I cannot tell you how much I've missed you telling me to "pack a lunch" Welcome back!

I have often said this about Symphonic Metal: Within Temptation is the introduction, Nightwish is the poster child and Epica is the dictionary definition... XD

Every single time you react to a song I've listened to countless times, think I know it backwards and forwards, and like 5 seconds in you pause and go "listen to what X is doing in the background" or "listen to how this note is shaped" or some such. And every time, it's something I've never heard before. You wish to add value with your reactions, know that you have literally changed how I hear music. You're doing great work, and I hope you continue to find joy and fulfillment on this path.

Love to see you going back to Epica. You NEED to check their Omega Alive concert, the level of production is amazing. Probably people have already recommended it, but take a look at "Kingdom of Heaven: part III", from this concert. It is from their most recent album and is a good example of where the band is right now. Cheers from Brazil!

Kingdom of Heaven part 3, live from the Omega Alive concert experience. It is a performance (and a song) good enough to change lives. I think you would love it. You should also definitely react to some SKYND. They mix metal, industrial and pop music to create something special. They sing about true crime and use a lot of interesting vocal effects. Super talented, really unique group. The song Jim Jones is a good place to start. Thank you for your reactions, as always 💜

E.P.I.C.A. = Excellence Power Intelligence Creativity Ambition Named after the album "Epica" by Kamelot. Simone is married to Kamelot's keyboardist Oliver Pallotai

My man is back with some Epica and hasn't skipped a beat. Or a pause, for that matter. Love it!

Hell yeah man, you are with no doubt the best EPICA reactor in my opinion. I extremely enjoy your videos and I’m so happy you came back after sooo long. You have reacted to Consign yo Oblivion from that show (even if the next one :)), that’s why her dress looked familiar. I will recommend, once more, some more EPICA songs: - Kingdom of Heaven part 3 (Omega Alive) -> this is a must, trust me - Unchain Utopia (Omega Alive) - Design your Universe (Retrospect Live) - Chasing the Dragon (Retrospect Live) If you want to change you another band, I don’t remember you having racting to Within Temptation - Mother Earth (Black Symphony). Keep them coming! Cheers

Since you mention some aspects of the live recordings, I want to tell you that the Omega Alive concert is a concert that they did via streaming, and although it was a recording (not live with an audience), the audio is live, but with studio recording audio quality, practically, which is an unusual combination (I think). Really, in that concert they went all-in, the video shots are fantastic, it has different visual aspects of scenery, dancers, pyrotechnics, of course Simone's costumes (all that during the pandemic most dificult times)... but most of all, the audio is impeccable! Of that concert, I would love (and ask you please 😁) that you react to the song "Kingdom Of Heaven pt 3". I agree with you that Epica are the best representatives of symphonic metal, and that song, in that video, for me, shows the state of the art of the genre in all its splendor! Love your videos man.

hell yeah chase is back en with some epica!

Welcome back Chase - may all your lunches be packed and your palms muted. "Epica" was the name of an album by Kamelot (they originally named themselves 'Sahara Dust' ) "Consign to Oblivion" was also filmed at this show Another Epica song for your consideration: Design Your Universe (live @ retrospect) - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fLiXgZSClpiuZas.html This is the song that got me completely hooked on Epica, chosen by them as the final track in their Retrospect live show - following Sancta Terra - and very compositionally intricate/diverse without showing off

This is a new era. Epica released a lot of good material to explore. There is a lot of mind blowing material to react. And their virtual concert was amazing, you must check it out.

"This guy at the keyboard has to calm down immediately." Had me in tears from laughing.

Epica is such an amazing and great band, love your reaction, check their Omega Alive is on another level (Kingdom Of Heaven part 3, Unchain Utopia, Skeleton Key & Victims Of Contigency) 🤘🏻🔥

Yeah!! Can't wait to watch it!! I missed your reactions Chase!!!

Soooooo good to see you with some Epica again - I loooooove it, your reaction, Epica ... oh in fact I seem to love a lot xD Thank for your analytic as well as emotional reactions and thank you for stopping a lot, turning back and listening again - I'm here for that... If I wanted reactions like nodding all over a clip with a stoned face and tell afterwards "oh wow was cool" ... there would be other channels to go for xD Ouh... you may have a hell of a load of recommondations for Epica all over your clips you did... I'm not sure but I think you haven't gone into the elder "Kingdom of Heaven" - the Part one ("Epica - Kingdom of Heaven (Live video) (Lyrics - English / Español | Subtitulado)"). There's a super cool live (even looks a bit like croudsourced) video on youtube. This particular clip brings in some great ammount of the live feeling imho, It's a great performance, we'd pack some lunch, and all the turns, twists, breakdowns, chapters may make you yell "hang on haaaaaaaang on!" again :D

There's a reason Epica shares the top spot on my favorite bands with Nightwish. Yes, they're different sounds, but my ideal symphonic metal sound is some combination of the two of them (though Epica pretty much nails it with their epic+heavy sound in this song).

