Epica: Music Connects Us As Humans

Photo Credit: Tim Tronckoe


Forging their own path through the ranks of symphonic metal, the mighty EPICA bring us album number nine Aspiral and once again demonstrate their mastery of this style of music. Now at over twenty years since the band came to be lead vocalist Simone Simons reminisces over the leap of faith she took when beginning her long journey with EPICA.
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“Everything went really fast when I decided to quit high school and pursue a career in music. My parents were not thrilled with that decision, but I was very headstrong. I just needed to know where that would take me but I had no idea it would become what it is now. We got on that high speed train as EPICA and we never really stopped. Recently a fan tagged me on a post on Instagram of me doing some vocals for the very first album. It asked ‘did Simone back then realise what she would become twenty two years later’ and the truth is I had no idea I was just guided by intuition and a passion for music.”



Despite achieving every young person’s dream of leaving school to become a successful musician, Simone does have words of caution for those who may consider following her example.

“It’s quite rare for that to happen, dropping everything to join a band and it paying off so well. I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody but I do always like to encourage people to follow their dream and not think you are stuck living your life the same way as everyone else. But of course it is hard work and comes with a lot of sacrifice. We had connections to get on tour early on but those first few years we didn’t make money. I had to use allowance money from my parents to buy batteries for my in ear monitors or we slept on couches with our friends and families. If you want to drop out of high school and dream of being a famous musician overnight, that’s not how it works. You have to put in more hard work, perseverance and persistence than you think.”

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Nine albums later and becoming one of the leading bands of symphonic metal, Aspiral once again showcases EPICA as one of the most grandiose and epic bands in the scene. When considering how Aspiral came to be, Simone says, “after our last album, Omega, we released an EP called The Alchemy Project where we worked with other talented musicians and we experimented there a little bit by trying new things. We wanted to see how the metal community would react to something like that and the response was very positive so we felt like we had more freedom for whatever came next. It was a chance to rediscover EPICA and that’s really what kickstarted Aspiral. Each song individually has a different source of inspiration. The lyrics on the title track for example were inspired by an art piece from a Polish sculpture. That’s just one of many of course, every song has its own meaning so you could say our biggest inspiration is just a love of music and art.”

A number of tracks on the album are part of EPICA’s long developed epic masterpiece, A New Age Dawns. With parts appearing across various EPICA releases, Aspiral brings three more parts bringing the total up to nine parts. After years of adding to this sprawling musical narrative, Simone reveals that the song finally feels complete. “Mark intended this song to end with this, our ninth album. This is the conclusion of A New Age Dawns intentionally on album nine and with nine total parts. The number nine stands for completion and wholeness. I couldn’t tell you if that was his plan all the way back when the prologue was written way back when, but certainly when writing for this album the conclusion felt right.”



Despite this chapter of EPICA closing, the band are always looking ahead to whatever story is coming next. “There will definitely be another epic journey to come. We’re very philosophical in this band, very spiritual and incredibly passionate. I’ve mentioned this a lot already but the passion for music is what has driven us and still does to this day as well as seeing the response to what we do. Music is one of the most beautiful things in life and it’s what connects us humans all around the world. We’ve been a hard working touring band but we have a big team of people that make it all happen. It’s not one person, it is a whole team of people that are equally important and vital in their own way and together we are EPICA.”

Aspiral is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS121 here: