The Divine Conspiracy

Infobox Album | Name = The Divine Conspiracy
Type = studio
Artist = Epica


Released = August 22, 2007 Japan
August 28, 2007 USA
September 7, 2007 EU
September 10, 2007 UK| Genre = Symphonic metal
Length = 75:36
Label = Nuclear Blast
Producer = Sascha Paeth
Reviews =
* [http://soundofmetal.se/ Sound Of Metal] Rating-10|8 [http://soundofmetal.se/index.php?page=epicathedivineconspiracyreview link]
* All Music Guide Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0nfwxzwgld0e link]
* About.com Rating|4|5 [http://heavymetal.about.com/od/cdreviews/fr/epicadivine.htm link]
* Lords of Metal rating-10|9 [http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=10237&lang=en link]
* Metal Observer rating-10|9 [http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=13669 link]
* Metal Reviews rating-10|8.5 [http://www.metalreviews.com/reviews/detail.php3?id=4092 link]
* Metal Review [http://www.metalreview.com/4074/Epica-The-Divine-Conspiracy.aspx link]
* Kerrang Rating|3|5
Last album = "The Road to Paradiso"
(2006)
This album = "The Divine Conspiracy"
(2007)
Next album =

"The Divine Conspiracy" is the fourth full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It was released on September 7, 2007 through Nuclear Blast. It is the band's second concept album and the third conceptualize collection of the Great Composer called Mark Jansen The first one of his conception project start in the name of Prison Of Desire and performed by a band called After Forever then he start this project again in the name of The Phantom Agony which is the band's first concept album and all of this perfect conceptualize project called The Embrace That Smothers. The idea behind it is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome their superficial differences and to discover their true nature, which is the same for all of them. The album features a session appearance by the God Dethroned drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek, who is now a full-time member of the band, following the departure of Jeroen Simons in 2006. The album also features a guest performance from Sander Gommans (After Forever), who contributed grunt vocals for the song "Death of a Dream." The European digipak version of the album contains a cover of Fear Factory's "Replica".

Track listing

The following track list was officially revealed on June 13, 2007 [cite web | url=http://epica.nl/?page=news |title=Epica Online] :
#"Indigo ~ prologue" - 2:05
#"The Obsessive Devotion" - 7:13
#"Menace of Vanity" - 4:13
#"Chasing the Dragon" - 7:40
#"Never Enough" - 4:47
#"La‘petach Chatat Rovetz ~ the Final Embrace" - 1:46
#"Death of a Dream ~ the Embrace that Smothers part VII" - 6:03
#"Living a Lie ~ the Embrace that Smothers part VIII" - 4:56
#"Fools of Damnation ~ the Embrace that Smothers part IX" - 8:42
#"Beyond Belief" - 5:25
#"Safeguard to Paradise" - 3:46
#"Sancta Terra" - 4:57
#"The Divine Conspiracy" - 13:56
#"Higher High" (Bonus Track) - 5:27
#"Replica" (Fear Factory Cover) (Bonus Track) - 4:10

Credits

*Simone Simons - Lead Vocals
*Mark Jansen - Rhythm Guitars, Grunts
*Ad Sluijter - Lead Guitars
*Coen Janssen - Piano & Synths
*Yves Huts - Bass Guitar
*Ariën Van Weesenbeek - Drums

Guest appearances:

*Sander Gommans - Death Grunts on "Death of a Dream ~ The Embrace That Smothers part VII"
*Olaf Reitmeier - Acoustic Guitars on "Chasing The Dragon"
*Amanda Somerville - Spoken words in "The Obsessive Devotion"
*Gjalt Lucassen - Priest in "Living a Lie ~ The Embrace That Smothers part VIII"
*Jaff Wade - Spoken words in "Fools of Damnation ~ The Embrace That Smothers part IX"

References