adg211288 A Unique Experience

Covid-19 and the world going into lockdown to combat the spread of the virus looked to have sounded the death knell for live music, but modern technology allowed artists to connect with audiences remotely and many bands put on shows with no live audience in attendance. Many have since seen physical and/or digital download releases as official live albums but many also are effectively little more than watching a band do a rehearsal or in-studio performance. Omega Alive by the Dutch symphonic metal act Epica is not such a release. This is a unique live experience, sans crowd, that perhaps couldn't have been pulled off any other way.

Released in support of their eighth main (ninth overall) studio album Omega (2021), Omega Alive naturally features a setlist that is dominated by tracks from that album, with seven out of fifteen tacks taken from it alongside choice cuts from the back catalogue including The Obsessive Devotion, Cry for the Moon and Kingdom of Heaven Part 1, which they play back to back with Kingdom of Heaven Part 3. There's no The Quantum Enigma – Kingdom of Heaven Part 2, sadly, but the the back to back performance of the bookends of the song trilogy are quite something as is. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the setlist is the inclusion of In All Conscience, a bonus track available on certain versions of The Quantum Enigma (2014) album that not every listener of Epica may have on their copy of that album.

But it's not just a great setlist that makes Omega Alive such a great live release, it's the entire spectacle. The concert is interlaced with pre-filmed inserts bringing a narrative to the show, which is presented in chapters. The set-up allows the band to have their stage rearranged between each segment (and lots of outfit changes for Simone Simons) while they bring on dancers, acrobats and other stunt performers (which Simone got in on the act a bit during The Obsessive Devotion by appearing to plummet off the back of the stage), pyro effects (including at one point appearing to literally set Coen Janssen's piano on fire while he keeps playing which looks a little too real for comfort). A live children's choir appears for The Skeleton Key while Simone performs Rivers with a host of guest choir singers in a haunting a capella version. They even make use of a sprinkler system which drenches and makes the band look like they're played in a monsoon. A bit cringe considering all the electric instruments being used actually.

But what really clenches it for Omega Alive is just how on form the band is. Coen Janseen is the unexpected show stealer with a manic performance complete with burning piano (I'm still unconvinced that wasn't real) but every band member is giving it their all and clearly having a blast despite the adversity of the world situation at the time. There is really not a fault to be had as Epica showcase different sides to themselves from their softest to their heaviest, most death metal influenced material via their most progressive epics.

Epica have come across as a special band to me ever since I first heard them through The Divine Conspiracy (2007) album and Omega Alive further cements their reputation as one of the best symphonic metal acts we have, one whom should really at this point be considered to have surpassed the bigger, more popular acts that paved the way in the genre. I think I'll be watching this captivating show again sooner rather than later.