Excellent!!! I think I'm was the one who recommended this masterpiece!!! And I also recommend some stuff from them... Like cry of the moon, the phantom agony, sensorium, storm the sorrow, consign to the oblivion ... They have a lot to enjoy!!
Thanks. Think the best song with (both) Simone Simons (Epica) and Floor Jansen (Nightwish) is the song All That Was (from the Ayreon album The Source). It’s a beautiful Song with also Voacals of James LaBrie (Dream Theater) and Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) with the four of them singing...
The man who shouts "Floor Jansen" at the end with a growling voice is Mark Jansen (no family relation). Both he and Floor were together in a band called After Forever in the 90s/early 2000s until Mark was dismissed from the band due to creative differences. He went on to found Epica (then called Sahara Dust) with his girlfriend at the time - Simone. Simone and Floor are close friends and have been for years - this is why they have such good chemistry on stage. Mark and Simone are no longer a couple, but they still work very well together. Simone is married with Oliver Polotai, the keyboards player of another metal band : Kamelot (in fact she was pregnant during this show which is why she didn't headbang as violently as Floor xD ) . Very early Epica (then named Sahara Dust) was in fact Kamelot's support band during their Epica tour (from their namesake album), and it is from Kamelot's Epica album title that the name of band comes from. Kamelot was the support band during Nightwish's 2012 Imaginaerum US tour, during which then-Nightwish-vocalist Anette Olzon fell ill minutes before their Denver show. Kamelot's session vocalists Elize Ryd and Alissa White-Gluz covered for Anette and the show went on while she was hospitalized. Nightwish's decision to go forward with the show upset Anette and she publicly criticized the band on her blog. This was the last straw in Anette's and Nightwish's already troubled relationship and days later, the band fired her, with Floor acting as her replacement for the remainder of the tour. We know the rest of the story. Elize Ryd was also considered by Nightwish as a vocalist - way back in 2005 when they fired their first vocalist, Tarja Turunen. They thought Elize was too young and inexperienced at the time and went with Anette instead. Elize went on to found her own band, Amaranthe. Unrelated to this, on their first album with Anette, Nightwish released a song titled Amaranth. Is your head spinning yet? XD
The curious thing was that it wasn't the band That decided to play at Denver (a show known as the Denver Debacle) but they ask the fans that were already there to vote if they wanted to see the show with the guest vocalists even when they didn't know the whole setlist or if they wanted a refund to see the band on another date. The fans voted to see the band so they had to call the guest singers
@@MatiasJaruf Well, to be fair, it was the band that suggested it then the crowd voted on it. The band could have easily decided to simply cancel the show and refund the tickets. Not saying they should have, just saying you can't take away the band's responsibility of the decision.
@@cyberjarl yeah, that's what I said. They asked the fans what they wanted. Now let's be honest. If you were a part of a band and can't play a show but the fans ask the rest of the band to play (it doesn't matter Who asked Who) and the rest of the band goes on and play, will you be upset for what the fans asked? Maybe you'll be hurt but not so upset as to leave the band. There were a lot of things That happened between the band and Anette, the span of the tour was one of her main issues, probably she wanted to be more involved musically but this sounds a lot like an excuse. At the end of the Day, most of the fans won because now we have Floor. I don't know what they are going to do about Marko leaving the band.
I'm Dutch (from the Netherlands) and we have lots and lots of water over here...that explains it. The metalscene over here is not that large but almost every metalhead that I know , like myself, likes classical music as well. That's maybe the reason I like your reactions that much...thumbs up!
metal scene here in terms of bands is pretty big many don't see the light to get attention. I had a friend in three was only able to play with one on a -small- festival but they never hit off or many disband before they reach it, or for example in Poland but constantly traveling to only japan, or poland or whatever, and not wanting to live there makes it hard for them to survive, though they see more countries than the average popsinger at the start of their carreer. Once you have contact with that world you suddenly realize there are many of them out there lol
@@ThePascalStil Het is mogelijk, zoveel zijn er niet met deze achternaam. Mijn vader was van Utrecht.Mijn Opa heeft daar ook zijn hele leven gewoond en had veel familie daar in de buurt, o.a. Zeist.
@@tomdegoede7565 ik heb zelf een paar jaar op de grens tussen Doorn en Driebergen gewoond, maar mijn opa De Goede is geboren in Emmen in 1918. Hij had wel een oom of neef die molenaar was en naar de regio Utrecht was verhuisd waar hij een eigen molen had, die helaas ooit is afgebrand en niet terug is opgebouwd. Waar dat exact was heb ik (nog) niet kunnen achterhalen.
The funny thing is that i started to follow Doug after a Maiden reaction. Then i saw the same Maiden reaction from Elizabeth Zaroff on the tube, and discovered casually the incredible Floor Jansen. I was searching videos about Floor and two days ago i discovered this song. I immediately ordered this dvd and half of Epica discography. Now i'm here watching the reaction from Doug. A perfect circle.
Welcome aboard! I have tickets for the next Nightwish and Maiden gigs in the Netherlands, so lets hope they will all be together and performing still whenever that will be haha
Nice! Elizabeth is the only other reaction channel I watch. Doug for composition, Liz for vocal analysis (and unreasonably high amounts of genuine emotion). Love both channels, would love to see a collaboration breakdown / analysis. Make it happen Doug! Please! Elizabeth would probably be interested I think? Who knows.
Simone Simons (Epica's female vocalist) has mentioned the song is about a suicide bomber; they 'die' and go to Hell, but the delusions that led to their death are so strong they believe they are in Heaven and cannot tell the difference. The lyrics show they are both calling for others to join them in 'Heaven' and asking to be left alone as they know they are 'where they want to be' If you enjoyed that you may especially enjoy either of the below, from the same concert: Unleashed Design Your Universe They released their new album 'Omega' in February, Abyss of Time, Skeleton Key, Rivers, Freedom, Code of Life, Omega, Seal of Solomon are all great tracks
I cannot begin to explain how happy this reaction and breakdown makes me. As a metal guitarist who started out playing classical guitar I of course am very much into the whole Operatic Symphonic Progressive Melodic Contemporary Euro-Folk Metal scene that´s going on on a world wide basis these years. Having your piano underneath the music to give tonal clarity to the complex soundscape going on absolutely brings an essence of clear sparkling water to the song making it very easy to actually hear the basic structure of the music,- wonderful. Further recommendations could be: Epica: Cry For The Moon, Universal Death Squad Delain: Burning Bridges Tyr: Sinklars Visa, Hold The Heathen Hammer High, Sunset Shore Blackbriar: Snow White And Rose Red ( Ft. Ulli Perhonen), Mortal Remains Furor Gallico: Waterstrings Ranthiel Soprano: Herr Mannelig, Midgard ( Therion cover) - (studio projects) Eluveitie: Epona, Ategnatos, Rebirth Blind Guardian: The Bard´s Song and Valhalla - Live at Wacken Just for starters. For this one,- thank you.
I've been a musician all of my life and I've never heard of Epica, Nightwish and all of the other extremely talented bands of the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland et. until the pandemic hit. At that time, I started surfing the musical web (You Tube) and fell into one rabbit hole which led to another and another. I feel that I have been missing out on what I had thought and played to be symphonic rock music. Three fun facts, Simone Simons, the lead singer of Epica was 3 or 4 months pregnant during this performance. Second, there are more symphonic metal bands in Finland per capita than anywhere else in the world albeit Epica is from the Netherlands as is Floor Jansen. Lastly, Floor Jansen and Simone Simons were long-time friends and studied the same type of vocal training.
I read too about the roommates thing, honestly I never found evidence of that, for sure they are long term friends, but Simone is also 4 years younger then Floor, Floor did her only year in consevatorium in 2001, at that time Simone was 16yo, I'm not sure it's true. But it's funny to think the other guys trying to study Mozart, while these 2 angels listening metal full volume in their room :)
I fell into the same rabbithole. I've no idea how it came so far, but my daily evening routine is checking up all the youtubers who are checking up on Floor Jansen 🤷🏼♂️
@@Fabi72g While Floor only did 1 year of conservatorium, she graduated from rock academy, which was a unique project in the netherlands where they created a university level music curricula, but focused on pop/rock music rather than classical music or jazz. She decided to go for Rock academy instead of a conservatory because at the time she was already with After Forever and knew she wanted to pursue a career in metal. Simone on the other hand never went to conservatorium or rock academy. She had vocal lessons with Amanda Sommerville for a while, other than that her music education is very limited if compared to Floor.
@@juyifan7933 Thanks a lot for the informations, I was aware of Floor studies, but not Simone ones. If I'm not wrong Amanda was also Floor teacher at some point. It's pretty impressive Simone level in classic singing style without a proper music education.
There is even a reaction video from Floor Jansen herself on her performance of Ghost Love Score. It's an interesting twist to all those reaction videos, when the artist talks about his/her side of the story
CHASING THE DRAGON! That's my fav from Epica❤️ love that you discovering them☺️ Oh and Simone and Floor sang Pergolesis Stabat Mater together at the same concert🖤🖤🖤😊❤️❤️🥳
Doug "wise one" Helvering we have just had a team call 8 metalheads reacting to your reaction videos from Maiden ,Nightwish now Epica we have all learned more about our music than we ever thought top man loving you content , your passion for music is intoxicating keep it up , once we are allowed to be together we will have a Daily Doug Night and get drunk Bonnie Scotland loves you
I absolutely adore how you're giving another layer to this song just by figuring out what key it's in and playing along. Honestly I'd love to see more of that even over just reactions
Doug should put out a piano cover (instrumental) of some of the songs he reacts to. His play along sections sometimes sound really nice even if not sticking perfectly to the original.
Omg Doug, you’re the best! Epica are well known for incorporating Middle Eastern musical themes... would love to hear more about why, musicologically speaking, these things sound “Middle Eastern”. Anything from the retrospect concert is awesome. Highlights are: unleashed or consign to oblivion.
this song is just a pebble on the tip of the iceberg that is epicas talent in composition, You need to hear design your universe from the same show next...it will blow your mind for sure
To become full circle it is: "NIGHTWISH"- with Floor-Here with her ex-flat mate Simone - vocalist of "EPICA" a band named after an album of "KAMELOT" where the husband of Simone is classical trained pianist/keyboarder with the vocalist Tommy Karevik, also the lead of "SEVENTH WONDER" with the "AYREON" style song The Great Escape btw. also guest vocalist at Ayreon together with Floor. Five great bands/musical projects to discover
Epica are really epic and can be really heavy. Here are my suggestions for the next stops: "Consign to Oblivion" (Live from "The Zenith") "The Skeleton Keys" (Official video, just released) "Storm the Sorrow" (Official Video)
Thanks for your video! Epica has really great stuff!! I love all the songs that people are recommending and I like too Once upon a nightmare and Code of life...
Astonishing, I had never noticed this half step move between verse and chorus! It's so subtly and simply done. Thanks for pointing that out. It's really satisfying to realize that, when you really love a song, very often there's something a bit special about it in terms of composition or harmony.
Epica and Floor are pretty related, Simone is Floor long term friend, and the guitar player Mark Jansen was the founder of first Floor band After Forever, she sang also in his side project Mayan. Epica is a really good band, i suggest you to check more about them, I really like Consign of Oblivion.
It took me a bit to get into it but love the sound. You do realise you are costing me a blessed fortune in introducing such amazing music in the reviews - two more disks on order as result of your page. Loving it fella
Now you've discovered Epica, you need to round out the Dutch Symphonic Metal trio and discover the amazing talents of Within Temptation and their angelic voiced singer Sharon del Arden. Within Temptation were one of the first Symphonic Metal bands who, along with Nightwish, defined the genre. Check out their tracks Angels, The Truth Beneath The Rose, Deceiver of Fools all from the Black Symphony live performance.
Had to watch this since I'm from the Netherlands (How chauvinistic 😁). But I also like their music and your reaction as a composer. Interesting how you are starting to notice "tricks" now. Thanks and keep up the good work.👍👍
Glad to see that you found the awesome band, Epica, and you can't go wrong following the suggestions that have already been given, I look forward to those reactions! Sometime do yourself a favor and check out a band called Ancient Bards (symphonic power metal, from Italy) with their ballad called In My Arms (official video). Really great stuff, and another powerhouse female vocalist! Cheers for the vids!
Thanks for this reaction 🙂👍 Sancta Terra ( Terre Sainte in french) means Holy Land. That's how Jerusalem and territories around it were called in the middle ages.
Epic momment for Epica ... Floor Jansen and Simone Simmons both on the stage ... friends for the past the two of them ... They have a big chemistry on stage ... but a little detail here Simone here is a little pregnant and protects her belly , and she does not do crazy things on stage ... The voices of those women singer are blending epicly !! Thanks Doug for that reaction... Is a great song from Epica !! But not the least one ! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the people of the world! Blessed 2022!!
Hey Doug, many thanks, I thoroughly enjoy your reviews, you're one hell of a musician and a great person! Epica's singer Simone Simons is actually a good friend of Floor, the two even shared an apartment for some time. If anything is worth 3 hours of your lifetime, it's the whole show this live song is a part of: Epica's "Retrospect" 10th Anniversary Live Concert from 2013 is one of the most beautiful music performances I have ever seen. Backed by an orchestra and associated choir from Hungary they worked with before, they are celebrating their music plus some nice covers from classical to music scores: They do "Presto" as a duel between 1st violin and lead guitarrist, Floor has a second guest appearance to duet "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" with Simone, a John Williams Star Wars score medley, further guest appearance by former band members, guest acrobatic performers and indoor fireworks for accompanying visuals, and then some more. It's a great value for money BlueRayDics to own and also visible for free here on UA-cam: Part 1: ua-cam.com/video/W7MDG8G7FME/v-deo.html Part 2: ua-cam.com/video/FRgN1Q12J5w/v-deo.html Give yourself a treat and enjoy! Best regards from Germany
I have gone through your videos and I see you love Floor Jansen just as much as the rest of us.... but I have not seen you do a reaction to any of the songs she did when she was on a singing show. The show is called Beste Zangers. And they take singers from different genres of music and have them perform differant styles. The reaction of everyone on the show the first time they hear Floor (the metal singer) sing is awsome. She blew everyone away. Then the opera singer that was there was actually the person who inspired Floor to become a singer when she was a child when she saw him play the Phantom of the opera. So she ends up doing that song with him. It is amazing... you really should check it out.
The three best symphonic metal bands for me: Nightwish; Epica; Within Temptation! Check this last one. You should make a piano cover of an heavy metal band!
I think my favorite Nightwish show I've been to had Kamelot opening in one of Tommy Karevik's first shows as frontman. Kamelot's a US-based symphonic metal band that occasionally has some badass women sing with them. "Sacrimony" features some pretty nice growl work by the Agonist's former lead, Alissa White-Gluz. Still very rare to have women do growls like she does, and she can switch to clean singing pretty flawlessly.
Great reaction. Subscribed. Epica, one of the greatest heavy metal bands at this moment. Proud to be dutch. Two amazing dutch singers together, also best friends. Epica writes lots of amazing songs or should i say compositions. This is shown by their new album “Omega”. Hope to see them next year if the pandemic allows it. Thank you for this reaction.
Thanks for this!!! FYI Floor and Simone are BFFs. Simone was pregnant during this show and had also been over at Floor's place a lot during that time. Also, the guitarist who does the growls for Epica is Mark Jansen (no relation) and was in Floor's first band After Forever 😁 My recommendations for Epica would be Chasing the Dragon, Unleashed, Stabat Mater Dolorosa (again featuring Floor), and Design Your Universe from this Retrospect concert. I'd highly recommend Reverence (Living in the Heart) from the album (I can't find really good quality sound in a live video), but also especially Consign to Oblivion live at Zenith in Paris, France. While you're at it, check out the band Within Temptation (Sharon den Adel is another awesome vocalist) and their performance known as the Black Symphony live with the Metropole Orchestra 😎 I'd say start off with a song like Somewhere, Our Solemn Hour, or What Have You Done and I think you'll enjoy all of those 😎 Thanks again and have a fantastic day!!!
Epica is in a tied first place with Nightwish for me. They are a bit harder edge, and their sound is very unique. Their epics like Kingdom of Heaven part 1-3 are just amazing!
I came across Epica in 2016, and was shocked to find that they had been around since 2003. I loved your piano playing; you should do a piano cover of Sancta Terra. Another symphonic metal band you might like is Diabulus in Musica. The song, Invisible, is a great example of why metal and classical music are great together, (IMHO).
The guy that yelled Floor's name was in the band After Forever with Floor. He left and developed Epica and he was in a relationship with Simone before she married.
