Epica - Design Your Universe (live) - Reaction/Breakdown

[00:00:02]Sex toplets there. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6. Very fast there. See my microphone.

[00:00:12]There you go. Finger drumming.

[00:00:21]Hi folks. Hope you're all keeping well.

[00:00:23]Thanks for joining me. So today we're back again with Epica. This request comes in from one of my VIP members over on Patreon, Insulent Umbrella, who has already requested a few Epic songs. So, have a look around the channel and you'll find those. So, this is a little blurb that they've given me. Design your universe is not quite as melodic.

[00:00:41]However, it seems to merge several different styles into one composition that strangely works while still clearly being epica. The song in many ways is far from fragile, but I still feel like it could do with fewer harsh vocals given some of its delicacy. Either way, I laugh at how much Drummer Boy is enjoying himself hitting the bass drum every time I watch. There we go. Okay.

[00:01:06]So, if this is your first time watching the channel, folks, um the format of this video is I'm going to listen to the performance right through uninterrupted, give you maybe a few initial thoughts after that, and then I'm going to run the video back through and talk about some of the stuff, some thoughts, and uh maybe sort of figure out some of the musical things that's going on, have a bit of a chat about that. So, if you enjoy this, please do like and subscribe and consider commenting below or maybe supporting me on Patreon, getting some requests in over there. And uh without any further ado, let's get going.

[00:02:19]Go.

[00:02:38]Heat. Heat.

[00:02:47]Heat. Heat.

[00:03:17]Heat. Heat.

[00:03:27]Heat.

[00:03:42]Heat.

[00:03:59]We're blind and eager will set us back to blank. Those who wait all will have to make a reason. If you can't let go, you will have the hand behind. If you can't control your life to go Heat. Heat.

[00:04:52]Yeah. Heat.

[00:05:03]Oh, heat, heat.

[00:05:39]to take part for taking safely the path of lesson and strength and endless breaking faith for you to please if you can't let You hold down empty hand if you control you down.

[00:06:28]Heat. Heat.

[00:06:38]Heat.

[00:06:51]Heat.

[00:07:15]The time has come.

[00:07:25]Heat.

[00:07:33]Heat.

[00:07:43]Heat. Heat.

[00:08:00]Oh my god.

[00:08:30]Heat. Heat.

[00:08:52]Heat.

[00:08:58]Heat.

[00:09:19]Heat. Heat.

[00:09:49]Almost 9 minutes.

[00:09:53]Heat.

[00:10:06]Heat.

[00:10:14]Heat.

[00:10:24]Heat.

[00:10:34]Heat.

[00:10:43]Heat.

[00:10:53]Heat.

[00:11:06]Heat.

[00:11:14]Confront us with show us now.

[00:11:30]We have a soulious man.

[00:11:45]Well, I was a little bit worried once uh you know, I went to look for the settings and I was like 480 what? But that's all it is. The video obviously is suffering quite a lot. Um I'm viewing this on full screen on the monitor, but obviously when you're watching this uh reaction, it's going to be smaller, so the video should be fairly decent for you guys. But uh the audio the the quality of the audio is still pretty good for something that's 480. So I still able to hear stuff. So anyway, this is the link I was provided. So that's that's why um that's why we've got here. I'm presuming that maybe if there is a higher quality, it's part of a longer concert or something like that.

[00:12:23]But anyway, I was worried at the start that it might detract. Um but I don't think it did. That the quality I mean obviously the quality could be better if we're looking at 480, but I thought everything was fine. still hearing everything coming through really well from an audio point of view. Anyway, this was really cool. Loved it. Really good. The B uh the orchestra in particular, the orchestral arrangements, uh the choices of the the woodwinds and the uh the brass and stuff like that coming through at different moments. Um and sort of even in the verses sort of some of the instruments sort of taken a little bit even though the the lead vocal is a sort of dominant force dur you know the melodic part. um during the verses, some of the drumming fills, some of the bass notes coming out. So, it felt like members of the band were sort of, for lack of a better term, showcased, you know, the the music musical musical instruments were still doing something interesting even though they're sort of subservient to the uh melody, which is really cool cuz it could be really very very sort of plain underneath the melody. But there's a lot of um there are many wise choices that are being used and very creative decisions being used to keep the music underneath the melody and the vocal.

[00:13:40]Very interesting for musicians like me at least. Anyway, so yeah, shall we go back through? Yes, let's do it. Please consider taking a moment to check out my other channel, JW Signworks, where you will find unique cover song performances.

[00:14:15]Newly composed piano arrangements.

[00:14:35]And all of my self-composed original music.

[00:14:53]Heat up here.

[00:15:20]Go.

