Last Thursday—on Halloween—the penultimate saga for “EPIC: The Musical” titled “The Vengeance Saga” was released. Almost two years after the original release of “The Troy Saga,” we have nearly completed the full concept album. And, once again, this saga was great.

For those who are unaware, “EPIC: The Musical” is a musical retelling of The Odyssey—the extremely long Homeric poem that follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, as he attempts to return home after the Trojan War. However, Odysseus faces many challenges on his journey home as different Greek gods and monsters.

The musical (created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, also known as Jay) is sectioned into sagas consisting of three to five songs. “The Troy Saga,” as mentioned above, was originally released in December 2022 and “The Cyclops Saga” shortly thereafter in early 2023. However, due to problems with the recording company, there was a break until December 2023 when “The Ocean Saga” was added to streaming platforms. 

Following in fairly quick succession was “The Circe Saga,” “The Underworld Saga,” “The Thunder Saga” and “The Wisdom Saga” in addition to re-releases of the first two now that Rivera-Herrans has created his own recording company. And now, “The Vengeance Saga” has been added to the roster.

This saga, consisting of five songs, follows Odysseus as he makes his final venture home to Ithaca to see his wife and son again for the first time in roughly 20 years. Also, it is an incredible addition to the concept album. 

The sweet. plucky music representing the goddess Calypso returns for the song “Not Sorry For Loving You” and the upbeat disco sound for the messenger god Hermes makes a long-awaited comeback as we hadn’t heard from him since “The Circe Saga.” The rest of the songs in this saga have the rock music heard throughout most of the musical. 

Specifically, the song that people have been waiting for—“Get in the Water”—was finally released. “EPIC: The Musical” originally gained popularity on TikTok as Rivera-Herrans recorded his writing process as he created the musical, and since he began posting official recordings of songs, the comments on almost every TikTok have been asking about when “Get in the Water” would be dropped.

However, the asking may have been justified, as “Get in the Water” was an incredible song. Steven Rodriguez as Poesiden was extremely menacing and the overall dark and heavy tone of the music only adds to it. 

Though, my personal favorite of the saga was “Six Hundred Strike,” which was the final song of the saga. The raw emotion in both Rodriguez’s and Rivera-Herrans’s voices as they sing is utterly entrancing as well as gut wrenching. It is a beautiful culmination of Odysseus’s character development thus far. 

There is only one saga left before the concept album is complete, and though there is not a specified release date as of yet, I highly recommend if you, dear reader, have not listened to this album that you check it out and give it a chance.