Epica

It was in 2002, when Mark Jansen left his original band, After Forever, that he fully devoted himself to his parallel project, then called Sahara Dust. Line-up changes take place, but the group quickly stabilizes and presents a demo that allows them to be signed at Transmission Records. It was then that the band was renamed Epica , referring to Kamelot's album of the same name. After a few concerts, their first album, The Phantom Agony , was released in 2003. Their music is a Metal-Symphonic, accompanied by chorus, using on the one hand a female song voluntarily inspired by the singers of Nightwish and Within Temptation, and a guttural song. The first album is well received in the Netherlands, then a radio invites them to play with a choir and orchestra, allowing them to release the DVD We Will Take You With Us in 2004. That same year, after having done some festivals, Epica made his first lead tour while working on the next album, Consign To Oblivion , which was released in April 2005. Mark Jansen is invited to write the soundtrack of a film, Joyride. The band's musicians participate in writing and the result will serve as the basis for the album The Score - An Epic Journey , an almost complete instrumental record, which also comes out in 2005. The latter leaves the symphonic aspect to express fully and emphasizes all the more the influence of the film music that was already present on Consign To Oblivion. After the release of a Sound-Photo Book ( The Road To Paradiso) and a tour with Kamelot, the band's drummer was replaced by Ariën Van Weesenbeek (God Dethroned). The album The Divine Conspiracy released in 2007 at Nuclear Blast can then afford to be more acerbic thanks to the faster play of the new drummer from Death-Metal. Ad Sluijter, guitarist of the band so far, leaves shortly after Epica and is replaced by Isaac Delahaye (God Dethroned). The band then takes advantage of the path opened by Therion at the Miskolc International Opera Festival, being invited to play in this classical music festival in the company once again of a choir and an orchestra, provided to play classical tunes in the first part and avoid too frequent aggressive passages. Thus is recorded the double disc The Classical Conspiracy, which was released in 2009, just a few months before their new album, Design Your Universe. Requiem For The Indifferent was released in 2012. The album is received in half tint, due to compositions that are less catchy, more conventional, but also due to a pressing problem that makes the last title, Serenade Of Self-Destruction , almost completely instrumental on the first editions. To remedy this, Epica and Nuclear Blast offer the free download of the track in "normal" version (and it is always possible to find it here ). A few days after the release of the album, it is announced that bassist Yves Huts, an original member of Epica , leaves the band to be replaced by Rob Van Der Loo (MayaN , ex-Delain ). 2013 marks the band's return to strength, with a concert named Retrospect marking the 10 years of Dutch career. This unique date is played in their hometown of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, together with an orchestra, a choir, and guests of brand (Floor Jansen, ex-After Forever and future- Nightwish; as well as all the former members of Epica), and the three-hour concert will be published in triple CD and double DVD. In parallel, the iconic singer Simone Simons, for some years in a couple with Oliver Palotai (clavierist in Kamelot) announced her pregnancy. The next album, however, was released in early 2014. The Quantum Enigma puts everyone in agreement after RFTI's disappointment. In 2015, Epica launched its own festival, the Epic Metal Fest. It was held in June, in the same room that hosted Retrospect two years earlier. The bands are chosen by Epica , and the programming includes among others Dragonforce (who shared the poster with Epica last year), Fear Factory (whose Epica had taken up a title for the collector edition of The Divine Conspiracy ) or Delain (the former band of their bassist). Epica is preparing the release of The Holographic Principle for September 30, 2016, and has already announced a second edition of the Epic Metal Fest (in two editions, in Brazil and the Netherlands) in autumn 2016.