The Phantom Agony
| The Phantom Agony | ||||
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| Epica studio album | ||||
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Publication |
June 5, 2003 |
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| Label (s) | Transmission Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
51 min 52 s |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Gate Studio, Wolfsburg |
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The Phantom Agony is the debut album by the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica . It was released on June 5, 2003 on the Dutch label Transmission Records.
Emergence
After guitarist Mark Jansen left the band After Forever in 2002 , he founded the band Sahara Dust , with whom he released the two-song demo recording Cry for the Moon . In the same year the singer Helena Iren Michaelsen ( Trail of Tears , Imperia ) was exchanged for the then 17-year-old Simone Simons and the band was then renamed Epica.
With the participation of a six-part choir (including long-time guest singer Amanda Somerville ) and a classical string orchestra (3 violins , 2 violas , 2 cello and 1 double bass ), the recordings for the first studio album The finally began in January 2003 in Sascha Paeth's Gate Studio Phantom Agony , which was released on June 5th on the Dutch label Transmission Records.
background
On The Phantom Agony , Mark Jansen continued the three-part song cycle "The Embrace that Smothers" (German: "The embrace that crushed"), which he began with After Forever on their first album Prison of Desire . On Epica's third studio album The Divine Conspiracy, he later followed up with three more songs. All titles in the cycle deal with the dangers posed by organized religion .
The following album We Will Take You With Us is the recording of a live performance by the band on the Dutch music show 2 Meter Sessies and includes all tracks from The Phantom Agony (including the tracks “Feint” and “Run for a Fall” as acoustic versions ) a cover version of the song " Memory " from the musical Cats . It was released on both a video DVD and an audio CD.
Some sales versions of the album also contain bonus tracks . The American version contains the shorter single version of the track “The Phantom Agony”. The Japanese version also includes the instrumental track "Triumph of Defeat". Another variant also includes the title "Veniality", which was also included on the The Phantom Agony single.
Subject
The lyrics of the album were mainly written by Mark Jansen and mostly refer to current political, religious and social issues and events.
The third title, "Cry for the Moon", takes a critical look at the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests .
The fourth song "Feint" refers to the murder of the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn , who was known for his controversial political positions and was therefore shot on May 6, 2002 by a militant environmental and animal rights activist .
The sixth track “Façade of Reality” deals with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the religious motivation of the assassins. It also contains two excerpts from two different speeches by Tony Blair on the occasion of these attacks.
"This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today."
“For those people who lost their lives on September 11 and those that mourn them; now is the time for the strength to build that community. Let that be their memorial. "
In the seventh song "Run for a Fall", Mark Jansen processed his expulsion from After Forever, which he said was completely surprising and frustrating.
The eighth title "Seif al Din" ( Arabic سيف الدين 'Sword of Faith') refers to Islamic fundamentalism , particularly in the form of jihad .
music
Similar to After Forever , Mark Jansen combines elements of symphonic metal with elements of gothic metal in Epica . Characteristic for The Phantom Agony are in particular the almost continuous string accompaniment and the partly Latin choral singing, which makes the music, in keeping with the band name, “epic” and partly reminiscent of film music .
The predominantly hard guitar riffs and the melody-leading use of the keyboard are also defining the style . Slow passages, carried by the choir and orchestra, alternate with hard, fast and metal-heavy pieces. Instruments such as the piano (“Sensorium”), acoustic guitar (“Feint”, “Run for a Fall”) and flute (“Run for a Fall”) are also used.
The vocal combination of Mark Jansen's deep grunts and screams with Simone Simons ' clear mezzo-soprano is also very reminiscent of the music of After Forever, where Jansen still worked with the soprano singer Floor Jansen .
reception
According to many critics, Mark Jansen continued with Epica's debut album seamlessly on his work with After Forever and in particular their second album Decipher . He was able to combine hard Gothic Metal with symphonic elements and still compose catchy songs.
In particular, the performance of the singer Simone Simons, who was only 18 years old at the time of recording and had no professional singing experience, was positively highlighted in many cases. Last but not least, the harmonious integration of choir and orchestra and the dynamic song structures would make the album a masterpiece.
On the other hand, the dominant role played by the guitars was criticized as they would push the keyboard too much into the background. In addition, the singer Simone Simons is not yet fully exploiting her talent and can therefore not yet come close to the vocal quality of singers like Floor Jansen.
Track list
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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| Albums | ||||||||||||
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- Adyta (The Neverending Embrace) - 1:26
- Sensorium - 4:49
- Cry for the Moon (The Embrace that Smothers - Part IV) - 6:45
- Fine - 4:19
- Illusive Consensus - 5:00
- Façade of Reality (The Embrace that Smothers - Part V) - 8:11
- Run for a Fall - 6:32
- Seif al Din (The Embrace that Smothers - Part VI) - 5:48
- The Phantom Agony - 9:00 am
Singles
- 2003: The Phantom Agony
- 2004: Fine
- 2004: Cry for the Moon
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d musicaldiscoveries.com: Epica - The Phantom Agony - Review and Interview . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ a b c metalrage.com: Interview: Epica - Coen gives his opinion . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ a b c lordsofmetal.nl: Epica - The Phantom Agony - Review . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ americanrhetoric.com: The Rhetoric of 9/11 - Tony Blair's Initial Statements on the Terrorist Attack on America . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ americanrhetoric.com: The Rhetoric of 9/11 - Tony Blair's Address to the Labor Party (10-02-01) . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ faceculture.tv: Video interview with Mark Jansen ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ allmusic: The Phantom Agony - Review . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ↑ dutchcharts.nl: Epica in the Dutch charts . Accessed September 14, 2009.
Web links
- Official website of Epica
- The Phantom Agony on Allmusic (English)
- The Phantom Agony at LyricWiki