Chase, glad to see you back with Epica. There has been a lot of Epica stuff released since your last reaction. Just a few words: You already did a song from the same show "Consign to Oblivion" where Simone was wearing the same dress. So that is where you saw that dress. However that dress was so iconic that she was often wearing it at that period. So far, Epica released videos from the Paris concert, and is interessing that these 3 are some extremely different in style. You already did Consign to Oblivion, a badass song, this one, a happy song and then there is Dancng in a Hurricane which you didn't see yet which is a more serious song, much more toned down. Overall, there are a lot of Epica stuff one could siggest. Anything from Omega Alive, the thrd song from Paris, any missong song from the retrospect show or maybe something old they just published which is Sensorium from Paradiso. In any case, always go for live shows.

You're absolutely right: Epica and Nightwish are each distinctly awesome in their own right, but they are very different bands. They overlap, but the Venn diagram is not a circle, especially with how stylistically diverse some of NW's recent offerings have been. And although Nightwish is probably my favorite band, I went through a hardcore Epica phase when I first discovered them years ago, and they do indeed embody the essence of "symphonic metal" to me. One other band also comes to mind as foundational for symphonic/operatic metal (with a heavy emphasis on the "opera" part): Therion. And I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a reaction to them from you. Unfortunately, it is bloody hard to find live versions of any decent quality, even on Nuclear Blast's channel. Others may have other very welcome suggestions, but mine would probably be Birth of Venus Illegitima (an older song, official live): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l8eSktmHv9Ozd2Q.html Along with one a bit newer, The Perennial Sophia (also official live): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/baqVpKaA0a_ehJ8.html If you're willing to do studio versions/music videos, the options open up quite a bit. Cheers!

Great to see you back in action !!! In this , I just Love this driving Bass !!! Despite its title, this song has nothing to do with the movie. Guitarist/vocalist Mark Jansen explained the track's meaning: "The song is dealing about us humans, being caught in a matrix (an illusion) because of our excessive thinking. We have lost control over our lives and accept the illusion as 'the one reality.' But if we manage to free ourselves from those shackles and become masters of our thoughts again, we can make a huge step forward in collective consciousness and will be able to look beyond the borders of our matrix." This song is from "The Holographic Principle" album, and it is glorious ❤‍🔥. Being familiar with almost all of their stuff, they still keep me amazed by their talent and epicness, which is just keep growing for almost 20 years. It’s like too much to be from this world, especially when you realize they have about 10 masterpieces in this scale, ballads that will make you cry, countless top-notch badass songs, great covers, orchestral and acoustic versions, insightful lyrics and great stage presence.. enough talent for 20 bands combined. And.. they’re so down-to-earth and generous to their fans. NWSU/Ayreonaut/Epican 🤘😎🤘.

Oh yeah.... Maybe you should check kingdom of heaven part 3 omega alive

Great content as always. I appreciate what you do and your contribution to the "reaction scene." Keep up the great work, Chase.

So glad to see you back with one of my favorite bands! This song always lifts my spirits.

epica

Great reaction video Chase, keepum coming!😎

Love the pause! Keep 'em coming, and have a damn good day!

So great to see you again. Thank you!

The most appreciated pauses on the internet :-D Thanks again and have a damn good weekend!

So happy you are back!!! Missed you!!

React for Epica - Kingdom of Heaven, Part 3 from Omega Alive. 🤓

Woo hooo!!!

Get in indeed! The pause gang is back. Lunch packed, palms at the ready......do we want this? No, yes! Welcome back mate, stay well. Spiral out.

Consign to Oblivion was from this show as well. I still encourage you to check out Tides of Time.

Just watch this reaction again. I'm so in love with Epica. First stop in US was here in Seattle and they killed with it (with Sabaton). Also watched till the end. A band you haven't done in awhile is Arch Enemy.

Always here for the pauses and packed lunches, my friend 😎 I love getting the notification that you've uploaded, especially when it's Epica 👍😁

So happy to have coffee with you again.

Welcome back brother! Don't even need to see the vid to know it's EPICa!! Of course I'll watch it! IT'S CHASE! Back in the saddle, as it were! Missed you and your insightfulness. Prepared with the standard lunch, snacks and hydration!

