REACTION to EPICA (The Skeleton Key) 💀🗝🔥 

I just LOVE the anticipation of seeing every single reactor open their eyes wide or smile at the very end with the harsh vocals and opera sparring. Happens every time! ;)

This is one of my absolute favourites from the new album, but saying that the whole album is incredible. Epica have been a favourite of mine for such a long, long time and they're such a badass band. Nightwish and Epica are joint first for my favourite band, I just can't choose between them and no one can make me. 😂😂

Fun fact: I came back to watch this after watching a lot of Chase react videos. This time around, I felt like I was primed to listen more actively; boy was I in for a treat -- like a new listening experience. Amazing.

I like how this entire album is getting better after each listen, especially songs like "Freedom - The Wolves within", "Kingdom of Heaven: Part III" and the last song "Omega" :) There are so many melodies, riffs and entire sections that got stuck in my head for days :>

This one and the code of life are EXTREMELY nice. Give me goosebumps. This one reminds me Ursula in the little mermaid when sings as Vanessa in the boat. They sound alike 🌊

Thank you very mach.I was not a fan of metal music. Several years ago my daughter convinced me to listen to some songs from nightwish, epica, within temptation and you never say no when your child wants to share something with you. Symphonic metal won me over and we went to a live together when epica came to Athens. I will not forget how perfect, dynamic and full of energy their show was. They were generous with their audience. "Desigh your universe " would be a great next song to listen

Off of this album, Code of Life is the standout. There is no video for it yet but you still need to listen to it. And Design Your Universe live from Retrospect is one of the band's best songs/performances ever.

On backing vocals we have: - Simone Simons (love that she's listed as a guest musician in her own band) - Linda Janssen (aka Linda van Summeren, has done a lot of backing vocals for Epica) - Marcela Bovio (has also done a lot of backing vocals for Epica, but may be most known as a frequent guest star of Ayreon and some of Arjen's other projects. Currently singing in MaYan with a crowd-funded side project named "Dark horse, White horse" that just has begun shipping their self-titled EP)

You should listen to their song "Omega" and then the acoustic version called omegacoustic lol.

Maybe just listen to the whole album like you did with Nightwish’s new one. But yeah this song is amazing. 🤟🏻

Full OMEGA review ,PLEASEEE !!!! Code of Life is simply one of the BEST Epica songs ever ♥️

I liked this video right after you said "owl dare they" ....love the reaction. This whole album deserves a reaction, every song is captivating

As a fan of Epica since their first album (literally) I can tell you that their musics definitely worth the hype. And thank you for the reactions, is so enjoyable to sit and watch your videos!

I was visiting your channel every day since an official video was released in hope you reacted to it 😂 Can't wait for a premiere! 😻

Listen to "Omega" song title of the Album. It's a really great song and right after this, listen to "omegacoustic" that is the acoustic version of the "omega" song. Since The Holographic Principle album, they're putting acoustic versions of some songs and that's so fantastic! So amazing!

It would be really cool to see you react to the whole Omega album just like with Human. :||: Nature., maybe with the acoustic versions too beacuse they're very different and cool ! But if you don't plan on doing that, another great idea would be to react to the 3 parts of Kingdom Of Heaven because this trilogy is, at least to me, part of their finest work !

Yeah! The orchestra is a real one from Prague (the same that did record Star Wars soundtrack). The album has an orchestral version which is amazing! Those are some of my recommendations from this album: Kingdom of Heaven part. III (very heavy and epic), Code of Life (seems to be most people's favorite, very very good and cinematic), Seal of Solomon (very catchy, mostly sung by the choir). The entire album is amazing definitely deserves to be checked out!

Brutally Beautiful YES! Epica in a nutshell 🔥🤘🔥🤘🔥🤘

"Its beautiful, its brutally beautiful..." ...Brutiful if you will 😏

This is so good. I've been listening to this album for days. Can't wait to see them perform it live.

Epica is by far one of the best and most consistent bands in the industry, they're just fucking amazing. Really recommend to hear "Design Your Universe" from the Retrospect DVD

I love to see that my passion for music is shared by so many people. Your reactions and technical explanations make me love her even more. thanks Chase❤

Kingdom of heaven part 1, 2 and 3. They are awe some peaces of music and singing.

I hoped you would react to this one soon, can't wait! :D

Loved the excitement in your face at the begining, so genuine! I was mind-blown as well when I heard the album!

In regards to backing vocals, she does do her own but they also like having others do the backing vocals as well (Marcela and Linda in this case) to add a different flavor to the sound. Simone also does a lot of backing vocals for the choirs in Epica.