Awesome reaction Doug! I really enjoy you picking up the 'specials' in the composition and illustrating it with you playing along.EPICA is quite a treasure trove you'll find if you dig some more ;)
Awesome! I was hoping you'd react to this. I've been a fan of Floor since she was just starting in After Forever, and of Epica ever since Mark Jansen (not family) left After Forever to found Epica. They're two of my favourite metal bands. And the way they're singing together here in this massive performance with orchestra and a big choir, is just fantastic.
I started piano lessons in January this year. It's really cool to see how you pick up during the song and play along. BTW, I'm Dutch and a terrible singer XD
Thank you for doing this piece. I really like the singing of both Simone and Floor; together they are...well, epic. This was a great treat for Friday. Definitely check out some other stuff by Epica. I don't think I've ever heard a song of theirs that I didn't like, though I like some better than others. It would be hard to go wrong with The Phantom Agony.
The very next song in the concert is the last as well: Design your Universe. Give it a go. You get hear all the voices of Epica in it: Choir/solo/growl
You shouldn't have said that. He doesn't like the growling. Doesn't understand that it's a trademark of not only the band but the genre in it's infancy.
There's a choral version of Ghost Love Score on youtube you might like. You could let your choir sing Sancta Terra. :-) I think you would like to hear Ayeron Univers - Valley of the Queens. with Floor and some other goddesses. I think you also would like to hear Within Temptation (feat Anneke van Giersbergen) - Somewhere which is another great duet by some of the best.
Amish country. :D It's so hard to keep up that I gave up keeping up long ago although I had grown up in the subculture of prog, folk, symphonic and all other kinds of fusions of metal/rock. Nice to join back the stream for these moments with a guide.
And now I am going to do my Friday evening ritual- putting on Epica's Consign to Oblivion, closing out my job for the week, and going out to listen to my heart.
I really enjoyed the piece you played by the end of the video. An acoustic piano version of this song following the lines that you played must be awesome. Makes me really want to listen to it... but I don't know if someone (or even the band already produced it). Great video reaction by the way!!!
Some suggestions that came to my mind for different reasons while watching this: Epica - The Phantom Agony (from We Will Take You With Us) Therion - Via Nocturna Orphaned Land - Halo Dies
Floor explained in her Friday video last week: It's all in the "VLA" ... The fact that she's as tall as she is and the fact that she sings like she sings ... It's all in the "VLA" ...
Excellent!!! I think I'm was the one who recommended this masterpiece!!! And I also recommend some stuff from them... Like cry of the moon, the phantom agony, sensorium, storm the sorrow, consign to the oblivion ... They have a lot to enjoy!!
Oooh I recommended it as well. Good taste dude.
Don't burn another church Varg and don't kill anyone. Just watch reaction videos please.
Thanks. Think the best song with (both) Simone Simons (Epica) and Floor Jansen (Nightwish) is the song All That Was (from the Ayreon album The Source). It’s a beautiful Song with also Voacals of James LaBrie (Dream Theater) and Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) with the four of them singing...
I also recommended Epica, they have a lot of material to be listened.
You were not the only one 😀 class song. Hopefully Storm the Sorrow will be the next one for a reaction. Can’t wait to see Epica next year.
The man who shouts "Floor Jansen" at the end with a growling voice is Mark Jansen (no family relation). Both he and Floor were together in a band called After Forever in the 90s/early 2000s until Mark was dismissed from the band due to creative differences. He went on to found Epica (then called Sahara Dust) with his girlfriend at the time - Simone. Simone and Floor are close friends and have been for years - this is why they have such good chemistry on stage.
Mark and Simone are no longer a couple, but they still work very well together. Simone is married with Oliver Polotai, the keyboards player of another metal band : Kamelot (in fact she was pregnant during this show which is why she didn't headbang as violently as Floor xD ) . Very early Epica (then named Sahara Dust) was in fact Kamelot's support band during their Epica tour (from their namesake album), and it is from Kamelot's Epica album title that the name of band comes from.
Kamelot was the support band during Nightwish's 2012 Imaginaerum US tour, during which then-Nightwish-vocalist Anette Olzon fell ill minutes before their Denver show. Kamelot's session vocalists Elize Ryd and Alissa White-Gluz covered for Anette and the show went on while she was hospitalized. Nightwish's decision to go forward with the show upset Anette and she publicly criticized the band on her blog. This was the last straw in Anette's and Nightwish's already troubled relationship and days later, the band fired her, with Floor acting as her replacement for the remainder of the tour. We know the rest of the story.
Elize Ryd was also considered by Nightwish as a vocalist - way back in 2005 when they fired their first vocalist, Tarja Turunen. They thought Elize was too young and inexperienced at the time and went with Anette instead. Elize went on to found her own band, Amaranthe. Unrelated to this, on their first album with Anette, Nightwish released a song titled Amaranth.
Is your head spinning yet? XD
Not to mention several of them are often found as a part Lukas Arjens project (Ayreon), like Simone, Floor, Marco, Tommy (new singer from Kamelot).
The curious thing was that it wasn't the band That decided to play at Denver (a show known as the Denver Debacle) but they ask the fans that were already there to vote if they wanted to see the show with the guest vocalists even when they didn't know the whole setlist or if they wanted a refund to see the band on another date. The fans voted to see the band so they had to call the guest singers
@@MatiasJaruf Well, to be fair, it was the band that suggested it then the crowd voted on it. The band could have easily decided to simply cancel the show and refund the tickets.
Not saying they should have, just saying you can't take away the band's responsibility of the decision.