Yay chase is back! Woohoo! We love you 💜

Good to see you back! Yeah this show looks like it was a really good time. I think I was listening to this or maybe nightwish but the sound in my car is really good for a car stereo & I could hear pops & I realised it was pyro going off or something lol. For a second I was like ugh I just blew a speaker

Welcome back, man! I've missed your meaningful reactions, keep it up!

Welcome back, Chase! Glad to have one of my favorite reactors back!

I love your reactions Chase!!! ♥️😍

Hey, good to see you doing a video again. I'm an EPICA fan and saw them live twice and only noticed that keyboard part during the 2nd verse for the first time in this reaction video. I'd love it to see you check out some more Gojira

"It’s like they were baking and they put in mud, sadness, and, just, pain, and it tasted like a beautiful cake." - Chase Carneson, 2022

I feel like this applies to every Epica song but this is another one that just hits all the right switches in my brain. I’d love to see you check out something from the Omega Alive concert! I’m so hyped to see them open for Sabaton in October. No shame in stimming to music either! I’m autistic and I’ve found music, especially bands like Epica, just do stuff to my brain that I can’t really describe other than just like filling my head with fizz lol. Maybe I’ll eventually do some research into the affects of music on autistic brains but for now it’s just something I enjoy thinking about

Chase, thank you for explaining to me why I enjoy metal so much. All these parts, I knew I liked them, but now I understand what they're doing.🙂

I was very happy to see you back for another great reaction!

Thanks for the video! It's been a while, so if you're interested in doing more Epica, I recommend "Universal Death Squad." I've never heard anything quite like it, from them or from anyone, so it should be interesting. 👍

You need to see Chasing the Dragon by Epica from Retrospect live show :)

Arrggghhhhh, so much good music, so little time to listen to it all.

Hi Chase I didn't know you lived in the UK, you know that EPICA are doing 5 dates in the UK in Feb next year, Bristol, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London :)

Glad to have you back. Would love to see you revisit Spiritbox, specifically "The Mara Effect" live @Silverside Sound.

This song is amazing ! Nice reaction ! Thanks

I've been to three Epica shows, all in different venues and they have NEVER sounded or looked bad. It's mind blowing, no other band can do this at that level.

Great to have you back! Now it's time for more Ice Nine Kills, unless you went and binged the whole catalog

I like to believe me pestering you for more Epica reactions had a hand in drawing you back but probably not. Still, glad your here again!

Love it whenever you're vids pop up on my feed! Fantastic song! Truly love Epica! Recommendations, well you seemed to love Ice Nine Kills so more from The Silver Scream 2 wouldn't go amiss. Also been really loving Kardashev recently, a band from another reactor on KZfaq...Think Snow-Sleep or Glass Phantoms might really surprise you! Anyway glad to see you back Chase!

Glad to see you back!!! thank you for another great reaction. Don't be so hard on yourself. your content is great. love hearing your thoughts and analysis on music that I love, you always bring something new to the table. Epica released the "Omega Alive" concert, which is incredible!!! "Kingdom of Heaven part 3" is a journey no one should miss. Regarding other bands that I think that deserve love are "The Agonist" with "Remnants In Time" , if you liked this one. their whole EP, Days Before the World Wept is a banger. Another band is "Seven Spires" with "Gods of Debauchery". and for a more lighthearted, but still grand stuff I recommend "Visions of Atlantis" - "Master the Hurricane"

I love this song and love your review/react! It's interesting you note the Egyptian influence at one point - you should check out Code of Life as it's very present in that song too.

Welcome back Chase. Love this reaction, as usual you pointed out things that I’ve never noticed in this song even after hearing it many times. I have to say, your Epica reactions are always top notch and really make me appreciate just how good of songwriters they are. As for adding value to reactions and the reaction scene, you do that every time you put out a new reaction in my opinion. You are one of the best reactors at pointing out subtle things in songs and explaining complex musical theory in a way that non-musicians can grasp. You really are one of the rare reactors on KZfaq who consistently adds more than just saying “That was cool”. I know that I’ve personally learned a ton from watching your reactions. Honestly, I think if you want to add value to your reactions the only things you have to do is keep making reactions and keep making reactions to new bands. If you’re looking for a new band to react to, I would love to hear your thoughts on the band “The Warning”. They’re a rock band that consists of 3 sisters from Mexico who are all awesome musicians and vocalists. Plus, they are really good songwriters.