This track is haunting. I love it. Also loving the Spiritbox T-Shirt! Watched their virtual concert - this was so good on it. I really hope I can pay them more money and get a video of that concert I can keep (and play every week for the rest of my life).

As others have suggested, please do the whole album! I believe they've uploaded it to their RU-vid channel.

Nice reaction. I'm glad I'm going to see the show to this new album live on September 3rd...even in my home town at Paaspop.

your reations are great because when you love it, you are just a fan! I can relate to it...

Whoever discovered the combination of siren and harsh vocals, guitars, drums and orchestra would work well together ......THANK YOU!

Epica have been my favourite band for a long time, and I'm so glad to see you're loving them. I'm not one of those commenters who 'demands' for reactors to react to something, but Code of Life from Epica's Omega album is an absolute must!

Your excitement with Epica is simply contagious! Hope you come back soon, big hugs to you and your family.

Him: Are there acoustic versions? Us: Ohboi!! If only you knew!! :p :p Epica does a REAL work of interpretation for the acoustics. It's not just a version with guitars unplugged. They change the style, make it jazzy, gypsy or even more classical... They practically re-write the song. I would love to see you compare the two versions of a song that you already know to hear you talk about the interpretation. I watched you react to Abyss of Time recently (the acoustic version is Abyss o' time ). Also the acoustic version of Unleashed (that you have reacted to as well ;) ) is simply amazing.

Not sure what my favorite part of this was...either “owl no they didn’t” or “flat jellyfish”. 😅 Love it Chase! Thank you for constant entertainment!

Shout out to The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra which provided orchestral parts for this album.

Great reaction! The entire album is an instant-classic. BTW: if you want to hear and see a different Simone, check out Ayreon’s The Human Equation video (Transitus album)

Ahhhhhhh yeeeaaa.... the new visual intro!!!! I love it!!!

Absolutely bang on in your observations. This is definitely one of their best pieces of recent work. But what would you expect from Epica, aside from pure genius? Thanks for breaking it down again for us !! A++ will listen again LOL

Great reaction! Epica is my favorite band and it’s so nice to see someone enjoying them as well. For the next reaction of Epica you should do a Kingdom of Heaven Journey, all 3 parts are amazing and that would be awesome to see, you won’t regret.

The audio quality on the vinyl is AMAZING 😎

Beautiful reaction Chase! glad you regularly do new video from apica! there are still a few bangers that you haven't done yet and should actually be on your list EPICA Introspect Monopoly On Truth Retrospect 10th Anniversary DVD I RU-vid 1080p start of a show of 3 hours! ( only 1 song ) Epica - Design Your Universe (Retrospect) Greatings from the netherlands

Yay. I thought maybe you had given up on this. Glad to hear your breakdown. Perhaps you can do a comparison of Omega and the acoustic version some day.

I'm still so proud I forced Epica on you Chase ^^. This is my favourite song from Omega for me. The way you react is exactly how I still react after listening so many times. Those verses in the beginning. Absolute perfection.

New to this flavour of metal. I'm not too fussed about cheesy theatricals...but none of that here. Effing awesome, filmic, classy-diabolical...'brutiful' indeed :-)

Yes!

"or a flat gellyfish" damn Chase.. I was VERY close to having to wiping my morning coffee off my monitor.. damn you funny guy! ;)

The entire album is fire. Love, love, love it. After a 5-year gap between studio albums, I was worried if this new one would be worth the wait. It was. It totally was.

They killed it with this album 🖤 this song entered my top 5 Epica songs with just a few weeks out!!!!!! The acoustic version is from Omega (is an amazing song too)

I have never been a lot into Epica. But this album is INSANELY good!! I can't name one song that could not be a single.

'You will lose'....true that!! :-) Fantastic music, from one of the three bands that drew me into the Metal genres....so glad they did!

"It's like a flat jellyfish. I'm not helping.". Lmao. Love you brother

To answer your question about the acoustic versions, there are 3 so far: Abyss O'Time (Abyss of Time), El Código Vital (Code of Life with a Spanish chorus, btw the original song is incredible), and Omegacoustic (Omega, the title track). They're all awesome, funky, kind of make me wanna dance. There's also an a capella version of Rivers. I cannot recommend Code of Life enough: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--bJa37g7qbg.html And here's the acoustic version, should you wish to compare the two (they are completely different): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wXtO82Ii_l0.html

It has been too long since you reacted to Epica. You wouls love, love, love Kingdom of Heaven part 4 Omega Live.

