Gothic Metal
Ourense, SPAIN
BIOGRAPHY
Ever since EPICA emerged on the scene, the band has been caught in a
whirlwind of studio recordings, interviews, screaming fans, world wide
live performances and the rock 'n roll lifestyle. The loss of both a
record company and a drummer in 2006 seemed to have stopped the band on
their rise to the top. But all is not what it seems. EPICA is back with a
mighty new album called 'The Divine Conspiracy', an exiting new
chapter in the history of the band.
The Dutch female fronted symphonic metal band EPICA was founded in 2002.
Mark Jansen had left After Forever to pursue his own dreams and found
that guitar player Ad Sluijter, bass player Yves Huts and keyboard and
piano player Coen Janssen shared his vision. Drummer Jeroen Simons and
singer Simone Simons completed the band. The band name is derived from
an album of Kamelot of whom several band members are big fans and
musically EPICA stands out by not only taking influences from the world
of rock and (symphonic) metal, but also from film music as composed by
the likes of Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer.
Within a few months EPICA had the material to record the stunning debut
album 'The Phantom Agony'. The album was released worldwide in 2003 and
was followed by a lengthy tour. EPICA's efforts were rewarded in 2004
with an Essent Award (an important Dutch award for talented young
bands). While touring continued throughout the year, EPICA recorded and
released their second full length album 'Consign To Oblivion' in 2005.
The album made it to #12 in the Dutch charts and remained in the Top 100
for 7 weeks. This release also features a guest appearance by Kamelot
frontman Roy Khan. With the creative juices flowing, that same year the
album 'The Score: An Epic Journey' also saw the light of day. The album
consists of the music EPICA wrote for the Dutch movie 'Joyride'. This
album is marked by the absence of guitars, drums or even vocals and
contains mainly instrumental symphonic songs. After four years of hard
work, the band took the time to reflect on the impressive career that
took the world by storm. So in 2006 the photo-sound book 'The Road To
Paradiso' saw the light of day. It's a detailed description of the
band’s history in words and images and contains lots of pictures taken
by the band members, professional photographers and even hundreds of
fans that contributed their best pictures and words. This book comes
together with a unique bonus-cd that features unreleased songs, live
material and demo recordings.
The year that started on a high ended in a low when drummer Jeroen
Simons decided to quit the band. But it's not in the band's nature to be
taken aback. After hundreds of shows in dozens of countries all over
the world (including the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay,
Brazil, most European countries, Israel, Tunisia…) this band had become a
well oiled metal machine that is unstoppable. In 2007 EPICA signed a
new record deal with Nuclear Blast and the year will see the release of
EPICA’s third full length album 'The Divine Conspiracy'. “More” is the
best word to define this album. More choirs, guitars, grunts, speed and
songs. 'The Divine Conspiracy' will be more guitar oriented. This time
four guitar tracks were recorded instead of the usual two. Thanks to the
skills of talented God Dethroned drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek EPICA was
able to make faster and more complex songs. As with all of their
releases, the music on this album was brought to a higher level by the
dream team at the Gate Studio: Sascha Paeth, Amanda Somerville and Miro
Rodenberg. This new opus is more than 75 minutes long and is EPICA's
first concept album. It deals with the theory that, as a test, God
created all kinds of different religions and released those upon
humanity to see if they would be able to find the true nature of them.
The question is whether mankind can realize that all religions are
basically the same. But there’s more to it. The album also concludes the
'Embrace That Smothers' concept that could already be found on 'The
Phantom Agony', but started on the After Forever-album 'Prison Of
Desire'. It seems only fitting that the conclusion of the concept
features a guest appearance by After Forever grunter Sander Gommans. The
circle has closed, the journey continues…
LINE UP
ALBUM
The Phantom Agony - 2003
9 Track
The Phantom Agony (Single) - 2003
4 Track
Feint (Single) - 2004
4 Track
Cry for the Moon (Single) - 2004
4 Track
We will take you with us (DVD) - 2004
6 Track
Consign to Oblivion - 2005
11 Track
Solitary Ground (Single) - 2005
4 Track
The Score - 2005
20 Track
Quietus (Single) - 2005
6 Track
The Divine Conspiracy - 2007
13 Track
Chasing the Dragon (Single) - 2008
2 Track
The Classical Conspiracy - Live in Miskolc, Hungary (2009)
28 Track
Design Your Universe- 2009
14 Track
CONTACT :
MOJO Concerts (the Netherlands)
Jeps Salfischberger
P.O. Box 3121
2601 DC Delft, the Netherlands
Phone: + 31-15-279 84 09
Fax: + 31-15-213 86 80
Homepage:
http://www.mojo.nl
e-mail:
jeps@mojo.nl