Album Reviews

Epica “Aspiral” Album Review by Cramx3

Editorial Team

April 10, 2025

Epica brings you on a journey of self discovery and spiritual evolution with their latest release, Aspiral ! This is the ninth full length studio album from the Dutch symphonic metal band. With a running time of one hour including eleven songs, the listener is truly in for an epic listening experience. While the band does cover some new and interesting musical ideas, an Epica fan will recognize a lot of the core sound and style through the album.

The opening track is the second single released, Cross the Divide . It’s a fast paced, energetic song featuring Simone Simons’ soaring vocals. A catchy chorus and strong energy makes this track a great start to the album, albeit a slightly familiar start. Cross the Divide is similar to how a few other Epica albums start with a Simone driven fast paced anthem. Although without an instrumental opening track, Aspiral wastes no time getting right to the music.

The follow up is the lead single from the album, Arcana . This song was previously featured from Epica’s “Symphonic Synergy” concerts where they performed with a choir and orchestra in the Netherlands and Mexico for a handful of select shows. You can easily understand why this song was chosen to be performed long before the album release for the special occasions. As there is a large amount of orchestration and a choir that includes children.

We next start to jump into what I consider the depth of the album as we get away from the singles and into one of the best, if not the best, song on the album. Mark Jansen (guitarist, vocalist, writer) continues the epic suite of songs titled “A New Age Dawns” with part VII , “Darkness Dies in Light” . If the singles didn’t quite feel like the Epica of the past, this song should ignite that fire. The song’s second verse features a beautiful combination of Mark’s growls and Simone’s singing that makes me yearn for more.

The album then shifts gears into what I feel is the most experimental track Epica has done on the album where they drift into a doom metal song. The slow pace and heavy guitars lead to a chorus that really shines unlike a typical doom genre song. Simone once again spotlights as the song slowly goes on. Epica stamps their mark on a slightly different style.

Violins and synths come back in the early part of the next song to remind you, yes, this is an Epica album. Fight to Survive – The Overview Effect is a signature Epica song. The lyrics, “Does peace exist in chaos?”, once again dives into spiritual evolution. A really fun melody in the chorus, but still keeps an edge with the technicality.

Part VIII of A New Age Dawns , will start to show a pattern with this album. A longer song similar to Part VII , it’s a heavy, fast, and aggressive song. A song about being stronger together. One heart, one mind. Excelling in all you do. Metanoia , like the previous track Fight to Survive , are very much classic Epica metal songs. What follows changes the vibes once again.

The third single from Aspiral is T.I.M.E. , which is an acronym for “Transformation, Integration, Metamorphosis, Evolution” . The theme of the album continues lyrically here. The first lyrics of the song, “Life’s an enigma” and it has me thinking the song is an enigma. It makes me wonder why this song was chosen as the single above the two previous tracks and my only guess is that Epica wants people to know this album has some different twists and turns.

Apparition is a shorter song for Epica at a bit over four minutes, but feels more straightforward and easier to digest than T.I.M.E. Eye of the Storm follows and is more uplifting out of the gate thanks to the intro orchestration. Once the vocals come in, the song cranks up a notch. For me, another top notch song on this album as the album comes closer to conclusion.

Before Aspiral comes to an end, the A New Age Dawns saga comes to a close (at least for this album) with part IX, The Grand Saga of Existence . A very grand name for a song that lives up to the hype. Strong choirs and a heavy chug of the guitar, you can feel the epic ending upon you. While all parts of the A New Age Dawns saga have subtle hints to other songs in the saga, this one feels like a return to Design Your Universe (Part VI) for a very warm feeling to a long time Epica listener. Another fun, catchy, and uplifting chorus which this band continued to hit on time and time again on this album.

The final song, while not a single, was also performed during the “Symphonic Synergy” concerts so fan footage of this song had been available for some time. Hearing it on the album, similar to Arcana , you understand why this song was played at those select shows. A ballad to end the album, along with the choir outro before ending on Simone’s voice. A stark contrast to the heavy hitting penultimate track, but a reminder of the beauty and the beast type of band Epica is.

Rating: 7.8 / 10

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