Dutch symphonic metallers
EPICA
have set
"The Holographic Principle"
as the title of their seventh studio album, due on October 1 via
Nuclear Blast
.
Speaking to
Spark TV
, which is part of the Czech monthly magazine
Spark
,
EPICA
singer
Simone Simons
stated about the follow-up to 2014's
"The Quantum Enigma"
(see video below): "We are still in the process of realizing the songs. It's a huge amount of songs, it's a lot of information, it's a lot to take in, but we put everything in this record and we hope that it will pay off and that the people will feel what we feel when we listen to it."
She added: "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. And we've done everything bigger than before ? we had more orchestra, a bigger choir. We had so many different instruments ? real, live instruments. 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. "With each record, I try to get the best out," she said. "And
Joost
[
van den Broek
], our producer, he's also very good at getting everything out of me. And the songs themselves, they just ask for a lot of variation in the vocal style. And I do opera, rock, pop, and in the ballads you hear the really soft voice. 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. "I think it needs to be all in balance," she said. "We are, in heart, a metal band going in the symphonic direction. 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. And the choir parts are often very catchy, the choruses are very catchy. But on this record, besides having catchy melodies, we also wanted to have really groovy vocal lines. 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
. "Well, it's
Mark
and it's actually our drummer as well,"
Simone
said. "Mark is the main grunter, and our drummer,
Arien
[
van Weesenbeek
], has a really nice, thick sound. 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. Also, it changes it up a bit.
Mark
can do also really low grunts, he can do screams, and
Arien
really has that deep sound to it."
Simone
also praised the contributions of
EPICA
guitarist
Isaac Delahaye
, who came into the band in 2009. "The guitars are definitely more brutal," she said. "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. So I'm a big fan of his guitar work and also his songwriting."