This is from a live TV studio session in 2004 called "We Will Take You With Us". Simone was only 19 here. You didn't hear this voice in newer songs simply because she doesn't sing like this anymore. Specifically, hear head voice was very different. Still an undeveloped soprano at the time, which might be subject to criticism by some vocal coaches or opera fans, but I will forever be in love with this young Simone's head voice. It was very unique, warm and ethereal. No other singer sounds like Simone did back then. Fun fact, Simone herself doesn't like her own voice from this early era, but most Epica fans absolutely loved it. Great thing is, she still sounds amazing today, she has worked a lot on her technique, so it's now technically much better, but different. Some people still say they miss the young Simone's voice, even though it wasn't a proper operatic head voice.
This was a very young Epica and a very young Simone. She was just 19 years old here. This song was written in a time when multiple cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic church worldwide came out of hiding. Many victims had remained silent for decades and were now finally feeling safe to tell their stories to the world. The church had always known about sexual abuse taking place within their organisation but has always kept these facts behind closed doors. And now during this waterfall of personal accounts in the media of sexual abuse within the church the Catholic leaders still went back to their ancient ways and literally refused to even acknowledge many of the victims. This song is about that.
After centuries gathering riches by selling indulgences, seems that de Catholic church recently in various countries has to spend a lot of money to get absolved for their many crimes.
More interesting facts… the blond backing singer is Amanda Summerville who was Simones vocal coach. The brunette next to her is Linda Van Summeren who went on to marry Coen, the keyboard player and still does backing vocals on Epica recordings.
Heartwarming reaction! As I am Dutch, I recommend more Dutch epic bands: Blackbriar, Delain, Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Vuur, coorperation with Devin Townsend)
Fell in love with Epica partly because of this entire live session recording. Still love this old DVD. Great music, intelligent lyrics. That's EPICA. 🤘🏻🖤
This was from 2004, it was part of a live session for Dutch TV. Notice how young (and different) Coen, the keyboard player looks. Along with Mark and Simone he is one of the three original members.
Simone, the Avenging Angel. Her voice cuts right thru the metal and choir. This was a really powerful choir. Full of opera singers and metal band fronts.
Hello! I saw you tried to increase the video resolution while watching this. As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I was like "oh no, she picked the old video with poor quality". The video you watched doesn't even have stereo sound! It's sad that fans who recommend you Epica videos can't be bothered to mention that there are new digitally remastered versions of these old videos, now available in high quality and full stereo sound. Here, the same video with stereo sound and HD/4K quality: ua-cam.com/video/9x1AzOA3G2I/v-deo.html
@@AmericansLearn You're welcome 🙂 Another one from the same live TV session is "The Phantom Agony", which is the album title song. All songs in this 2004 session are just from their debut album, since the second album came out in 2005. "The Phantom Agony" song has full 3 minutes of purely orchestral sound at the end, which is beautiful. If you search for it, don't forget to add "We Will Take You With Us", to make sure you find the remastered HQ version, uploaded about 11 months ago.
this video is about 20 years old, of course it sounds good, but I still like it more in a modern performance, for example, from the Omega alive concert in 2021, Simone began to sing better and it is even more noticeable that Mark's growl has become more voluminous and deep 😌: ua-cam.com/video/z8DWFOk5EwE/v-deo.html
Their lyricks are always so thrue and strong look them up for every reaction you do of them and i hope that many more epica songs will follow on your channel. Keep on the good work ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Great reaction! Glad you brought up the lyrics. Epica's lyrics are very thoughtful and make you think about deep and meaningful topics. Once again you got the meaning. Song is about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and the church's cover up. One of the things I dislike about organized religion is it makes it easy to stop thinking critically and not challenge your beliefs. My experience is that most Christians are culturally Christian rather the sincere believers. Have great respect for the few Christians I have meet who truly live their faith and not pervert to fit their evil agendas. Simone"s voice is different here because her early vocal coaches classified her as a mezzo soprano (Epica's wiki page still has here listed as a mezzo). As she gained confidence in her voice she developed it into the true sporano we hear today. She has said that she doesn't like listening to early Epica recordings because here voice sounds weird to her.
Please don't ever feel like you have to apologize for being passionate about a subject, if you want to talk about it, do that. This is your channel and we're not the boss of you. Unfortunately, religious institutions have a long history of either buying the silence of their victims or branding them a liar/destroying their reputation no matter how young. Must protect institutional power rather than their victims. You're right, it won't change until enough people in the church(es) are willing to fight for change.
