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Epic: Starlight
Epic - Starlight Album Art

Epic: Starlight

Melodic Metal Rock
3.0/5.0

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Escape Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 16.02.2022 | Released: 18.02.2022

I didn't know much about the band Epic when their quite entertaining first album, Like A Phoenix crossed my desk almost six years ago. With the arrival of their long-awaited second effort, Starlight, now I know two more things about Epic: the band is based in Montreal and they have a new bass player with Chris Childs (Thunder,Tyketto).

Epic - Click For Larger Image

Epic: yes, we are.

Another thing I recall six years ago was wondering whether Epic was truly "epic" when it came to their chosen genre and songs. The previous album was largely a classic AOR melodic hard rock with some metal-like influence. (Also my ears confused female vocalist Tanya Rizkala with I thought was an effeminate male vocalist, but that's a whole other story.) This time around Epic musical style may be reversed meaning, their songs are more robust, raw, and heavier like heavy metal rock rather than last outings' AOR rock. I heard this, with some exceptions, in the majority of songs such as Can't Get Over You, Stars, Hold On Invincible, and especially I Want, where you can barely hear the vocals. The milder differences come with the ballad Crazy, the AORish yet still heavy My Way Of The Highway, and perhaps Face The Storm, more a heavy anthem. Then there's the closing harder ballad Mais Lui, a song written in French which only makes it a Quebec (we want to secede from Canada, godammit) thing. Overall, and honestly, Starlight did not have nearly the same impact upon my listening ears as 2016's Like A Phoenix. The single reason, I think, is because the riffage and rhythm section strength and heaviness overwhelmed all the other parts, notably the song melody and vocal arrangements. But, as usual, that's me and what I heard. You may feel differently. All said, Starlight finds Canadian band Epic tapping more deeply into their heavy metal rock muse this time around with varying results.




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The Take Away

All said, Starlight finds Canadian band Epic tapping more deeply into their heavy metal rock muse this time around with varying results.

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