Jorge Rivera-Herrans, creator and producer of EPIC, a loose musical adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey recently announced the release of the seventh EP “The Wisdom Saga” in a series of concept albums. This EP serves as a continuation of the second act of the whole saga, with the first act wrapping up last April.

The musical, divided into 9 parts, tells the tale of Odysseus’ 20-year journey home through several challenges – being challenged by gods and monsters.

Since its first release a year and a half ago, the musical amassed success on social media and was streamed over 200 million times. It features hits like Warrior of the Mind, No Longer You, and the powerful Monster.

The Wisdom Saga 

The EP features new voices as well as returning ones, such as MICO (Miguel Veleso) as Telemachus, Ayron Alexander as Antinous, Tegan Earley as Athena, Barbara Wangui as Calypso, Brandon McInnis as Apollo, Mike Rivera (Jay’s father!) as Hephaestus, Janani Krishnan-Jha as Aphrodite, Earl Gresham Jr. as Ares and POESY as Hera.

This saga also holds the record for the most actors and voices being introduced in any other saga! What a treat for our ears!

In this saga, the story starts seven years after the events of the Thunder Saga. This time, we are introduced to Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, Prince of Ithaca, who dreams of living a life full of adventures and reconnecting with a father he hasn’t seen in twenty years. On “Legendary” he recalls the legends he heard so many times over the years and comes face to face with Antinous and the suitors. This is also the first song that doesn’t include or is being told from Odysseus’ point of view.

What strikes us the most while listening to “Legendary” is the similarities between Odysseus and Telemachus. In a clever way, Mico’s Telemachus sounds like a younger version of Jay’s Odysseus: firstly in the voices, that are delightly similar and then in the use of the motifs we already heard in “Full Speed Ahead”, “Open Arms” and Athena’s motif being faintly heard during the first bridge. A hint that Telemachus is set to follow his father’s footsteps.

On “Little Wolf”, Telemachus eventually gets into a fight with the suitors and particularly Antinous. Another parallel can be noted here as the suitors express themselves with an electric guitar, the same instrument as Odysseus. Maybe as a way to show that the suitors are trying to replace Odysseus as the King of Ithaca while he’s gone and are actively trying to charm his wife, Penelope.

That’s when another parallel is drawn: Athena’s comeback. Once again, she comes to the rescue of our hero by helping Telemachus win the fight against Antinous. And just like his father, Telemachus clearly sounds excited to team up with the goddess, while she is trying to make things right after her fallout with Odysseus. A tell that is told on the following song “We’ll Be Fine”. We particularly dig the rock-opera sounds with the use of a piano and trumpets. It’s another one of those visual songs where you can exactly picture what is happening. The beauty of EPIC!

“Love In Paradise” is the fourth song of the EP and marks the return of Odysseus as Athena discovers he has been trapped on Calypso’s island for the past seven years. Encouraged by Telemachus to try to reach out to him and lend a hand to her former mentee, the goddess dives into Odysseus’ memories and snippets of Remember Them, Keep Your Friends Close, Ruthlessness, Done For, No Longer You, Different Beast, Scylla and Thunder Bringer can be heard.

It’s an emotionally packed song as we discover that Odysseus has fallen into depression due to isolation and the trials he’s been through: fightning gods, losing the majority of his men and friends to battles and being away from his family. For the first time since the beginning of his journey, Odysseus seems weak, at loss and lost his hope of one day going back home: “You don’t know what I’ve gone through / You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed / Every comrade I long knew /Every friend, I saw them die / And all I hear are screams”. 

A situation that needed divine intervention! On “God Games”, Athena tries to save Odysseus by resoning with the other gods and Olympians such as Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite, Zeus, Hephaestus and Hera. If she wins, then Zeus will let her free Odysseus from the island. An epic rap/rnb battle that see the gods come face to face for the first time, each of them having their own reasons for disliking Odysseus and his past actions: killing sirens, sacrifiying his own crew, leaving his mother to die of a broken heart… Essentially seven songs in one, “God Games” serves as the perfect exemple of Jay’s taking inspiration from video games and classic rap battles to create the musical: each character being introduced one by one by the leader and spitting bars at each others. It flows, it rhymes, it works!

The next saga set to be released is the Vengeance Saga in which Odysseus will be freed from Calypso’s island and travel back to Ithaca! We’re in for another EPIC journey!

The Troy Saga – The Cyclop Saga – The Ocean Saga – The Circe Saga – The Underworld Saga – The Scylla Saga