Epica has overtaken Nightwish as the premier, household name symphonic power metal band with woman at the mic. Their combination of death metal riffs and soaring operatic vocals, as well as top notch orchestrations and creativity have allowed Epica to expand their sound and flourish without losing what makes them special. Mark Jansen has gotten so much better as a songwriter and vocalist too, He’s come so far since After Forever.
10) The Phantom Agony (2003)
It’s unfortunate this one has to be last, but of course it does right? It’s by far their least polished and slowest album. Of course there are some classic cuts that they still play live today; Sensorium, Cry for the Moon and of course the Phantom Agony, which still really holds up. This album coming on the heels of After Forever’s Decipher it definitely sounded like Mark’s continuation of what his vision of the band should sound like. I’m not going to pretend this album isn’t a little immature, but it was their debut album and they were all like 17-20 at the time so I cut them some slack. In the end though outside of the three songs I mentioned, there’s just not much here that’s particularly memorable.
Best songs: Sensorium, Cry for the Moon, Illusive Consensus, Seif Al Din
9) The Solace System (2017)
EPs are cool, and new material is always cool especially from one of my favorite bands. Obviously this is just B sides from Holographic Universe, but Epica is one of those bands where often their B sides should have made the album in place of others. The title track is decent, not great but a solid song and Architect of Light is pretty average by Epica standards. The real showstoppers here are Fight Your Demons, Wheel of Destiny and Decoded Poetry. Fight Your Demons especially stands out as a song that could have replaced something on Holographic Universe (I would have replaced Tear Down Your Walls personally), that chorus is so awesome and it’s got to be one of the most aggressive songs they’ve written in a while. The way I usually look at EPs, is if they have even one song that blows me away, whatever the quality of the rest of it then it’s still worthwhile.
8) Requiem for the Indifferent (2012)
So I have a lot of complicated feelings about this album. I spent a lot of time getting to know it when I really started to dig into Epica. There’s a lot of diamonds hidden in the rough here and even the “bad” material is still interesting enough to warrant listening to. I don’t think there’s any songs here that I just skip over when I listen and that’s probably why this is actually my second most scrobbled Epica album. I said a lot of the songwriting lacks punch and I stand by that, but the production bears some responsibility for that, it feels kind of thin and muddy. All of this creates a really unique album in Epica’s discography, it’s different, but I actually appreciate this album because it’s so different from the rest of their work and when it’s good, it’s really good.
Best songs: Monopoly on Truth, Requiem for the Indifferent, Internal Warfare, Deep Water Horizon and Serenade of Self Destruction.
7) Ωmega (2021)
Obviously I haven’t had nearly as much time with this album as the others on this list and I’ve tried not to judge it too harshly because of that. There’s one thing I just couldn’t ignore though; the first half of this album is average. Songs like Abyss of Time, The Wolves Within and Gaia are all pretty good, but I actively dislike Skeleton Key and I find Seal of Solomon and Code of Life to be boring and derivative of similar Epica songs. BUT then we get to Kingdom of Heaven Part 3 which is perfection, and really the whole back half of this (more like tracks 8-12) is amazing, still not as good as their last two albums, but I think others will appreciate this album as a whole more than me.
Best tracks: Kingdom of Heaven 3, Rivers, Manic Manifest, Sovereign of the Sun Spheres
6) Consign to Oblivion (2005)
Consign to Oblivion is a brilliant album and it pains me to rank it this low. This was one of the first Epica albums I really got into and so the nostalgia is really strong for me. Dance of Fate, The Last Crusade, Quietus, Mother of Light and of course the title track, are all brilliant songs and a huge part of Epica’s early success. This may be a rough album by modern standards and to be sure there’s some filler on it, but the really good cuts are classics; a word I know is oft misused or overused, but I think it applies here. Oh and there’s a great cameo with Roy Khan on the second ballad in case you weren’t aware.