[00:15:41]There's so much even just in that 20 seconds worth of music. We get a motif um given to us right at the start with the two guitars. Um but then the bass comes in and immediately we start to hear uh woodwinds on the second run through. And then as we get to the end of the second run through, there's an extended uh phrase at the end. So it doesn't just loop. And then you can hear it's going to modulate so much already within this.

[00:16:08]Um very sophisticated uh musical composition. Um see where we are. Maybe work this out on the piano. Might be faster, but we'll see. Let's have a look at this. See what key and stuff are in here.

[00:16:26]That was a lucky guess. A A minor.

[00:16:30]Uh, right.

[00:16:50]It's obviously two guitar parts. I'm not going to be able to play both, but you can hear there's more of a strumming sort of cordal pattern. Um, this kind of thing where you can hear like a also like a an arpeggiated sort of over an A minor something like that against there's something about the very started. This reminds me of the band All About Eve. I don't know why. Maybe Martha's Harour or something like that.

[00:17:37]That's interesting. So, so it's C.

[00:17:45]Same.

[00:17:49]Don't know what that is though.

[00:17:58]Yeah. So, it's kind of like a a B7 chord.

[00:18:05]So, A minor to C to like a B7.

[00:18:14]So, floats in.

[00:18:22]You can hear the harmonics being used there as well.

[00:18:33]F sharp.

[00:18:39]Yeah, that's unusual, isn't it? From an A minor.

[00:18:43]F#. Well, just going back and forth between F# sharp and G. It's very uh Latin sounding.

[00:19:09]I know I'm not playing exactly the right notes, but it's kind of close, isn't it?

[00:19:12]But that that's sort of um makes me think of the sort of like flamco that kind of sort of harmony style. You can hear it sort of sort of eastern sort of melodic stuff going on too as well there.

[00:19:46]Like a militaristic snare there.

[00:19:51]And then you get this sort of descending chromatic line.

[00:19:58]So that yeah, that stands out to me as well because my ears did go straight away to the the Latin sort of thing as as I've just sort of demonstrated. But that note, you wouldn't associate that so much with that sort of feel. So the I would kind of expect it to go da da da, but you hear da da a lot more dissonant.

[00:20:21]All right. It's chromatic playing chromatic. If you don't know, it's like playing every note in sequence in either ascending or descending. In this case, descending.

[00:20:32]So what was it? F sharp to G.

[00:20:52]Yeah, I think there's you're getting a bit of a driving melody there at the bottom or baseline maybe of the different the second time.

[00:21:24]You see what I mean with the orchestral?

[00:21:26]It's very subtle, but it's really interesting.

[00:21:34]Up to B. Yeah.

[00:21:40]So, it's a straight copy of what we've had before. It's just modulated.

[00:21:50]Something like that.

[00:21:57]You also hear it sound like castinetas.

[00:22:02]Um, which is very again you think of the flamco dancers and stuff building that is that heavy riff is a kind of variation on what we've had before. Um, yeah, obviously didn't take me by surprise that time, did the first time.

[00:22:37]Let me see. Might have to drop tune a wee bit here. Let me see.

[00:22:46]So, they're way down. So, let's see.

[00:22:50]I need to be going five semmit tones.

[00:23:01]um which is uh B and F sharp which is just the root over in B. Uh I guess it really is B major. It's quite ambiguous but because we've been using those major chords so far that I guess it really is um we don't have the third being used. So it's that's why it's ambiguous cuz if you did have the third, it's either or or which would be minor, but that notes missing. So you're just going back and forth between the tonic and the dominant.

[00:23:35]So it's more ambiguous.

[00:23:45]And then you got that flat two um which is a C.

[00:23:50]So those notes.

[00:23:55]Sorry.

[00:24:02]It we bit back to the chromatic thing.

[00:24:14]It's going straight down there or we got Yeah, it sounds like the top part of the chord staying.

[00:24:23]So, it's not going straight down from my microphone's in the way. Um, I want to say this as G because I'm playing in the G position, but I have to think of it as D. So, it's like D C.

[00:24:36]Um, but it's not.

[00:24:39]It's I think it's this.

[00:24:43]More of a dissonant clash on that in the way.

[00:24:53]Great double kick work on the drums.

[00:25:02]>> So, we're back to the A minor here.

[00:25:04]Might use the piano at this point here.

[00:25:07]See, >> so we're kind of going back and forth between A minor and C and B there, which are the they're same key. A minor is related to C major, so the same key.

[00:25:36]essentially relative major relative minor.

[00:25:41]You >> hear the baseline A C.

[00:25:57]>> It's not exactly right, but it's using the notes of the A uh minor a natural minor scale at this point.

[00:26:09]Very strong melody.

[00:26:11]>> Cool work on the high hats. You hear that baseline running underneath? That's the stuff I was talking about before.

[00:26:16]The bass really interesting.

