Consign to Oblivion Epica

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Release Date

October 11, 2005

Duration

52:35

Genre

Pop/Rock

Styles

Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal

Recording Date

July, 2004 - October, 2004

Recording Location

Gate Studio, Wolfsburg, Germany

Smash Recordings

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Discography Timeline

See Full Discography

The Phantom Agony (2003)

The Score: An Epic Journey (2005)

We Will Take You With Us (2005)

Consign to Oblivion (2005)

The Road to Paradiso (2006)

The Divine Conspiracy (2007)

The Classical Conspiracy (2009)

Design Your Universe (2009)

Requiem for the Indifferent (2012)

The Quantum Enigma (2014)

The Holographic Principle (2016)

Epica vs. Attack on Titan Songs (2018)

Omega (2021)

Omega Alive (2021)

Aspiral (2025)

Consign to Oblivion Review by AllMusic

Consign to Oblivion Review by Eduardo Rivadavia

For all its ambitious plotting, baroque soundscapes, and unquestionable technical merits, Epica's first album was distinctly lacking in the most crucial of categories: songwriting. In fact, it pretty much proved the point that musical education doesn't necessarily guarantee musical inspiration, ultimately achieving surprisingly little purchase in one's memory banks for an album so rife with Strum und Drang. In retrospect, it may also have been somewhat rushed in its construction, what with guitarist and creative leader Mark Jansen possibly being a little too anxious to prove his own mettle after quitting After Forever -- the band founded with his sister Floor, and who in fact helped pioneer the symphonic/progressive/power metal style still on dominant display here. Longer preparation has certainly had a positive effect on the sophomore effort, but, if anything, Epica remain more committed to that original vision than the increasingly modern-sounding (though no less progressive) After Forever, insisting on employing human choirs and orchestras throughout Consign to Oblivion, and rarely letting mezzo-soprano Simone Simons stray from an operatically correct delivery. Jansen's death growls have also taken a noticeable back seat this time around, but that's not to say that typical offerings such as "Dance of Fate," "Blank Infinity," and "Force of the Shore" fail to provide plenty of heavy staccato guitar riffing and hyperactive double kick drums. Single candidate "Solitary Ground," on the other hand, finds an adequate middle ground between rocker and ballad; "Quietus" pretty much waltzes away from start to finish; and the symphonic overkill is finally toned down for the surprisingly pop-campy, harpsichord-led ballad "Trois Vierges" (big-time Nightwish influence), on which Simons is joined by Kamelot vocalist Roy Kahn. And don't forget the four different movements of a fatalistic suite subtitled "A New Age Dawns" (partly sung in Latin, and decrying man's folly with nature -- you know the drill), which are strewn about the album in somewhat arbitrary fashion, and may only confuse things further. Nevertheless, Consign to Oblivion's overall presentation is as immaculate as its predecessor's, and definitely an improvement from a compositional perspective, promising better things to come in Epica's future.

Consign to Oblivion User Reviews

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stanley sgtpepper June 28, 2023

In my opinion, Epica released two of their first albums that are solid but not too memorable for fan searching for distinctive metal music.
Although they have had solid symphonic traces and music execution at the time already, there isn't the appetite for experimentation and development that started in 2007.
Epica is capable of writing accessible melodic pieces like "Solitary Ground" or "Quietus" no wonder these became Epica live anthems.
My favourites as a prog metal fan are the two tracks with the longest names such as the Consign To Oblivion ('A New Age Dawns' #3) that has pretty versatile music surroundings ranging from extreme vocals (Death/Black) to elegant classical feel.
A promising album.

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Simone Appolloni July 24, 2021

The band’s 2005 album, Consign to Oblivion, is a virtual replica of their debut with even more pompous orchestration/choruses and seven-string guitars. The shortest tracks sound either like mid-tempo filler (“Blank Infinity”), In Flames-sounding (“Quietus”) or tremendously confused (“Force of the Shore”). The best cuts are the low-key ballads “Solitary Ground” and the vaguely baroque “Trois Vierges”, with Kamelot’s Roy Khan as guest, while the title track varies too little its In Flames/Arch Enemy-like palm-muted breakdowns to be considered an highlight.

Highlights: “Solitary Ground”, “Trois Vierges”.

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Consign to Oblivion Track List

Hunab K'u (A New Age Dawns, Prologue)

Yves Huts / Mark Jansen

Epica