@@cyberjarl yeah, that's what I said. They asked the fans what they wanted. Now let's be honest. If you were a part of a band and can't play a show but the fans ask the rest of the band to play (it doesn't matter Who asked Who) and the rest of the band goes on and play, will you be upset for what the fans asked? Maybe you'll be hurt but not so upset as to leave the band. There were a lot of things That happened between the band and Anette, the span of the tour was one of her main issues, probably she wanted to be more involved musically but this sounds a lot like an excuse. At the end of the Day, most of the fans won because now we have Floor. I don't know what they are going to do about Marko leaving the band.
@@argantyr5154 The name is actually backwards, it's Arjen (Anthony) Lucassen
Floor & Simone are long time friends . FYI Simone was pregnant during this show
The most musical talented flat share of all time!
two soul singing was unfair
I'm Dutch (from the Netherlands) and we have lots and lots of water over here...that explains it.
The metalscene over here is not that large but almost every metalhead that I know , like myself, likes classical music as well.
That's maybe the reason I like your reactions that much...thumbs up!
Same
metal scene here in terms of bands is pretty big many don't see the light to get attention. I had a friend in three was only able to play with one on a -small- festival but they never hit off or many disband before they reach it, or for example in Poland but constantly traveling to only japan, or poland or whatever, and not wanting to live there makes it hard for them to survive, though they see more countries than the average popsinger at the start of their carreer. Once you have contact with that world you suddenly realize there are many of them out there lol
I'm also from The Netherlands, and my mother's maiden name is De Goede, so we might just be (distant) relatives
@@ThePascalStil Het is mogelijk, zoveel zijn er niet met deze achternaam.
Mijn vader was van Utrecht.Mijn Opa heeft daar ook zijn hele leven gewoond en had veel familie daar in de buurt, o.a. Zeist.
@@tomdegoede7565 ik heb zelf een paar jaar op de grens tussen Doorn en Driebergen gewoond, maar mijn opa De Goede is geboren in Emmen in 1918. Hij had wel een oom of neef die molenaar was en naar de regio Utrecht was verhuisd waar hij een eigen molen had, die helaas ooit is afgebrand en niet terug is opgebouwd. Waar dat exact was heb ik (nog) niet kunnen achterhalen.
We need an album with Epica & Nightwish Piano Covers by Doug !!!
The funny thing is that i started to follow Doug after a Maiden reaction. Then i saw the same Maiden reaction from Elizabeth Zaroff on the tube, and discovered casually the incredible Floor Jansen. I was searching videos about Floor and two days ago i discovered this song. I immediately ordered this dvd and half of Epica discography. Now i'm here watching the reaction from Doug. A perfect circle.
Sounds like a happy journey
Welcome aboard! I have tickets for the next Nightwish and Maiden gigs in the Netherlands, so lets hope they will all be together and performing still whenever that will be haha
Nice! Elizabeth is the only other reaction channel I watch. Doug for composition, Liz for vocal analysis (and unreasonably high amounts of genuine emotion). Love both channels, would love to see a collaboration breakdown / analysis. Make it happen Doug! Please! Elizabeth would probably be interested I think? Who knows.
I discovered Devin like this! I wish I'd join the Hevy Devy train much earlier though. But better late than never!
A perfect Circle, excellent band.
I fucking love this song 🤘& my neighbors seemed to like it as well. Their always banging on my walls when I play it 🤣🤣🤣
Awesome. :P My neighbors loved when I played Rush in the same manner. LOL
Simone Simons (Epica's female vocalist) has mentioned the song is about a suicide bomber; they 'die' and go to Hell, but the delusions that led to their death are so strong they believe they are in Heaven and cannot tell the difference. The lyrics show they are both calling for others to join them in 'Heaven' and asking to be left alone as they know they are 'where they want to be'
If you enjoyed that you may especially enjoy either of the below, from the same concert:
Unleashed
Design Your Universe
They released their new album 'Omega' in February, Abyss of Time, Skeleton Key, Rivers, Freedom, Code of Life, Omega, Seal of Solomon are all great tracks
Always loves when the Wonderful/Beautiful Simone and my Queen Floor harmonize, magic happens.
Going up," quiet easily/ falling down more difficult".❤
Okay, now I’m wanting an acoustic, piano version of this. ♥️
Great reaction Thank You So Much 🥰 Floor and Simone are friends and together AMAZING🔥💥
I cannot begin to explain how happy this reaction and breakdown makes me.
As a metal guitarist who started out playing classical guitar I of course am very much into the whole Operatic Symphonic Progressive Melodic Contemporary Euro-Folk Metal scene that´s going on on a world wide basis these years.
Having your piano underneath the music to give tonal clarity to the complex soundscape going on absolutely brings an essence of clear sparkling water to the song making it very easy to actually hear the basic structure of the music,- wonderful.
Further recommendations could be:
Epica: Cry For The Moon, Universal Death Squad
Delain: Burning Bridges
Tyr: Sinklars Visa, Hold The Heathen Hammer High, Sunset Shore
Blackbriar: Snow White And Rose Red ( Ft. Ulli Perhonen), Mortal Remains
Furor Gallico: Waterstrings
Ranthiel Soprano: Herr Mannelig, Midgard ( Therion cover) - (studio projects)
Eluveitie: Epona, Ategnatos, Rebirth
Blind Guardian: The Bard´s Song and Valhalla - Live at Wacken
Just for starters.
For this one,- thank you.
One of those where the orchestral instruments can be heard when the band are playing.. the real genius here is the sound supervisor!
Wow, it's so awesome to hear the review from professional composer/musician!!! Pro review from a talented musician!
