opposites and trying to find balance in between. I guess we can say that they found the balance between growl and clean in the band.

Exactly, just posted a comment a few seconds ago recommending Ayreon.

I don’t know why but my earlier comment is gone 😏

I'll third this recommendation! Arjen Luccasen is a mad genius for sure. Really incredible compositions.

Definitely need some Ayreon.

Yes, TPA is absolutely beautiful. I don't understand why only a relatively small percentage of fans ever mentions it. Oh and those acoustic versions.... Damn, that's pure beauty. I love Simone's young voice so much :)

For me The Phantom Agony is in top 3 Epica albums. Nightwish army Romanian 🇷🇴 division is here.🤟

"Unleashed" is a classic

Haggard. Dimmu borgir, ("Cradle of filth"), Symphony X, Apocalyptica, Therion, Satyricon (early works), Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Dream theater (some.oftheir work, but mostly progressive metal). And so much more.

@@darthmarr9886 Not much more. Most "symphonic metal" bands are not really symphonic. Adding either a piano or strings to metal does not make it symphonic. I only count bands that use many orchestral instruments and, in ideal case, operatic vocals. Then the whole lists suddenly shrinks to only a few bands.

@@cancelled_user well, touché,;)

@@darthmarr9886 have you ever heard dark sarah? Deffinaltely cannot compete with the bands that youve mentioned but its pretty good too imo

Now there's some trivia I didn't know!

The song Karma is actually from Kamelot's previous album, Karma.

@@luxetveritas9196 yes he knows, he must be talking about the Elizabeth trilogy. Although as amazing as the live version is to see, I think the studio version really takes you away to a different place, and also in the live version Thomas gets lazy and doesn't play that amazing riff properly in part 3. not to mention the fact that the 2nd guitar parts are missing live since there is only 1 guitarist.

yes!! such a underrated song, my favorite of them!

Yes, this one with on-screen lyrics: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pNs_pMdZGrw.html

Oh yes! Such a beautiful song!

Damn straight.

Here 8 months later and still waiting for once upon a nightmare (studio version) even after I sent him a $20 PayPal for it 😥😥😥😥

I agree, Omega is a masterpiece! I never ever skip any song on this album!

Kamelot is love and one of the first bands that introduced me to metal.

I love "Storm the Sorrow" too. But Geebz is not very interested in videos :) He wants to focus on music.

@@Fermion911 Please don't assume that I don't know what the channel is about, or how he does things. There is nothing wrong with me encouraging him to watch the videos as well as do his job, is there? So, don't tell me what people are interested in, when you don't know them personally.

Those are suggestions from someone who knows what he’s talking about. Any prog-head earns my eternal respect.

@@ledsabbazepplath3889 Thanks mate 🙏 I really appreciate, you also have my respect

Yes and my favorite band that does it is scardust I also really like lacuna coil

It's not really genre, more like technique or trope.

The "beauty and the beast" comes from gothic metal: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_metal#Beauty_and_the_beast

I've been saying that for a long time, no one agrees with me, but I don't care

As for Epica themselves, Cry for the Moon is where it is :)

Absolutely agree, I love all of their albums but The Quantum Enigma and everything that followed it is simply spectacular, including the EPs, The Holographic Principle is still my favourite Epica album

and Stabat Mater Dolorosa But I wouldn't recommend songs only because they feature Floor, though I love her. This is about Epica and we should recommend whatever is best from Epica.

And it is the best result 😎🤘🏻

Metallica S&M was the album that opened my eyes to what metal could be. Discovered Apocalyptica shortly after, Nightwish and Leaves' Eyes a few years later, then Epica, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Opeth, etc. Down the rabbit hole I went. I was raised on classical (i.e., Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and the like) and I've always loved rock and metal, and this was to my young ears pure aural ecstasy. That one album changed my life. On a related note, it kind of forever ruined garage bands for me, lol.

Good post except... you should always provide links otherwise reactors sometimes pick wrong versions :]

@@Fermion911 thanks to youtube's algorithms if i add links my post disappears

Thank you so much 😀

Awwwright🤙

​@@KeyOfGeebz Hello and welcome to the world of Epica! :) Please, pay attention to this post! Epica is not just "some symphonic metal band", Epica is literally a top-notch symphonic metal, alongside Nightwish and Therion. Google any website for "top 10 symphonic metal bands" and Epica will be there, usually in the top 3 or top 4. I'm glad you reacted to "The Skeleton Key" from their latest album Omega (Feb 2021) BUT that is more radio-friendly song (typica verse-chorus-verse structure). You really need to react to some of their great masterpieces that use a lot of orchestral sound. Since you are a composer, I would recommend "The Phantom Agony" from their debut album (2003) of the same name: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G1YTu54A69w.html - please, use exactly THIS link as it is a HD version. The last 3 minutes of the song is pure orchestral sound, no electric instruments, I think you will really like it. Simone Simons (the gorgeous redhead lead singer) was only about 19 years old here (she's 35/36 in The Skeleton Key) and her technique has changed quite a lot, but I personally love her young voice. Here is one of their breathtaking ballads "Once Upon a Nightmare" - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pNs_pMdZGrw.html It starts off almost like a movie score. Not very complicated composition but it's really beautiful. The spoken male voice reads parts of the poem Erlkonig (Alder-king) by Goethe. If you'd like to hear their (probably) magnum opus and if you don't mind some heavier parts, try "Kingdom of Heaven". The song has 5 movements, 13 minutes in total: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hFlgT4dny4k.html Epica also make acoustic versions of some of their songs which are really wonderful, such as Feint: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FNTaIz5cABY.html If you reacted to just these four songs, it would make me happy :) Some other suggestions may come later. Enjoy!

@@Fermion911 Thank you so much for that detailed comment. Will be diving much deeper into Epicas body of work. Thanks for links as well :)

@@KeyOfGeebz You're welcome sir :) Looking forward to more Epica reactions!

They didn't do Kingdom of heaven in Retrospect unfortunately

I listen to Epica for many years and their music was always better than Nightwish

Epica has never, not even for a second, sounded like Nightwish. I like Nightwish too, but Epica is on another level

Simone has suffered from MRSA for some time.... She's lucky to be alive!

@@damienmaynard8892 I didn't know that :( Ofcouse its not epic that she was sick.. the male singers growls were really good tho even for the clean parts. This was 2007 as warm up for Sonata Arctica

I Saw once upon a nightmare live back in 2017 and i can tell you I experienced something that i never felt before and could never experience again until this day. It was surreal

* symphonic / gothic metal I hope you're going to listen to Epica again :)

@@cancelled_user not sure I will dive into the genre again bit will surely give a look at what they've been doing...

@@Spitx OK, enjoy ;) And btw, do you know acoustic versions of their old songs? It's not metal, so you are not diving into the genre :) but those songs are damn beautiful. For example: Feint - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FNTaIz5cABY.html Martyr of the Free Word - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nV5SCcrAxC0.html In the first video, Simone was only around 19 years old. I still love her young voice :)

@@cancelled_user can totally relate to feint but not this version, pretty incredible and beautiful arrangement. It's now much easier to find music and titles I've once heard and explore deeper. I still do remember some names like theater of tragedy, nightwish, octavia(?), lacuna coil... There were a lot of gothic symphonic metal beauty and the beast style bands 😅

The hook in this song reminds me of Cirice.