Upon reviewing my past two reviews of this band, I noticed that I at both times was surprised to hear male vocals.
Was my memory so full of holes that this would attract any special attention here at Rockharz as well?

No, it did not, but the main reason for this could be that Simone Simons’ volume was so much higher (this seems like a going trend for the band as well…) than anything else the band was putting out, so maybe I simply didn’t notice the male vocals?
Either way, it wasn’t only the volume of her voice that cut like nails on a blackboard into my ears, her singing wasn’t going very well this day either and did not connect well with the music of the band. All in all, the sound was pretty much beside itself for this show, what with guitars and keyboards being completely blown out of the water, leaving (almost) only a heavy bass rumbling as Epica’s soundscape. Not quite what you would hope for from a band like this…
Whether or not the band was aware of the killing of their art I can honestly say I don’t know, but I do know that they were at least working hard at giving us a performance of a lifetime! All members, except of course Ariën van Weesenbeek (drums) and Coen Jansen (keyboards) who were naturally quite locked in their positions given their choice of instrument, were very active and moved quite a lot on the stage, only stopping up once in a while to throw some power-poses at us, and sometimes at each other for an extra effective visual side.

That Epica was a popular band at Rockharz was also easy to see on the large crowd which had gathered at the Dark Stage, and giving them a 50 minute set (ok length for this festival) at a good time in the evening showed that the organizers were aware of this.
The crowd was also quick to support the band by applause and some shouting and whistling, but other than a few spread headbangers, the crowd was mostly standing still for this show. Maybe that’s the best way to enjoy it? I don’t know, I’m not enough into this style to be able to say what the proper way to conduct yourself here is…

Even with the lively show and the impressively large crowd, Epica just didn’t do it for me this evening. Apparently they haven’t really done it for me in the past either, and what the future holds we will only know when we reach it; but for now it’s safe to say that Epica have not made a fan out of me yet.