With the right words/ lyrics to pronounce its easy to flip around between the accords+ having 2 great singers.❤
I've been a musician all of my life and I've never heard of Epica, Nightwish and all of the other extremely talented bands of the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland et. until the pandemic hit. At that time, I started surfing the musical web (You Tube) and fell into one rabbit hole which led to another and another. I feel that I have been missing out on what I had thought and played to be symphonic rock music. Three fun facts, Simone Simons, the lead singer of Epica was 3 or 4 months pregnant during this performance. Second, there are more symphonic metal bands in Finland per capita than anywhere else in the world albeit Epica is from the Netherlands as is Floor Jansen. Lastly, Floor Jansen and Simone Simons were long-time friends and studied the same type of vocal training.
I read too about the roommates thing, honestly I never found evidence of that, for sure they are long term friends, but Simone is also 4 years younger then Floor, Floor did her only year in consevatorium in 2001, at that time Simone was 16yo, I'm not sure it's true.
But it's funny to think the other guys trying to study Mozart, while these 2 angels listening metal full volume in their room :)
@@Fabi72g You may be correct so I edited that last line.
I fell into the same rabbithole. I've no idea how it came so far, but my daily evening routine is checking up all the youtubers who are checking up on Floor Jansen 🤷🏼♂️
@@Fabi72g While Floor only did 1 year of conservatorium, she graduated from rock academy, which was a unique project in the netherlands where they created a university level music curricula, but focused on pop/rock music rather than classical music or jazz. She decided to go for Rock academy instead of a conservatory because at the time she was already with After Forever and knew she wanted to pursue a career in metal.
Simone on the other hand never went to conservatorium or rock academy. She had vocal lessons with Amanda Sommerville for a while, other than that her music education is very limited if compared to Floor.
@@juyifan7933 Thanks a lot for the informations, I was aware of Floor studies, but not Simone ones. If I'm not wrong Amanda was also Floor teacher at some point.
It's pretty impressive Simone level in classic singing style without a proper music education.
Fascinating breakdown of the chord structure. Thank you!
There is even a reaction video from Floor Jansen herself on her performance of Ghost Love Score. It's an interesting twist to all those reaction videos, when the artist talks about his/her side of the story
CHASING THE DRAGON! That's my fav from Epica❤️ love that you discovering them☺️
Oh and Simone and Floor sang Pergolesis Stabat Mater together at the same concert🖤🖤🖤😊❤️❤️🥳
Doug "wise one" Helvering we have just had a team call 8 metalheads reacting to your reaction videos from Maiden ,Nightwish now Epica we have all learned more about our music than we ever thought top man loving you content , your passion for music is intoxicating keep it up , once we are allowed to be together we will have a Daily Doug Night and get drunk Bonnie Scotland loves you
I absolutely adore how you're giving another layer to this song just by figuring out what key it's in and playing along. Honestly I'd love to see more of that even over just reactions
THank you for this reaction .. and yes, you know Simon already . you saw her in the Ayreon Video
For someone who is a layman, you have a great talent for picking up and listening to music in a great way as well as describing to us other humans.
Doug should put out a piano cover (instrumental) of some of the songs he reacts to. His play along sections sometimes sound really nice even if not sticking perfectly to the original.
I agree. It sounds sublime :) It adds another layer of fullness and richness to an already rich song :)
Doug Helvering you have to admit that you have discovered excellent metal bands
I always admire people who are able to read the music like an open book
Omg Doug, you’re the best! Epica are well known for incorporating Middle Eastern musical themes... would love to hear more about why, musicologically speaking, these things sound “Middle Eastern”. Anything from the retrospect concert is awesome. Highlights are: unleashed or consign to oblivion.
11:20 I want a Piano version of this Song now... Sounds beautiful on Piano
this song is just a pebble on the tip of the iceberg that is epicas talent in composition, You need to hear design your universe from the same show next...it will blow your mind for sure
To become full circle it is: "NIGHTWISH"- with Floor-Here with her ex-flat mate Simone - vocalist of "EPICA" a band named after an album of "KAMELOT" where the husband of Simone is classical trained pianist/keyboarder with the vocalist Tommy Karevik, also the lead of "SEVENTH WONDER" with the "AYREON" style song The Great Escape btw. also guest vocalist at Ayreon together with Floor. Five great bands/musical projects to discover
Welcome to another rabbit hole. Epica is another amazing band!
Epica are really epic and can be really heavy.
Here are my suggestions for the next stops:
"Consign to Oblivion" (Live from "The Zenith")
"The Skeleton Keys" (Official video, just released)
"Storm the Sorrow" (Official Video)
Vote here for Consign :)
Vote Skeleton Keys.
Vote por kingdom of heaven
Awesome stuff - the video and your analysis!
Thanks for your video! Epica has really great stuff!! I love all the songs that people are recommending and I like too Once upon a nightmare and Code of life...
Great reaction, analysis and play along! Thank you.
You're amazing. I never tire of your play-along reactions. And I always learn something. Thanks.
It's nice to see you brighten up :) I could feel you really liked the music - which is fantastic!
Finally!! I've been asking for Epica for a while lol
Astonishing, I had never noticed this half step move between verse and chorus! It's so subtly and simply done. Thanks for pointing that out. It's really satisfying to realize that, when you really love a song, very often there's something a bit special about it in terms of composition or harmony.
Again a really really great reaction. Your way of reacting quite unique. Love it!! Subscribed!
Epica and Floor are pretty related, Simone is Floor long term friend, and the guitar player Mark Jansen was the founder of first Floor band After Forever, she sang also in his side project Mayan.
Epica is a really good band, i suggest you to check more about them, I really like Consign of Oblivion.
I adore your piano playing and how it contributes to the song! Many thanks.
Subscribed, playing and explaining that cord progression was awesome!