Another great reaction! :) For the next Epica song I vote for "Code Of Life", that song gives me some serious chills every time.

Found in an article on symbolism from various cultures like Native American mythology... since you asked about the moths :) Moth in dreams: A moth represents change and transformation. Since this insect always seeks light, it also means that you must search for the light which is present within each one of us. If you have seen a moth in your dreams, it may be an indication not to seek materialistic pleasures or pleasures outside of you since all that you seek is already present within.

they got omega acoustic and abyss o time both acoustic just warms my heart both have bangers heavy versions outside of the acoustic simone also kills it on rivers such a smooth and emotional ride too

The whole album is awesome, fantasci, outstanding, out of this world! You should do a full album reaction or at the least a review. And yes, including the acoustic songs! And there is not an acoustic version of this one, unfortunately ^^. And one thing that's be super awesome is a reaction of all 3 parts of Kingdom of Heaven (a super long video? Hours long? I mean, each song is +10min, so, if you make ONE video with all 3... yeah xD but that'd be awesome). This song is a stand-out from the album. The more I listen, the more I love it, and it's always in my favourites when listening to the whole album (but, honestly, there are basically 0 songs I don't love, sooooo). Other stand-outs, for me are: Kingdom of Heaven part III (of course, it was expected. The hype was real, the hype was 1000000x deserved, and the more I listen, the more I love it), Code of Life, Synergy and Omega. Abyss of Time is still also one of my favourites from the album, though we've had months to get acquainted with it, hehehe. A last note: I'm SURE you'd love, love, loooove the vlogs they did throughout the process of creating the album. It's on their official channels, all 15 episodes!

This Epica´s album is such a gem - they really outdid themselves with vocal and instrumental arrangements and how everything was put together by Joost. You should also check out the band that Mark founded with a few other people when he found himself stuck while looking for inspiration for another Epica´s album over 10 years ago. It is more of symphonic death metal - the more brutal side of Epica in a way. Start with MaYaN - Saints Don´t Die (official video).

Oh man, I hope you react to the video for the acoustic version of "Abyss Of Time"..you will see just how far they can stretch the "light" side of their music! 😁 I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised. It is an official video, so you need to see it!

Great reaction chase! Brilliant song. The whole album is amazing. Seal of Solomon is my fave.

You should visit the old music video of then, like "The Phanton Agony", "Façade of Reality", "Cry for the Moon", etc

Yes they make acoustic stuff too. Abyss of time has an acoustic version that you might want to check ;-)

Omega... God, this whole album is epic! You should do it track after track. Pure magic.

The most wonderful band imo and even better LIVE....roll on 2022

As many people have already said, a reaction to the whole album would be great, especially "Code of Life". Simone said it was her favorite song to sing and I can see way, she does an extraordinary job.

Woow just loved your react ❤️😍 you need to listen to Code of Life, one of the best songs of the album ❤️

This is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite songs.

Very cool Track!. The mood on 1:19 reminds me soooo much of the original horror movie "the fog" from the 80. Back then this piano and synth was so scary for little me. Listen to it now with Epica is just so cool and so...EPICA!💥

LOL! The way you said "accoustic stuff?!"....you sound like a 3 year old in a lollypop store, I've been laughing out loud for minutes now! Loved your reaction, as always! Never go anywhere!

Epica - Acoustic? - oh Chase and you thought Nightwish was a rabbit hole.

You need to check out "Code of Life", it's definitely the highlight of the album!

Great reaction Chase (sorry for missing the premiere). You've described it perfectly by pointing out the contrast. As far as accoustic versions go... If you want to check it out, I've suggested Omegacoustic (the acoustic version of Omega) on Discord 😉

It was really funny how you reacted when Mark started to scream. Chase Omega is the number one metal album right now, you should react to all the songs. And I agree with the contrasts in Epica is one of their highlights

Just imagine if someone could gather great artists under a single banner... People like Simone, the Jansen sisters, Hanzi... oh, wait.

Wait until he hears the rest of the album

The backing vocals for this album are done by Marcella Bovio and Linda. Linda is Coen Janssen's wife, the keyboard player. Also you should def check out the two acoustic songs they have already uploaded because I am sure you will love them since the sound is much different and they do their own thing. It showcases beautifully how talented they are and how they all do many things in the background.

YESSS!! MORE EPICA

They made accoustic versions of "Abyss of Time" and "Omega" so far. Don't know if there are even more.