Hello Chase, longtime viewer here very very happy to watch you do this reaction of one of my favorite Epica songs! The album this track is from - The Holographic Principle - from 2016 is one of my personal all-time favorites from Epica and some tracks on the album have a "sister" track on disc 2 of the album. Said sister track to Beyond The Matrix is called "Beyond the Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Please do yourself a favor and listen to it - on or off camera, doesn't matter. It will give you more insight into what kind of a band Epica is. Keep up the amazing work, will go back to lurking and enjoying the next reaction/analysis!

Epica was taken from an album of the same name by Kamelot. Then Kamelot vocalist Roy Khan subsequently guested on Epica's second album, while Simone did a song with them. This song is one of my favourites. There is so much going on, but it is also quite simple and catchy. The sound is huge. There was a definite change in the Epica sound following The Divine Conspiracy album. I feel like this song bridges that difference perfectly.

can't wait to watch 😃

Amazing song, I should really get back listening to more Epica ^^

Desde Bilbao 60001 suscriptor.... jejeje

Good reaction, and i love Epica :) Pick one from the Omega alive and you can not go bad . For something different you can take a look at the new single from Eluveitie, the title is Aidus, is folk metal but is very good

Please react to Epica - The kingdom of heaven part 3, from Omega Alive! 💖

I was on the fence about Epica, until I saw them live, they were touring with Myrkur and Oceans of Slumber they were all amazing. The sense of fun and enjoyment from Epica on stage, even after all these years was really contagious

Thanks for this reaction 👍 As many people said, I have to ask it too Epica - Kingdom Of Heaven part3 (from Omega Alive performance) A long journey but a masterpiece for sure ♥️♥️ Cheers from France

Damn, it's good to see you making vids a little more often! Good reaction, hope to see more of ya! Btw, I don't think I'm mis-remembering, but pretty sure that Kamelot had a lot of influence on Epica's earlier career, and one of Kamelot's albums during that period was "Epica." So, there ya go.

Love Epica!! You should check out Kingdom of Heaven part 3, The Skeleton Key, Unchain Utopia and Victims of Contingency from Omega Alive! Other live perfomances that you really should check out: Dancing in a Hurricane (Live at the Zenith), Design Your Universe (Retrospect), The Divine Conspiracy (Retrospect), Serenade of Self-Destruction (Retrospect) and Chasing the Dragon (Retrospect).

Another great review! How about Ayreon? God bless!!

Consign To Oblivion was the finishing song to this concert that why the dress looks familiar

Good to see you back Chase. Kingdom of Heaven Part 3 please Chase, that's a must.

You can revisit AYREON

Glad to have you back Chase! I knew Beyond The Matrix would blow your socks off! Maybe you could try out Arjen Lucassen’s Ayreon again with Everybody Dies (from the Ayreon Universe Live show) ( kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b6dxi9eGybObqHk.html ) or from his other project Star One with Fate of Man (featuring Brittney Slayes) ( kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rNRng5agu7PSqac.html ). And keep on airdrumming and moving your hands when explaining stuff; it just shows how enthousiastic and excited the music makes you 🙂

Epica got their name from an album title by Kamelot. Really good album.

Epica was originally called Sahara Dust. The name Epica comes from the Kamelot album of the same name. I presume they either just liked the name or because Epica and Kamelot have worked together a lot in the past. Simone is even married to Kamelot's keyboardist, Oliver Palotai.

Asking for band’s you have not reacted to for a long time is EVERGREY. They have a new Album since you last reacted to them “Save Us “ was the first release from the Album A Heartless Portriat (The Orphean Testament) Good to see you back hope you stay well and safe

Have you considered "reacting" to music you already know? Yours is the only reaction channel that does not quickly become boring to me largely because you already add the most value in terms of analysis and pointing out interesting details that I've often missed myself. If you would be interested in diving even deeper into music that you already know and are passionate about, I know I would watch the hell out of it

Great reaction Chase! How about some Wintersun revisit? 🤔

Very glad to see you back. Value-adding suggestions that are worth a reaction but not well enough known to be a simple grab for likes/views: 1. Blackbriar (try Arms of the Ocean or Fairy of the Bog). Symphonic metal with a gothy horror/romantic twist. 2. Burning Witches (try Hexenhammer). A good one for lyrics, but also a Megadeth meets Iron Maiden vibe 3. Eleine (try Ava of Death). Lesser known Swedish symphonic metal band 4. Amon Amarth (try Twilight of the Thunder God, Guardians of Asgaard, or Back Into the Oar). Huge Melodic Death Metal band with a relatively light reaction scene

Let's see, what would be good.. Well, Beyond the Black just released their first single and video in quite a while yesterday. 'Reincarnation'. I love singer Jennifer Habin's voice, and I never see anyone react to them. Also, Xandria were a pretty popular symphonic metal band for a while, before breaking up suddenly a few years back, but they put out their first single with a new singer recently. 'Reborn'. I've also been listening to The Warning a lot lately, ever since Julia did one of their songs. 3 sisters doing hard rock. 'Money', 'Choke', and 'Evolve' are all great places to start.