It took me a bit to get into it but love the sound. You do realise you are costing me a blessed fortune in introducing such amazing music in the reviews - two more disks on order as result of your page. Loving it fella
Really loved that breakdown. Thanks. Beautiful piano by the way.
Very cool and interesting how you pretty much instantly played along for a bit to show the chord progression. Awesome!
Now you've discovered Epica, you need to round out the Dutch Symphonic Metal trio and discover the amazing talents of Within Temptation and their angelic voiced singer Sharon del Arden. Within Temptation were one of the first Symphonic Metal bands who, along with Nightwish, defined the genre. Check out their tracks Angels, The Truth Beneath The Rose, Deceiver of Fools all from the Black Symphony live performance.
Great analysis…they are a very unique band….
And I am awakening with you Doug. I am living a new Renaissance in music thanks to your reactions!
Had to watch this since I'm from the Netherlands (How chauvinistic 😁). But I also like their music and your reaction as a composer. Interesting how you are starting to notice "tricks" now. Thanks and keep up the good work.👍👍
Glad to see that you found the awesome band, Epica, and you can't go wrong following the suggestions that have already been given, I look forward to those reactions! Sometime do yourself a favor and check out a band called Ancient Bards (symphonic power metal, from Italy) with their ballad called In My Arms (official video). Really great stuff, and another powerhouse female vocalist! Cheers for the vids!
I’m just going to sit here and hold my breath for when you do a reaction to Therion....
I love their duet! Thanks for reacting to this one!
Fan Friday- Pain of Salvation: The perfect element pt.1
Can we make it King of Loss? :( Let's unite lol
@@JonathanOrtegaLobo tbh any song off that album works. They are all great.
Thanks for this reaction 🙂👍
Sancta Terra ( Terre Sainte in french) means Holy Land. That's how Jerusalem and territories around it were called in the middle ages.
Epic momment for Epica ... Floor Jansen and Simone Simmons both on the stage ... friends for the past the two of them ... They have a big chemistry on stage ... but a little detail here Simone here is a little pregnant and protects her belly , and she does not do crazy things on stage ... The voices of those women singer are blending epicly !! Thanks Doug for that reaction... Is a great song from Epica !! But not the least one ! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the people of the world! Blessed 2022!!
From the same concert. Floor and Simone sing Stabat mater Dolorosa. Only with the Orchestra. Awesome
Hey Doug, many thanks, I thoroughly enjoy your reviews, you're one hell of a musician and a great person!
Epica's singer Simone Simons is actually a good friend of Floor, the two even shared an apartment for some time.
If anything is worth 3 hours of your lifetime, it's the whole show this live song is a part of:
Epica's "Retrospect" 10th Anniversary Live Concert from 2013 is one of the most beautiful music performances I have ever seen.
Backed by an orchestra and associated choir from Hungary they worked with before, they are celebrating their music plus some nice covers from classical to music scores:
They do "Presto" as a duel between 1st violin and lead guitarrist, Floor has a second guest appearance to duet "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" with Simone, a John Williams Star Wars score medley, further guest appearance by former band members, guest acrobatic performers and indoor fireworks for accompanying visuals, and then some more.
It's a great value for money BlueRayDics to own and also visible for free here on UA-cam:
Part 1: ua-cam.com/video/W7MDG8G7FME/v-deo.html
Part 2: ua-cam.com/video/FRgN1Q12J5w/v-deo.html
Give yourself a treat and enjoy!
Best regards from Germany
I have gone through your videos and I see you love Floor Jansen just as much as the rest of us.... but I have not seen you do a reaction to any of the songs she did when she was on a singing show. The show is called Beste Zangers. And they take singers from different genres of music and have them perform differant styles. The reaction of everyone on the show the first time they hear Floor (the metal singer) sing is awsome. She blew everyone away. Then the opera singer that was there was actually the person who inspired Floor to become a singer when she was a child when she saw him play the Phantom of the opera. So she ends up doing that song with him. It is amazing... you really should check it out.
The three best symphonic metal bands for me: Nightwish; Epica; Within Temptation! Check this last one.
You should make a piano cover of an heavy metal band!
I think my favorite Nightwish show I've been to had Kamelot opening in one of Tommy Karevik's first shows as frontman. Kamelot's a US-based symphonic metal band that occasionally has some badass women sing with them. "Sacrimony" features some pretty nice growl work by the Agonist's former lead, Alissa White-Gluz. Still very rare to have women do growls like she does, and she can switch to clean singing pretty flawlessly.
Floor and Simone did another duet at this concert -Stabat Mater Dolorosa .
Great reaction. Subscribed. Epica, one of the greatest heavy metal bands at this moment. Proud to be dutch. Two amazing dutch singers together, also best friends. Epica writes lots of amazing songs or should i say compositions. This is shown by their new album “Omega”. Hope to see them next year if the pandemic allows it. Thank you for this reaction.
Thanks for this!!! FYI Floor and Simone are BFFs. Simone was pregnant during this show and had also been over at Floor's place a lot during that time. Also, the guitarist who does the growls for Epica is Mark Jansen (no relation) and was in Floor's first band After Forever 😁
My recommendations for Epica would be Chasing the Dragon, Unleashed, Stabat Mater Dolorosa (again featuring Floor), and Design Your Universe from this Retrospect concert. I'd highly recommend Reverence (Living in the Heart) from the album (I can't find really good quality sound in a live video), but also especially Consign to Oblivion live at Zenith in Paris, France.
While you're at it, check out the band Within Temptation (Sharon den Adel is another awesome vocalist) and their performance known as the Black Symphony live with the Metropole Orchestra 😎 I'd say start off with a song like Somewhere, Our Solemn Hour, or What Have You Done and I think you'll enjoy all of those 😎
Thanks again and have a fantastic day!!!