[00:26:20]We'll have to make a reason.

[00:26:36]>> So that's definitely not the natural minor scale. Um, we've got that sort of flat five being used there. Devil's uh trit tone, but >> great groove on the drums, >> strings, >> horns.

[00:27:11]tension, >> drama.

[00:27:15]>> There's something about his vocals. I was trying to place it when I was listening to it. Um, it reminds me a little bit of the guy I don't know his name from Sai. Do you remember the Japanese band? I think they're Japanese, aren't they? I only ever really had I think I only have one album. Can't even remember what it's called. It's like scenario 4 or something like that. It's very old. I think I bought it in the ' 90s on CD. Have it somewhere. um something about his harsh vocals and actually this part of the song reminds me of early Sai. I never followed them after that, but they did have a lot of uh classical instruments and things like that on their uh record as well. Sort of mixing black metal with uh with classical um and bits of jazz and all sorts of stuff in there. It's a real melting pot. That album doesn't quite work for me. It's a wee bit too all over the place, but there are as a whole. But there are some really really cool moments in it. But that's probably why I never stuck with Sai. Maybe they have other I think they're still on the go.

[00:28:10]But uh you know maybe there are other things that are worth checking out by Sai, but you know you know you get that thing like you listen to something you go this is kind of cool but it's not really my thing and you don't really go any further. But uh anyway, yeah. So something about s there to me >> just the vocals and the style at that point to come.

[00:28:57]So, uh, it's F sharp.

[00:29:02]Isn't that what we were in before, um, in the acoustic part at the start? So, it's still based on that, I think. Don't forget guys, it's my first time through, so I'm probably going to get some stuff wrong, but I think that's what that was from.

[00:29:27]>> Displacement on this.

[00:29:36]>> That is Yeah, that is based on that riff I worked out earlier.

[00:29:43]make it easier for me. Just put it in standard tune again.

[00:29:59]That was the thing that was like, isn't it sort of like a heavier version of that riff we had at the start?

[00:30:21]>> Strings making a melody.

[00:30:25]There's the all syncated.

[00:30:53]Yeah. So again, I'm drop tuned. So uh B minor, uh the G and then uh must be E minor and then F F sharp.

[00:31:08]That's it. The reason why I'm saying that guys, I have to think a we bit because I'm playing an E minor, C, A minor, and B, but the notes are actually in a different key. So I'm have to transpose it in my head.

[00:31:24]simple chokes.

[00:31:26]So, um, it's really cool that you've got this sort of stable kind of um, groove and harmonics harmonically uh, you know, in the chords and stuff like that. There's not much happening there, but the the sort of syncupation in the melody is what sort of really is driving this part of the song.

[00:31:58]on the offbe again strings in the background.

[00:32:13]>> Nice little sort of bridging point of your um connecting point in the in the woodwinds I think.

[00:32:27]or >> in the way of flutes up there.

[00:32:36]>> It's very subtle, but it's very interesting with because obviously a different arrangement orchestrally than what happened in the first verse. at your place. And if you can let go, >> I like those open strings ringing out.

[00:33:07]Um, double check for you.

[00:33:33]>> Oh, still popping again.

[00:33:42]I get the A minor.

[00:33:48]>> Yeah.

[00:33:58]Huge. This would have been great to see if you were in the crowd. It's been very powerful. I would say the orchestra on stage and everything piano lines at the top.

[00:34:14]Now the piano's taking on the role of what the vocals had there with the syncupation. Just going to check the timing on my camera here so I don't run out. And we're back. Little SLR European laws uh for video recording. Anyway, let's keep it going.

[00:34:35]The time has come.

[00:34:40]We have to see kind of coming down to thirds.

[00:35:00]We have to see G A possibly or F sharp silly which is the fifth again um that we talked about on the riff the guitar riff you know open it was down to B uh wasn't it B and F sharp. Yeah. That's the same two chords.

[00:35:30]E minor.

[00:35:33]That's the G.

[00:35:36]There's the F sharp dominant.

[00:35:43]So, it's really cool that we've got that sort of the motif that we had in the chorus before withum. The syncupation is now on the piano. So, it's knitting everything together and with different melody on top now.

[00:35:55]vocals are unreal. What a singer.

[00:36:06]question like real life.

[00:36:35]Cool.

[00:36:46]H. Let's see what that is.

[00:36:54]Oh, that's a major.

[00:37:03]Must be an A major chord. not an A major sort of E major in this case. A major there, but we're actually hearing E major.

[00:37:17]That's wrong. Hang on. Sorry.

[00:37:21]It's D major. D major. Sorry about that.

[00:37:30]You hear the baseline playing something different that time. It's not on the root notes. It's like leading up the second, climbing the second of the scale.

[00:37:53]I can't get down to the Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like a D octave.

