Epica's Lyrics and Sound
Storm the Sorrow - Epica
Symbolism
This Epica video has very distinct good vs. evil visuals. In the beginning we see the female vocalist in all white sitting in a white room with unidentified black goo slinking its way around her. Since the goo doesn’t do anything until she touches it, it is implied that the “good” person must allow the “bad” in. She does this by touching the goo, as a result the goo representing the evil plaguing this pure individual begins to cover her body. This signifies the growth of evil within her body and her struggle against it. However later in the video the pure individual casts the evil goo away, signifying good’s triumph over evil. In addition to this there are other dark symbolisms taking place throughout the video, such as the hawk. This could signify the hunting behavior exhibited by the “evil” entities in the video. In addition to the hawk there is a man who seems to be turning into a wolf, which has always been portrayed as the kiss of the moon/evil.
Sound Analysis
Unlike most other bands Epica relies on the backing portion of the band as much as they rely upon the vocals. Typically their songs start with a heavy instrumental segment followed by the majority of the song as vocals with instrumentals interspersed in them. And they conclude with another instrumental segment. Cry for the Moon probably displays their personal orchestra and choir the best. In that song there is a heavy emphasis on the female vocals as well as the orchestral segments. Epica not only used the Beauty and the Beast method for singing but also for their instrumental portions. When the male vocalist is growling only the typical metal instruments are being played. This in contrast to the typical instruments and orchestral instruments playing while Simone is singing give the male vocalist a much harsher sound than he would have alone or with the orchestra backing him.
Lyrical Analysis
Cry for the Moon
This song doesn’t even attempt to hide its topic matter. Which is mildly surprising since the Catholic Church can be a terrifying entity to challenge. Cry for the Moon is solely focused on the abuse of children that has been taking place in the Catholic Church for years. It is probably the most serious song that I chose to analyze, I decided to do so in order to show the full spectrum of topics that Metal music utilizes. On to the lyrics “Indoctrinated minds so very often / Contain sick thoughts / And commit most of the evil they preach against,” obviously this is indicating the villain of the song, the clergy members. The song definitively identifies the victim farther along in the song with this verse, “Virginity has been stolen at very young ages / And the extinguisher loses its immunity / Morbid abuse of power in the Garden of Eden / Where the apple gets a youthful face.” The actions of these clergy members is no secret so I won’t delve deeper there, the chorus does give a pretty powerful message though. “Eternal silence cries out for justice / Forgiveness is not for sale / Nor is the will to forget / Follow your common sense / You cannot hide yourself / Behind your fairytale forever and ever.” Similar to the Call to Arms in the other analyses where it was present this is a gentle nudge to the victims of these crimes to come forward with their stories and get the justice that they deserve.
Storm the Sorrow
Storm the Sorrow is meant to depict the criticisms that everyone faces in their lives. This is identified in the first verse, “Along the way I find myself / To be confined within me / My place where all the others mind to interfere.” This is giving the audience the image of an individual who hides within themselves to avoid what others say about them. A feeling that everyone has experienced at some point or another. As the song continues there continues to be lines that depict the feelings that criticism leads to, whether the criticism comes from within one’s self or from someone else. “No heat for shadows on your way / That try to steal your laughter / Your lights will drive them all away / Be confident.” In contrast to the introduction of the topic, this set of lines offers some reassurance to the individual in the song. Essentially they are saying, everything will be alright just show them that it doesn’t bother you.
Unleashed
This song is from an elderly individual’s perspective looking back on their life and regretting that they didn’t do more. The lyrics lead the audience to believe that this individual has some form of disease that attacks the memory, this can be seen in these lines “There was no black staining the walls of my memories” and “Time is just a concept / And always the first thing to fade.” Both of these seem to point toward some form of memory loss plaguing the individual. It is made to sound like this individual is on their deathbed reminiscing about how they used to be and wishing to return to those times. “I’m feeling lost in a dream / Longing for the day I can be myself” Of course the chorus solidifies all of these points, “When I’m free / When my sun has set / Release my soul forever / I have no regrets / To be free / I’ll exist again / No more lost endeavors / Nothing to concern / When I’m free.” This is an easily identifiable reference to dying through the use of words like free and sun has set.