So I'm a big fan of his guitar work and also his songwriting.' īefore album's release, Epica release a three part in-studio documentary about their journey with the album recording. 'Also in the mix, the melodies, the grooves, and I think that ever since Isaac joined the band, not only as a songwriter but also the guitars have been lifted to a different level, and have become more interesting to listen to, I find myself. 'The guitars are definitely more brutal,' she said. Mark can do also really low grunts, he can do screams, and Ariën really has that deep sound to it.' Simone also praised the contributions of Isaac Delahaye, who came into the band in 2009. So I don't know if he sang all the grunt parts as well, if he doubled them with Mark, but them together makes a totally new grunt sound, and I like it. 'Mark is the main grunter, and our drummer, Ariën (van Weesenbeek), has a really nice, thick sound. 'Well, it's Mark and it's actually our drummer as well,' Simone said. And that's something that we worked on as well we changed up some things to make it less predictable.' One of the aspects of Epica's sound which has been enhanced on 'The Holographic Principle' is the growling vocal style of Epica guitarist and main songwriter Mark Jansen. But on this record, besides having catchy melodies, we also wanted to have really groovy vocal lines. And the choir parts are often very catchy, the choruses are very catchy. The orchestration, the choir is a little bit like the seventh and eighth bandmember of Epica, and that's something we'll always keep in there. 'We are, in heart, a metal band going in the symphonic direction. 'I think it needs to be all in balance,' she said. And, yeah, I can belt out some high notes as well.' Even though 'The Holographic Principle' is one of Epica's most ambitious offerings to date, the album doesn't sacrifice any of its instant appeal, something which Simone says was intentional. And I do opera, rock, pop, and in the ballads you hear the really soft voice. And the songs themselves, they just ask for a lot of variation in the vocal style. 'And Joost (van den Broek), our producer, he's also very good at getting everything out of me. 'With each record, I try to get the best out,' she said. Vocally, I put everything in the record that I can possibly do, and I'm very pleased with it.' According to Simone, she has once again experimented a bit with her vocal approach on the new album. We had so many different instruments – real, live instruments. And we've done everything bigger than before – we had more orchestra, a bigger choir. Speaking to Spark TV, the lead singer Simone Simons stated: 'Since The Quantum Enigma was received so well, we set the bar so high, but we accepted the challenge to make an even better record. The songwriting process took a year, and resulted in 27 songs written, but 18 songs recorded 12 were featured on the album, with the additional six songs recorded for a later release. 'In between touring, we spent our time in the Sandlane Recording Facilities with producer Joost van den Broek' explained guitarist Isaac Delahaye. The tracks 'Universal Death Squad' (released on 29 July 2016) and 'Edge of the Blade' (released on 8 September 2016)., appeared as singles.īackground, recording and writing Īfter Epica's 2014 album The Quantum Enigma was well received and the band toured Europe, Asia, Africa and both South and North America, halfway through 2015, Epica started a new journey – writing and recording their seventh studio album The Holographic Principle.

The theme is the idea that the universe might be a digitally-generated hologram. No reason has been given for this, either from Jansen or Delahaye. The album is notable for being the only release without band leader Mark Jansen as guitarist, as he only provides growled vocals Isaac Delahaye played all guitars on the album. The release date along with the album's title and cover was revealed on Epica's website on 3 June 2016, the tracklisting was revealed on 17 June 2016.

The album was produced by Joost van den Broek and mixed by Jacob Hansen. The Holographic Principle is the seventh studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, released on 30 September 2016.

Epica a phantasmic parade