Hey Lauren, great reaction. You already get every important information in the comment below. So, I won't repeat. Just say, this TV show is/was something else - great reaction material. The lyrics have evolved. like Epica. They now write more often "We" instead of "You" - and there are tons of fantastic quotes to reflect to. I also recommend "Omega," this album is superb and will make you think a lot (although you may have to call a clerical friend to understand all the references and nuances - I am not saying you don't know, just that I had to) Originally, the album's title was "Omega Point" - and it is no coincidence that the song "Kingdom of Heaven" is the 8th on this 8th album and the number 8 is also included on the album cover art work - if you flip 8 to the side, it becomes the infinity symbol. The human mind is a mystery and a labyrinth of its own. The labyrinth is used on the cover as symbol, and as a metaphor in the lyrics.
@@AmericansLearn Listened on your own, or reacted to? Always discover new Epica songs with us. It's satisfying to see people listening for the first time to this phenomenal band, or hearing some song for the first time. 🙂
@@cancelled_user Apparently the only one from that album I've listened to is Kingdom of Heaven prt 3. So it looks like I've actually got a long way to go
@@AmericansLearn Oh yeah, I think you should do Epica more often. You won't be disappointed. Epica is not one of many many bands that only have 2-3 big hits and that's it. In fact, none of their full 8 studio albums is considered weak and they don't have "filler songs" on them either. There are some "ordinary" Epica songs that no one ever suggests to reactors but even those songs would be possibly considered one of the best for many many smaller bands.
I have always loved this one. They still do it live from time to time, but it just doesn't have the same aura as this older studio version. When it comes up on my playlist while driving I simply have no choice than to repeat it right then and there several times. I liked your reaction a lot.
This is from a live TV studio session in 2004 called "We Will Take You With Us". Simone was only 19 here. You didn't hear this voice in newer songs simply because she doesn't sing like this anymore. Specifically, hear head voice was very different. Still an undeveloped soprano at the time, which might be subject to criticism by some vocal coaches or opera fans, but I will forever be in love with this young Simone's head voice. It was very unique, warm and ethereal. No other singer sounds like Simone did back then. Fun fact, Simone herself doesn't like her own voice from this early era, but most Epica fans absolutely loved it. Great thing is, she still sounds amazing today, she has worked a lot on her technique, so it's now technically much better, but different. Some people still say they miss the young Simone's voice, even though it wasn't a proper operatic head voice.
This was a very young Epica and a very young Simone. She was just 19 years old here. This song was written in a time when multiple cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic church worldwide came out of hiding. Many victims had remained silent for decades and were now finally feeling safe to tell their stories to the world. The church had always known about sexual abuse taking place within their organisation but has always kept these facts behind closed doors. And now during this waterfall of personal accounts in the media of sexual abuse within the church the Catholic leaders still went back to their ancient ways and literally refused to even acknowledge many of the victims. This song is about that.
After centuries gathering riches by selling indulgences, seems that de Catholic church recently in various countries has to spend a lot of money to get absolved for their many crimes.
Not only knowing ahout it, they save them against put them to law.
19 years?? And i struggle often to read bus plans with the age of 22
More interesting facts… the blond backing singer is Amanda Summerville who was Simones vocal coach. The brunette next to her is Linda Van Summeren who went on to marry Coen, the keyboard player and still does backing vocals on Epica recordings.
The song is actually about child abuse in the Catholic church.
Heartwarming reaction! As I am Dutch, I recommend more Dutch epic bands: Blackbriar, Delain, Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Vuur, coorperation with Devin Townsend)
I am not dutch, but I second that - do add Charlotte Wessels (ex-Delain) to the mix.
Recommend you watch Epica - Cry for the moon (omega alive) now. A great performance 20 years later 😁.
You're really digging Epica's lyrics! Congrats, you have a lot of homework! Greetings from Greece!
If you want more recent version of this song then search for omega alive version, Simone gives a small speech there too
Ooh, cool, I will have to look at it
Fell in love with Epica partly because of this entire live session recording. Still love this old DVD. Great music, intelligent lyrics. That's EPICA. 🤘🏻🖤
I really loved this song. I already liked Epica, but this one made me really love them-and Simone
Id recommend Cry For the moon live at Paradiso ..
This was from 2004, it was part of a live session for Dutch TV. Notice how young (and different) Coen, the keyboard player looks. Along with Mark and Simone he is one of the three original members.
fun fact in this video simine was only 18 yo we were in 2003 at the beginning of epica
Simone, the Avenging Angel. Her voice cuts right thru the metal and choir. This was a really powerful choir. Full of opera singers and metal band fronts.
Hello!
I saw you tried to increase the video resolution while watching this.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I was like "oh no, she picked the old video with poor quality".
The video you watched doesn't even have stereo sound! It's sad that fans who recommend you Epica videos can't be bothered to mention that there are new digitally remastered versions of these old videos, now available in high quality and full stereo sound.
