Dutch symphonic metal giants Epica just wrapped their fourth studio album Design Your Universe 10th Anniversary shows. They had only three North American dates this January and finished them up in New York City to the packed Webster Hall venue. Epica was supported by the American metal band Starkill from Chicago, Illinois.
There was spring like weather on the mesmerizing Sunday night in NYC. Webster Hall was packed and the crowd was pumped up to see one of the marquee bands in symphonic metal. Opening band Starkill incorporates many aspects of symphonic metal in their music too, however they are much darker and heavier. They already have a history of touring with Epica, and were absolutely a perfect fit, especially considering that now they also have a female vocalist, which made them more relatable.
Covered in body paint under faint lights, Starkill members exploded onto the stage with their newest song Detonate from their latest album called Gravity. They were not about to go easy and followed with two other hits Burn Your World and Not Alone.
On vocals the bands founding member and guitarist Parker Jameson and newest member Sarah Lynn Collier made for an excellent duo of unclean vocals and Sarah also providing beautifully melodic feminine vocals to complement their symphonic metal sound and create pleasant ambience despite the bands almost gothic look. The other founding member, Spencer Weidner was a beast on the drums, and Shaun Andruchuk on bass showed some virtuoso skills playing his instrument behind his back. All that while the other guitarist Tony Keathley had to be fancy and jump off the stage to grab a fans hat. Though he will have to work on his return mission, otherwise event photographers, including me, had to get him back onstage. Well, it was good fun, and we got thanked later.
They followed their set with Until We Fall, and as per band, they played for the first time live song Emerge from Gravity. It was followed by Ruin, Evil Inside and Cloudless while wrapping up with Before Hope Fades. Altogether it was an amazing and flawless set and the band deserved every ovation it got from the crowd.
Of course Epica is a special kind of a beast. They have carved their name in a genre populated by such mega bands as Nightwish, Within Tempation and Therion. As most of the genre bands they are fronted by a female to bring in a melodic sound of vocals, along with another integral part to symphonic sound which is the keyboard. While symphonic metal is mainly a European thing, there are a lot of genre fans across the globe.
Epica has released seven studio albums to date and there is word out there that the band might release new music by the end of this year.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Andris Jansons
Epica
Starkill
