Sonata Arctica, Epica
London Camden Electric Ballroom
12th December, 2007

View: stage-left standing, 10 yards out

Following openers Ride The Sky, Dutch sextet Epica, led by flame-haired siren Simone Simons, captivated the all-ages crowd with a 45-minute, eight-song set. Opener The Obsessive Devotion set the benchmark with its thrashy intro from guitarist Mark Jansen (plus death vocals), Simone wind-milling her hair to the mob’s air-punching, and delivering ethereal mezzo-soprano vocals. Lifting tracks from their catalogue and latest effort, The Divine Conspiracy, such as the tempo/tone-shifting Chasing The Dragon, and martial debut album cut Cry For The Moon, they created a spellbinding sound. Finnish quintet Sonata Arctica upped the ante with 15 songs crammed into 95 minutes, opening with In Black & White from their recent Unia. The touch-paper for hurtling guitar/ key runs was lit and a jigalong Victoria’s Secret was followed by the Scorpions-esque repose of Broken and Maiden-like Eighth Commandment. Other corkers included Caleb, the instrumental showcase of Black Sheep, impressive harmonies of It Won’t Fade and Tony Kakko’s audience interplay on Queen’s We Will Rock You. An extended encore included the soundtrack splendour of Don’t Say A Word and The Cage as closer.

Reviewed by Tim Jones
<< Back to Issue 345

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