Here, the same video with stereo sound and HD/4K quality: ua-cam.com/video/9x1AzOA3G2I/v-deo.html
Thank you!
@@AmericansLearn You're welcome 🙂
Another one from the same live TV session is "The Phantom Agony", which is the album title song. All songs in this 2004 session are just from their debut album, since the second album came out in 2005.
"The Phantom Agony" song has full 3 minutes of purely orchestral sound at the end, which is beautiful. If you search for it, don't forget to add "We Will Take You With Us", to make sure you find the remastered HQ version, uploaded about 11 months ago.
this video is about 20 years old, of course it sounds good, but I still like it more in a modern performance, for example, from the Omega alive concert in 2021, Simone began to sing better and it is even more noticeable that Mark's growl has become more voluminous and deep 😌: ua-cam.com/video/z8DWFOk5EwE/v-deo.html
Their lyricks are always so thrue and strong look them up for every reaction you do of them and i hope that many more epica songs will follow on your channel. Keep on the good work ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Great reaction! Glad you brought up the lyrics. Epica's lyrics are very thoughtful and make you think about deep and meaningful topics. Once again you got the meaning. Song is about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and the church's cover up. One of the things I dislike about organized religion is it makes it easy to stop thinking critically and not challenge your beliefs. My experience is that most Christians are culturally Christian rather the sincere believers. Have great respect for the few Christians I have meet who truly live their faith and not pervert to fit their evil agendas.
Simone"s voice is different here because her early vocal coaches classified her as a mezzo soprano (Epica's wiki page still has here listed as a mezzo). As she gained confidence in her voice she developed it into the true sporano we hear today. She has said that she doesn't like listening to early Epica recordings because here voice sounds weird to her.
Some of their greatest songs are about really difficult things. Dancing in a Hurricane is another one.
Please don't ever feel like you have to apologize for being passionate about a subject, if you want to talk about it, do that. This is your channel and we're not the boss of you. Unfortunately, religious institutions have a long history of either buying the silence of their victims or branding them a liar/destroying their reputation no matter how young. Must protect institutional power rather than their victims. You're right, it won't change until enough people in the church(es) are willing to fight for change.
Hey Lauren, great reaction. You already get every important information in the comment below. So, I won't repeat. Just say, this TV show is/was something else - great reaction material. The lyrics have evolved. like Epica. They now write more often "We" instead of "You" - and there are tons of fantastic quotes to reflect to.
I also recommend "Omega," this album is superb and will make you think a lot (although you may have to call a clerical friend to understand all the references and nuances - I am not saying you don't know, just that I had to)
Originally, the album's title was "Omega Point" - and it is no coincidence that the song "Kingdom of Heaven" is the 8th on this 8th album and the number 8 is also included on the album cover art work - if you flip 8 to the side, it becomes the infinity symbol.
The human mind is a mystery and a labyrinth of its own. The labyrinth is used on the cover as symbol, and as a metaphor in the lyrics.
I've listened to a few songs from Omega, but I'll definitely check more out
@@AmericansLearn Listened on your own, or reacted to? Always discover new Epica songs with us. It's satisfying to see people listening for the first time to this phenomenal band, or hearing some song for the first time. 🙂
@@cancelled_user Apparently the only one from that album I've listened to is Kingdom of Heaven prt 3. So it looks like I've actually got a long way to go
@@AmericansLearn Oh yeah, I think you should do Epica more often. You won't be disappointed. Epica is not one of many many bands that only have 2-3 big hits and that's it.
In fact, none of their full 8 studio albums is considered weak and they don't have "filler songs" on them either.
There are some "ordinary" Epica songs that no one ever suggests to reactors but even those songs would be possibly considered one of the best for many many smaller bands.
Love you !!!
DEEEPPPP Lyrics, my fav one by them!
I love your thoughts inspired by this song. We all need to think more deeply about what is good and reflect on it.
I have always loved this one. They still do it live from time to time, but it just doesn't have the same aura as this older studio version. When it comes up on my playlist while driving I simply have no choice than to repeat it right then and there several times. I liked your reaction a lot.
I love the T-Shirt where did you get it
pretty sure i just typed in 'sassy skeleton' to google and it took me to this shop on TeePublic. I also got a sticker and a mug
Here see you Simone in the young Age she was in this time 20years old
Simone is one of the best sopranos in Metall 🤘
👍🔥🤘🎶fine choice
Are you on social media Lauren?😊
🐕
The katholeik churs in Germany ons the most real estate in thath contry so bloodmony !!!!!!!!!
That's no different from people buying "carbon credits".
this song cant be apply to the "AMERICAN DREAM" and the way usa act in foreign policy intead of take care of their people lol