EPIC(on) WIN!

EPIC(on) WIN!

Take out your kitchen mixer from the cabinet, and set it nicely on the counter. Next get a top-notch orchestra assemble and an esteemed choir (which go very well together indeed), and gently place them in the mixer bowl. This might seem a bit strange to some, but now grab a rock band by the neck and put it in the middle of the ingredients in the bowl. The next step is very important: DO NOT turn on the mixer on high setting as this will cause the sound coming out the mixture to be simply tasteless and inconsistent. To avoid having to throw out the mixture and start all over again, mix the ingredients gently and slowly instead so as to produce a flavourful, creamy, and chromatic music that may be enjoyed again and again with your family and friends.

I'm guessing a lot of people might think that it takes the form of the following equation:

orchestra + choir + rock band = Rock You Like a Hurricane

Well, the album Epicon, by Globus, I assure you, is very much different than Scorpions. In fact the left side of that equation is not quite right. Not all of the tracks are rock. It is difficult to categorise the album into any of the conventional genres that we have today - it has a mixture of rock-driven orchestral track, choir-orchestra combo with solo vocal, ethnic music, orchestra-supported rock music, classical music in Italian, and choir in Latin. I could go on, but let's not go there, shall we?

Cover art of Epicon

In any case, once you have listened to the whole album, you would agree that the tracks are very emotional, grand film soundtrack-like, and simple EPIC. It's funny that some would even classify the album under the genre of 'epic'. To be honest, I think it's a fair classification since it is immensely difficult to pigeon-hole Epicon. Besides, 'epic' pretty much sums the album quite accurately.

In the Hollywood film-making industry, the making of movie trailers are usually commissioned to a trailer company that specialises in producing, well, trailers. Film production companies are far too busy with the film projects themselves (especially during principal photography and post-production) to make trailers for advertising purposes. Now trailer companies usually have their own composers to create music for the trailers they are making. Generally, however, big-budget films necessitate trailer music that match the quality and calibre of film soundtracks. For this reason, trailer producing companies may then purchase music (or license, rather) from another specialised company to be used in the trailers.

This specialised company is what we call "movie trailer music production company". The companies employ numerous composers to compose music beforehand and then keep the music in their library. Big companies literally have hundreds of such high-end music that sounded exactly like film soundtrack, sorted according to genres (such as comedy, drama, thriller, and so on). Other production bodies may browse their extensive libraries and purchase the license for use of the chosen music.

Complicated stuff, and you'd think film-making or even trailer-making is simple.

One such movie trailer music production company is Immediate Music. It's a huge and very successful company that has been providing music for trailers of famous movies, such as:

Spiderman 2 trailer (Warning: music is quite obvious.)

Now, since I'm not a PR officer for Immediate Music and I'm not gettin' paid for it, I'm not gonna list down other movie trailers that have used their music (go Google that yourself). However, as an informed fan, I will let you know that following popular demand, Immediate Music has formed a collective band consisting of an orchestra, choir and a rock band that is Globus. Several trailer music were hand-picked by the composers and re-arranged for the album. This explains why the album is "very emotional, grand film soundtrack-like, and simple EPIC".

And I just had to capitalise the word "epic". EPIC.

The wonder of Epicon is that it brings all sorts of emotion with different tracks. I generally like the whole album, but I especially love "Preliator", "Europa", "Orchard of Mines", "Madre Terra", and "Sarabande Suite".

Here's a medley of almost all the music in the album Epicon for you to have a taste.

And one of my personal favourites: Europa

I can't remember how I came by the tracks from the album early last year, but I do remember before having a copy of the album (which I eBay-ed from UK), digging as deep as I could for the music and live performance at YouTube. You might actually just do the same thing.