Yesss finally EPICA do more of them
Epica is in a tied first place with Nightwish for me. They are a bit harder edge, and their sound is very unique. Their epics like Kingdom of Heaven part 1-3 are just amazing!
I came across Epica in 2016, and was shocked to find that they had been around since 2003. I loved your piano playing; you should do a piano cover of Sancta Terra. Another symphonic metal band you might like is Diabulus in Musica. The song, Invisible, is a great example of why metal and classical music are great together, (IMHO).
I don’t know, I’m just so jealous of your perfect pitch... thumbs up as usual!
The guy that yelled Floor's name was in the band After Forever with Floor. He left and developed Epica and he was in a relationship with Simone before she married.
Thank you Doug for te reaction!!! Next Stabat Mater Dolorosa, Epica feat Floor, again! Same concert!
I think this is a quite impressive reaction. It was enlightening, and Ive seen most of these.
From the same concert, I think you’d love their rendition of Pertolesi’s “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”, another great duet by Simone and Floor.
Awesome reaction Doug! I really enjoy you picking up the 'specials' in the composition and illustrating it with you playing along.EPICA is quite a treasure trove you'll find if you dig some more ;)
Dude, i love your reactions, the fact that you get keys, notes and scales by ear is ridiculous. haha
Awesome! I was hoping you'd react to this. I've been a fan of Floor since she was just starting in After Forever, and of Epica ever since Mark Jansen (not family) left After Forever to found Epica. They're two of my favourite metal bands. And the way they're singing together here in this massive performance with orchestra and a big choir, is just fantastic.
I started piano lessons in January this year. It's really cool to see how you pick up during the song and play along. BTW, I'm Dutch and a terrible singer XD
Thank you for doing this piece. I really like the singing of both Simone and Floor; together they are...well, epic. This was a great treat for Friday.
Definitely check out some other stuff by Epica. I don't think I've ever heard a song of theirs that I didn't like, though I like some better than others. It would be hard to go wrong with The Phantom Agony.
The very next song in the concert is the last as well: Design your Universe. Give it a go. You get hear all the voices of Epica in it: Choir/solo/growl
You shouldn't have said that. He doesn't like the growling. Doesn't understand that it's a trademark of not only the band but the genre in it's infancy.
Happy to report he has reacted to DYU now and loved it! @@alexojeda9048
Welcome to Epica! So it is now Epica - Design Your Universe (from Retrospect) for you now!
I have never clicked a video so fast in my life.
Was just jamming this tune on the way home from work, now I find this video.
We put heavy metals in our water. It mostly affects our women as you can hear...😁
Epica are amazing. Consign to oblivion is one of my faves along with sancta terra.
The water I think in the Netherlands another Dutch group is OG3ne 3 Dutch sisters that have perfect harmonies check out OG3NE Magic Studio version
Yes!!!! Og3ne are AMAZING!!!!! Het is Over is an great cover, or Sing, or Clown☺️ all songs from the show Beste Zangers🔥🔥🔥
There's a choral version of Ghost Love Score on youtube you might like. You could let your choir sing Sancta Terra. :-) I think you would like to hear Ayeron Univers - Valley of the Queens. with Floor and some other goddesses. I think you also would like to hear Within Temptation (feat Anneke van Giersbergen) - Somewhere which is another great duet by some of the best.
Amish country. :D
It's so hard to keep up that I gave up keeping up long ago although I had grown up in the subculture of prog, folk, symphonic and all other kinds of fusions of metal/rock.
Nice to join back the stream for these moments with a guide.
And now I am going to do my Friday evening ritual- putting on Epica's Consign to Oblivion, closing out my job for the week, and going out to listen to my heart.
I really enjoyed the piece you played by the end of the video. An acoustic piano version of this song following the lines that you played must be awesome. Makes me really want to listen to it... but I don't know if someone (or even the band already produced it). Great video reaction by the way!!!
You are now only a step away from the full Dutch experience :) "Somewhere" - Within Temptation feat. Anneke Van Giersbergen ;)
This song touches my soul, especially since I lost my wife. Thank you 🙏 for recommending this song
Some suggestions that came to my mind for different reasons while watching this:
Epica - The Phantom Agony (from We Will Take You With Us)
Therion - Via Nocturna
Orphaned Land - Halo Dies
When singing together Floor is more in the Alto register to protect Simone. I recommend "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" is fabulous. 🤘🤘🤘
Seen EPICA 5 times now an amazing band it’s beautiful ❤Metal
I really enjoy your videos, very, very much.
Great choice Doug! Hard to imagine you had never heard of them before -- Simone is a great singer in her own right, is she not? Have a great weekend!
Definitely watch more Epica! Simone has a Wonderful Voice!
Ohh would like to see a react to some of the new Epica album. Also getting some serious Lady Damascus vibes from Floor and loving it. Cheers dude
Dude, I love your appreciation for Symphonic Metal! You rock THAT! This song though..... Mind blowing!
NW Army Namibia checking in 🌌⛲⚔️🇳🇦🤘🏻
Epic reaction 💯🎶😶 Thank You!
Floor explained in her Friday video last week: It's all in the "VLA" ... The fact that she's as tall as she is and the fact that she sings like she sings ... It's all in the "VLA" ...
mmmmmm vla :D So delicious!!! Or for our non Dutchies. Vla is a type of custard ;)
Yummie, vla..... my guilty pleasure
I've eaten so much vla in my life, I'm still only 5'6 and can't sing, dammit! 😂
same 😆
@@Zhgarr Yeah. Vla makes me grow horizontally only.
Best reactions ever. Keep doing man, I'm addicted. Can you react to Fairy Tale - Shaman?