5) Attack on Titan (2018)
Yes I included this, yes I get they’re not technically original songs, but Epica wrote new lyrics and did a really great job expanding and arranging the original songs. Even if I didn’t know Attack on TItan I would still listen to this album nonstop because it’s just that good. EPs matter too you know and after Solace System was a little disappointing, this really reignited my passion for Epica. It might seem crazy to put it up this high, but every song on this EP is a banger, including the ballad and maybe it’s too short, but I don’t mind listening to it again because it’s THAT GOOD.
Best Songs: All of them
4) Design Your Universe (2009)
Ah yes, most people’s preferred Epica album. It was my favorite too until The Quantum Enigma came out, and of course it is, this album was the perfect continuation of the sound developed on The Divine Conspiracy. Songs like Unleashed and Martyr of the Free Word are classics now and will probably never leave their setlists. Between this one and Divine Conspiracy it comes down to preference and taste, they sound very similar production wise and they’re even structured pretty similarly. In the end I think Design Your Universe has the better songs overall, but Divine Conspiracy is a little more consistent throughout. There aren’t many Epica songs I actively dislike, but White Water is one of them. On the other hand Tides of Time is one of their best ballads of all time, so for me it’s like “why did you need two ballads, and why waste Tony Kakko on the worst ballad?
Best Songs: Resign to Surrender, Unleashed, Kingdom of Heaven, Burn to a Cinder, Tides of Time, Semblance of Liberty, Design Your Universe
3) The Divine Conspiracy (2007)
This was always an album I loved, but it wasn’t until I went through it with analysis mode that I realized just how much I appreciate this album. Some might cry blasphemy putting this one ahead of Design Your Universe, but as good as that album is, I just slightly prefer this one. Songs like Death of a Dream, Living a Lie, Fools of Damnation Beyond Belief make this album special to me. Also it must be stated that I prefer The Divine Conspiracy (song) to Kingdom of Heaven, let’s be honest that’s really the only significant difference between these albums. Oh also White Waters sucks, so there’s another reason this album is better. All joking aside, these albums are really close and it’s a testament to The Divine Conspiracy’s quality that I find it more consistent and I really like the atmosphere and tone of the whole thing.
Best Songs: The Obsessive Devotion, Menace of Vanity, Chasing the Dragon, Death of a Dream, Fools of Damnation, Beyond Belief and The Divine Conspiracy
2) The Holographic Principle (2016)
There’s a term I’m fond of: a victory lap. After releasing a critically acclaimed album band’s tend to try and replicate that success in their next album, which usually includes imitating the sound. The Holographic Universe is the rare example of a victory lap that matched it’s predecessor in quality and managed to evolve the sound in a new direction. This album has so many cool moments and unique sounds that I’ve never heard from Epica before, I still prefer The Quantum Enigma overall, but this album is right on it’s heals and for those who maybe wanted something a little more outside of the Epica box than TQE, this album is for them.
Best Songs: Edge of the Blade, Universal Death Squad, Divide and Conquer, Once Upon a Nightmare and Dancing in a Hurricane
1) The Quantum Enigma (2014)
This is one of those, “let me count the ways I love you” albums. In 2014 this album hit me so hard I instantly fell in love. Even the intro track is easily the most interesting instrumental they’ve written and The Second Stone is legitimately one of my favorite Epica songs ever. This is a Jacob Hansen production through and through with huge, clean riffs and an incredible delicate mix. I would love to study with Hansen someday, I need to know how he mixes the snare and kick so perfectly, how he manages to balance full orchestras with a 5 man metal band, seriously the man is a miracle worker and there’s a reason when I test out new headphones I use a Jacob Hansen mix. The riffs are heavier than ever and the songwriting is more fluid than their earlier material. This album feels like a fully matured Epica and it just does everything I want from Epica. Most importantly the ending is perfect; Kingdom of Heaven Pt. 2 is my favorite epic from this band with several moments that are just pure metal bliss. I can’t say enough good things about this album, and if I don’t stop here I might go on for another few paragraphs about how incredible this album is; it’s as close to perfect as an album can be and it’s 10th faviorite album of all time.
Best songs: The Second Stone, Victims of Contingency, The Fifth Guardian, Chemical Insomnia, Natural Corruption, The Quantum Enigma, Dreamscape
