2012

Ever since EPICA emerged on the scene at the end of 2002, the band has been caught in a whirlwind of studio recordings, interviews, screaming fans, live performances and the rock 'n roll lifestyle. With every new album EPICA pushes the limit, consolidates their position among metal acts worldwide, and nothing seems to stop the band on their rise to the top. This is the story so far... After Mark Jansen had left After Forever in 2002 to pursue his own dreams, he got together with Ad Sluijter (guitars), Yves Huts (bass) and Coen Janssen (keys). Drummer Jeroen Simons and singer Simone Simons soon completed the band, which they called EPICA. Musically they wanted to combine influences from the world of rock, metal, classical and film music. Within a few months EPICA had enough material to record the stunning debut album 'The Phantom Agony', released worldwide in 2003. 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 remained in the Top 100 for weeks on end. 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 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 4 years of hard work, the band took the time to reflect on the impressive career that took the world by storm by releasing the photo-sound book 'The Road To Paradiso' in 2006. It's a unique and detailed description of the band’s history in words and images, featuring unreleased songs, live material and demo recordings. After hundreds of shows in dozens of countries allover the world, drummer Jeroen Simons decided to quit this unstoppable metal machine. But it's not in the band's nature to be taken aback. In 2007 EPICA signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast and released their third full length (concept) album 'The Divine Conspiracy' with Ariën Van Weesenbeek on drums, who made it possible to make a more aggressive, dynamic and complex album which made the band take giant steps forward. In 2008 however, after an impressive touring marathon and after the recordings of the monumental live album ‘The Classical Conspiracy’, guitarist Ad Sluijter called it quits. He was succeeded by Isaac Delahaye, and with him EPICA worked on the more guitar oriented ‘Design Your Universe’, released in 2009. This is still seen as a masterpiece by many, and it certainly put the band at the top of today’s metal scene. In 2012 the masters of symphonic metal return with the fifth album called 'Requiem of the Indifferent’, an exiting new chapter in the history of the band. The title refers to the end of an era. Mankind can no longer stick their head in the sand for the things that are happening around us: tensions between different religions and cultures, wars, natural disasters, a huge financial crisis. As we are all connected; the universe, earth, nature, animals and human beings, this period in time will be the prelude to the end for those who still don't want to, or simply won't see it, and more than ever we will need each other to overcome these problems. 'Requiem of the Indifferent’ will be released on the 9th of March (13th of March in the US).