Sorry to put this on an Epica track, I love them to bits, but I'd also love you fall down another rabbit hole with Beyond the Black

Wintersun is still waiting for a part 2 after your great reaction to Sons of Winter and Stars. ;)

On the topic of who most embodies symphonic metal, Nightwish or Epica, Nightwish unquestionably invented symphonic metal as a genre, but they did so by ACCIDENT. They were trying to find a musical style that went with Tarja's opera soprano vocals, and hit on power metal with bright, forward keys. They started out as a FOLK band. By contrast, Mark Jansen's first love was classical music, and he deliberately set out to create a blend of metal and classical music. He started doing this with After Forever, but the other band members Sander Gommans and Floor Jansen only wanted to do straightforward metal, and kicked him out of the band after the second album. Mark subsequently formed Epica, which ironically went on to become vastly more successful than After Forever. Nightwish diversified their sound after their third album, and since then a lot of their stuff hasn't been particularly symphonic (although some of it definitely is). So for these reasons, Epica does embody symphonic metal more than Nightwish, although that doesn't mean that they’re BETTER, just different. Also, yes, Floor Jansen doesn't like symphonic metal--or at least it's not what she would be doing if she had her choice. Check out ReVamp for her preferred style--she wrote or co-wrote all the songs and it's her best work IMHO. I wish it got more attention.

Epica has on occasion characterized their works as "metal hymns". Makes total sense.

more Epica plz in future

Oh dude you clearly are on the spectrum just like me, your feeling this and I get it, there was no spectrum when I was a kid I was just weird but when I started researching I’m Asperger’s AF, Hits different people different ways, embrace it, it’s you

Hey, Chase. Love the way you explain the music with the reaction. One suggestion I would like to make is reacting to BAND-MAIKO. This was originally an April Fools joke by BAND-MAID, but got really positive feedback from the fans. They basically take their songs and add some traditional Japanese instruments, change the lyrics somewhat and wear Maiko outfits, instead of their usual Maid. It's fantastic! I've never seen and cannot find someone on youtube reacting/analysing to both the BAND-MAID and the BAND-MAIKO versions. I think you would be great at explaining how you think their process was for changing the concept within two song they wrote themselves. My suggestion would be to do a double reaction to first BAND-MAID - Secret My Lips, then straight into BAND-MAIKO - Secret Maiko Lips. It's my favourite, and I'll tease you with that you get some vocals from Misa as well :)

Ever consider doing a livestream reaction (not necessarily analysis as much as just to hang out and react) to their Omega Alive (livestream concert) show? Could be a lot of fun!

It's Sunday morning Down Under, I'm having breakfast while watching you react to one of my favourite bands, and I couldn't be happier! 🤗 Amazing to think Epica is holding their 20th anniversary show on Sept 3 in Tilburg, NL. It hopefully will be live streamed, and will be a "must see". Chase, you asked about bands you haven't been back to for a while, can I suggest Lovebites, and the track A Frozen Melody? This is one of their best works, truly a music Masterclass. (Link below) The ladies have had an eventful year, Asami & Miyako have had babies, and they are auditioning for a new bassist, so we hope to see them back sometime soon. A Frozen Melody kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d8too7SH2pO2fmw.html

There is some new music by Xandria with a new singer, the song is called Reborn (I think you have done some Xandria, but cannot remeber for certain). Also Eluveitie has released a new song called Aidus.

Please react to code of life epica, so happy you reacted to this video too 😍😍😍

NEMOPHILA.... Superwoman made in Japan....🤩

I d like to see you od some rhapsody some good symphonic epic metal as well. I let others tell you what song to do since i am not good at finding good live shows of them. But they are worth a listen.

Since you asked for input, I'd like to see you react to X Japan again. You've done 1 from them and you seemed to enjoy it.

Sabaton x Epica tour in the US in sept/oct, will I see you there??? :D

Some songs that you should check out are some of their acoustic songs such as Abyss O' Time and Omegacoustic.

Here for the Epica reaction…staying for the Ice Nine Kills 😉