EPICA
From the band’s website:
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.
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.
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 For 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.
Simone Simons delivers operatic vocals in a mezzo-soprano range though she has also been known to sometimes sing “with a clear alto voice that has a flawless tone and a lot of emotion.” Mark Jansen delivers death grunts “that are secondary to Simons’ singing, but very important in terms of balance and variety.” The group is also known to employ human choirs and orchestras with additional embellishments such as spoken word recitals and lyrics in Latin and Arabic.
