Epic Chants by Gregorian

Epic Chants is the 2012 album from Gregorian, the German project that recasts familiar songs in a choral, monastic style. Here the focus falls on grand film themes and sweeping pop anthems. The album wraps big, cinematic melodies in robed harmony and slow, solemn arrangement. That strange marriage of blockbuster and abbey is what caught my attention.

Why listen?

The sound is deep choral voices over orchestral pads and soft, steady rhythm. The production is plush and reverberant, built for scale and atmosphere. The chosen songs lean toward longing, triumph, and farewell, themes the chant style suits. There is a calming gravity to it, familiar tunes made stately and slow. It is music for quiet evenings rather than close study.

Favourite song: Conquest of Paradise

The grandest moment, Vangelis's great theme swelled by choir into something vast. It fills a room.

In noreni per ipe
In noreni cora
Tira mine per ito
Ne domina
In romine tirmeno
Ne romine to fa

That rising line, carried by massed voices, gives the old theme a new solemnity. It feels like standing at a high pass with cloud below and the whole horizon laid out ahead. The sense of setting out toward something unknown has stayed with me.

Key takeaway

Epic Chants is a grand, soothing oddity, best taken whole and unhurried. Worth a curious listen.

Tracklist

• World Without End
• Against All Odds
• Conquest of Paradise
• Both Sides Now
• Bright Eyes
• My Heart Will Go On
• Live and Let Die
• Into the West
• Kiss from a Rose
• The Last Unicorn
• She
• Unchained Melody
• Sky and Sand
• Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

Details

Listen on

• Apple Music
• Amazon
• Spotify

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