Aspiral is Epicas 9th studio album. To me, it doesn’t sound like there’s much new to report with this album. But of course, the old saying – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – applies. We have Metal with some soprano vocals, although not really operatic. We have the occasional male grownlng which I think is held to minimum of Aspiral. I like the contrast but I think it can also be too much sometimes. Epica doesn’t fall into that trap with Aspiral.
There are choir like arrangements and there is a wall of keyboard sound most of the time. It’s very easy to listen to. But, after listening to it for three or four times I start to think it’s a little bit annoying. I don’t know why. It gets under my skin and the melodies aren’t strong enough.
Aspiral is also over an hour in lengths and with 11 songs that creates a couple of songs with a length well above average. It might be the reason that I feel exhausted after my repeated listening to it. It’s also better at the first few tracks than at the last part of the album.
I don’t think this is a bad album. It’s a fine contribution to the Symphonic Metal Genre. It’s a bit monotone for me but still quite nice. It’s well played and produced. Almost too well produced in my mind. It has a tendency to be a little too polished and smooth. I think something gets lost when you spend that amount of effort to get everything to sound exactly right.