Love this song and this album, you should definitely react to all of this album at some point. Another band you might like to react to with lots of 'contrast' is After Forever. Not around anymore but they also have some killer songs

They always have acoustic versions of their songs. Not all but in their albums they use to add bonus cd's with 5 o six songs with their acoustic versions. They also add the versions without the vocal only the instrumental and the choir parts.

The lyrics are Simone Simons and she worked closely with Rob van der Loo - bass player for the music part (that might explain the nice dirty bass tone) - of course, the whole band contributed. The backing vocals are by Marcela Bovio (MaYaN, Ayreon with Simone) and Linda Janssen (on many Epica songs past and present) Simone and Rob are also the 2 behind Rivers, a beautiful ballad by Epica. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3rW7Vpep3II.html

Acoustic stuff? Symphonic metal? Check out Beyond the Black.

As one who has used ASL as a 2nd language, let me say you may communicate better with your hands, face and movements than you do with your words on this one. The anticipation, the trepidation, the anxiety for the child... it is all there in painful clarity. This is great music, and I'm glad I heard it for the first time in this way. Damn good day had.

I LIKE BEING SPOILED, MORE EPICA

Hey chase, a few months ago you said u would revisit periphery, believe me, its gonna be worth it. You will be overwhelmed by the heavyness and beauty in those songs, its amazing

Escucha "Code of life" y "Seal of Solomon", otras increíbles canciones del nuevo álbum de Epica, son fantásticas, pero todo el álbum es una joya.

Brutally beautiful - That sums Epica up perfectly! Your face at 10:25 is my standard Epica face! I loved this song already but this reaction with all of the information makes me appreciate it even more! Would love to hear your thoughts on Code of Life. Or Kingdom of Heaven, but then you’d have to do Kingdom of Heaven Parts 1, 2 and 3. Backing vocals are Marcela Bovio - her backing vocals are very clear on the end of Kingdom of Heaven Part 3 and Omega.

You need to hear their song “Rivers”. It’s basically a showcase for Simone’s vocals, it’s a beautiful balladic song.

This entire album is SO good!!!

Bolero of fire piano work. Skeleton key. If it weren't for the fact that Nintendo are lawsuit heavy vultures, I'd have loved for a modern day Ocarina of Time soundtrack by Epica.

Just suscribed (from France) to your great rection channel 😊 Epica is one of my favorite band ever. You should react to their song Chasing the dragon (live retrospect) you will be amazed all the way.

If aliens beamed up one human to explain us to them, I'd hope that it was you. I think when you were done, they'd nod and say "Hmm... Alright, we think we get it." ••• Thanks for the videos. (-:

Taking about contrast once in a interview the question came about her looks as one of the factors that attract attention to Epica, Simons said: "First of all the most important is the sound of the band, because beauty will fade one day, and I hope my voice won't [Laughs]... But, yeah, you have two aspects of the band - the music (the CD's) and then the live side of it (the show), and part of the show is also that it has to look nice, so I take good care of myself, I make sure that the fans have something to look at during the show."

As usual a great reaction to what is my favourite of the four singles released from the superb OMEGA album. You asked what next for a reaction video - ‘Design Your Universe, Live at Retrospect’. A masterclass in live symphonic metal. Be warned though - bring your shades!

Yes..they are my favourite band for years now...and live they are sensational!!! Hope you get to see them too, @Chase Carneson. They are goin on tour with Apocalyptica...just sayin'

Epica doing epic things

Do believe they going to drop a acoustic version of the whole omega album. Two songs is already out with video. Epica - Abyss o'time and Epica - Omegacustic. Both are great

They really stepped further than before into Gothic territory on this. Talk about contrast! Stylistically, this reminds of the brighter spots of TRISTANIA and the other bands legendary Morten Veland spawned. The guitars and keys are VERY reminiscent, and the song structure is taking cues from the Gothic pioneers. Some listeners are not going to like the "detour", but I cannot find fault, as long as the band know where their identity lies... and the new album proves they absolutely do! EPICA have created a sound unique unto themselves by now - a thing that can be said only of a select handful. So I gladly revel in the "difference" of this song (and its irresistible chorus - frankly, how does one get this out from one's head?). P. S.: To answer your question: there are all of four videos to this album, "Omega". A THIRD of the album for our audio-visual pleasure! And those garments just get better! "Abyss of Time", "Freedom - The Wolves Within", and "Rivers". Help yourself. :)))

Great reaction of a great song! But personally, I really really really can't wait for your view on Kingdom Of Heaven III of same album ;-)