[00:38:04]This is old B underneath.

[00:38:10]That's a D then. Yeah. All right.

[00:38:14]Sorry, I'm thinking getting confused.

[00:38:17]So, if that's a D, that's an A.

[00:38:20]That's a D on my guitar, but that's why I said D. Um, it's actually an A, which is the fifth of the D chord. Have to remember we're down five.

[00:38:30]So yeah, right. So it's the riff is on A and D A D, not uh DG as it looks like.

[00:39:04]You hear that? We line in there somewhere. Is it the strings doing that?

[00:39:10]>> Orange at all in there.

[00:39:16]>> Yeah. So, the guitar riffs playing something different, but you hear from the strings.

[00:39:24]The PSI coming up to idolize >> dramatic back and forth.

[00:39:37]>> It's a we bit difficult to tell. Um, and I think it doesn't help with the the quality of the audio in this, but you can hear the the guitar riffing. It's like there's some sort of riffing going on on I can't I can't um distinguish exactly what's going on there with the audio, but I can see the guitarist here is sort of playing that kind of thing, but the other guitarist presumably is doing the sort of runs and you put this sort Don't know exactly what he's playing.

[00:40:25]Is that it?

[00:40:33]Something close to that.

[00:40:36]How many people do their own success?

[00:40:44]Don't forget your decide your Feels like this is all in three times. So you could either call it in three four or 98 or 68 sorry um just da da da. So, so you either think of it as like 1 2 3 1 2 3 or one and two and one and two and something different happens in there like that's going to be a bit tricky to work out that whatever's going on there.

[00:41:43]this uh so straightforward.

[00:41:47]Now it is here a while for me to get that. I'm sure we'll get it. But let's keep going on because this otherwise this video will be 10 hours long.

[00:42:12]There's that sort of chromatic the G and the F sharp again which we had from earlier on in harmony.

[00:42:35]Can almost call that a 64.

[00:42:37]Let's see.

[00:42:40]1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 Whatever way you want to turn it.

[00:42:57]That's happening in the sort of double notes. It's hard to do on the piano with one hand. We need to practice that.

[00:43:10]I don't know why I'm doing that.

[00:43:14]Just do that for now. Anyway, but you can hear the guitar or the strings, you know, probably the same riff as what I was talking about earlier on.

[00:43:33]Nice into divisions of two or four there.

[00:43:48]very tight to come in after that the chorus again.

[00:43:56]See what you mean about the bass or the drum? Bass drum.

[00:44:32]Big old melody. Love it.

[00:44:39]It's a nice little melodic.

[00:44:47]It's the F sharp again.

[00:44:58]Big anthemic anthemic outro drum fills.

[00:45:11]So we're still in the same sort of key though. G major, E minor, F sharp.

[00:45:44]I say I love his fills. the busy fill uh tom work also with a double kick doesn't get muddy. It's very very tightly played.

[00:46:01]Sex toplets there. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6. Very fast there. See a microphone.

[00:46:11]There you go. Finger drumming.

[00:46:20]See what I mean about the the double kick and not going at the same time.

[00:46:23]That's high skill level there.

[00:46:50]That's not right.

[00:46:57]>> That's it.

[00:47:01]>> Something a wee bit dissonant in there.

[00:47:03]There's like a It's not that, but there's something in there like a descending, you know, like a broken music box. You know, one of those we music boxes that you get where the the ballerina goes around. It sounds like one of those sort of slowing down >> like it's going out of tune. That's amazing.

[00:47:32]Is that not it?

[00:48:04]That's kind of close, isn't it?

[00:48:08]Show us >> and doesn't go to the dissonant uh you know it was used on the the flat two like I said earlier on the guitar riff we had he he doesn't he has it Uh more not a dissonance consonance. Is that the right word?

[00:48:44]>> C sharp.

[00:48:49]>> Not I guess that's the resolution coming at the end. It's a bit of a payoff after all those dissonant notes.

[00:49:08]cheeky high note in there at the end.

[00:49:11]Great stuff. Superb performance, of course, that's the main thing, you know, the the vocals on top. Hopefully, you enjoyed this sort of chat about musically what's going on there. But, uh, the vocal performance, well, the performance of everybody, but the vocal performance is immaculate. I think I've used that words a few times, word a few times to describe her vocal. Her vocal is really, really impressive. Um, but anyway, thanks for the request. Hope you enjoyed this video, folks, for uh thanks for watching and like, subscribe, all that kind of stuff if you want to see more. So, take it easy. See you later.

[00:49:44]If you're passionate about piano, whether as a player or listener, or if you're considering online lessons or master classes, please visit my YouTube channel, JW Piano Works. There you'll discover a wealth of piano performances with many more to come. Based on demand, I'll also be introducing video tutorials for piano pieces. Thank you.