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Rob Van Der Loo
Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band, founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen after his departure from After Forever. Formed as a symphonic metal band with gothic tendencies, later Epica have incorporated into their sound strong death metal influences. Starting from the third album, progressive metal influences have also become evident. In addition, the band often uses thrash metal and groove metal riffs, black metal passages (mostly in the drum technique), power metal moments and references to Arabic music. Some songs also have electronic shades, djent transitions and folk metal melodies derived from Middle Eastern, Chinese and Celtic traditions. Epica is also known for the attention to the vocal lines that, in contrast to the heavy context, weave very catchy, easy to hold, sophisticated and emotional melodies. The use of mezzo-soprano vocals and growled vocals, performed by Simone Simons and Mark Jansen respectively, is fundamental to the band's sound. They primarily wr ...
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Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly from the Baltic Sea to the north and from the Sudeten Mountains to the south. , the official population of Wrocław is 672,929, with a total of 1.25 million residing in the metropolitan area, making it the third largest city in Poland. Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia. Today, it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The history of the city dates back over a thousand years; at various times, it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany. Wrocław became part of Poland again in 1945 as part of the Recovered Territories, the result of extensive border changes and expulsions ...
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Groove Metal
Groove metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre achieved success in the 1990s and continued having success in the 2000s. Inspired by thrash metal and traditional heavy metal, groove metal features raspy singing and screaming, down-tuned guitars, heavy guitar riffs, and syncopated rhythms. Unlike thrash metal, groove metal is usually slower and also uses elements of traditional heavy metal. Pantera are often considered the pioneers of groove metal, and groove metal expanded in the 1990s with bands like White Zombie, Machine Head, and Sepultura. The genre continued in the 2000s with bands like Lamb of God, DevilDriver, and Five Finger Death Punch. Characteristics Groove metal is heavily influenced by thrash metal, but is focused more on heaviness as opposed to speed, even though fast songs are still common within the genre. Emphasis lies in heavy guitar riffs, often accompanied by syncopated rhythms, and guitar solos are commonplace. ...
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Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ...
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Requiem For The Indifferent
''Requiem for the Indifferent'' is the fifth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It was released on 9 March 2012. The album was the first to feature solos by keyboardist Coen Janssen, which very rarely occur on the band's other releases, and was the final album to feature original member Yves Huts on bass guitar. Background Title According to Mark Jansen, "This 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. We are facing many challenges. There is an enormous tension between different religions and cultures, wars, natural disasters and a huge financial crisis, which is getting out of control. More than ever we will need each other to overcome these problems. 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. A Requiem for the Indifferent but also ...
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Design Your Universe
''Design Your Universe'' is the fourth full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, released on 16 October 2009. It was the first album to feature officially new band members Isaac Delahaye on guitar and Ariën van Weesenbeek on drums. A Gold Edition re-release of the album was released on 4 October 2019. Overview Pre-release and production The band entered Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany on 2 March 2009 to start recording the album with usual collaborators Sascha Paeth, Amanda Somerville and Michael 'Miro' Rodenberg. The band's previous album, ''The Divine Conspiracy'', was dealing with the idea that God created many religions and that it was to man to understand that they are all the same, and this album will be dealing with the power of thoughts and imaginations, as Mark Jansen stated: Three songs of this album continue the A New Age Dawns saga, which started on the album ''Consign to Oblivion'' of 2005. Sonata Arctica frontman Tony Kakko announced in a ...
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The Divine Conspiracy
''The Divine Conspiracy'' is the third full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica as well as their first concept album. It was released through Nuclear Blast in Japan on 22 August 2007, in the US on 28 August, in Europe on 7 September, and in the UK on 10 September. The concept that guides the songs is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome them so as to discover that, in nature and essence, they were all in fact the same one (hence the name, "The Divine Conspiracy"). Aside from the concept of such a conspiracy, ''The Divine Conspiracy'' finalizes ''The Embrace That Smothers'', which began in After Forever's ''Prison of Desire'' (Prologue and parts I-III) and continued in Epica's ''The Phantom Agony'' (parts IV-VI). In short, ''The Embrace That Smothers'' is a collection of 10 songs (Prologue and parts I-IX), which talks about the dangers of organized religion. Background In ''The Divine Conspiracy'', Mark Jansen gives ...
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Dutch Albums Chart
The Dutch Album Top 100 or Album Top 100 is a weekly hit list of music albums, compiled by Dutch Charts. List shows the 100 best-selling music albums of the moment in the Netherlands. The list has passed through various name changes and has expanded from a Top 10 to a Top 100. Names Album chart by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40'' From 1969 to 1999, an alternative weekly album chart was published by offshore radio station Radio Veronica (1969-1974) and the '' Stichting Nederlandse Top 40'' (1974-1999). This chart varied in length from a top 20 (1969-1971 and from 1972 to 1974) to a top 50 (1971-1972 and 1974–1985), a top 75 (1985-1991) and a top 100 (1991-1999). This album chart was regarded by many as the official one, since it was widely published while the chart listed above was not (not until 1993). The Top 40's album chart was terminated in July, 1999 when it was amalgamated with the Album Top 100 listed above. See also *Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Si ...
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Consign To Oblivion
''Consign to Oblivion'' is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, and was released in 2005. The song "Trois Vierges" features a guest appearance by then-Kamelot vocalist Roy Khan. The album's lyrics are inspired by the Maya civilization. The phrase "In lak' ech, hala ken” expresses the concept of unity of Mayan thought, after which the song "Another Me (In Lack' Ech)" was named. The CD was released with copy control on it. This CD started a new collection of songs, called "A New Age Dawns". This saga is continued on the album ''Design Your Universe''. Stylistically, the album is more focused towards orchestration than other Epica releases and features heavy use of a chorus. Additionally, Mark Jansen's death growls appear less frequently, occurring on only three songs, "Force of the Shore", "Mother of Light" and "Consign to Oblivion". But a bonus track, the Death cover "Crystal Mountain" includes grunts, and a grunt version of "Quietus" was released on the ...
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The Phantom Agony
''The Phantom Agony'' is the first full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It was released in 2003 by the Dutch label Transmission Records. It is the first album recorded by guitarist Mark Jansen after his departure from the band After Forever. On this album, Jansen continues with the collection of songs that make up ''The Embrace That Smothers''. The first three parts can be found on ''Prison of Desire'' (2000), After Forever's debut album, and the following three parts can be found on ''The Divine Conspiracy'' (2007), Epica's third album. These songs deal with the dangers of organized religion. The album was re-released on 23 March 2013, which coincided with Epica's 10th anniversary Retrospect show, as a 2-disc expanded edition by Epica's former record label Transmission Records. Track listing Personnel All credits adapted from the original release. Epica * Simone Simons – lead vocals * Mark Jansen – rhythm guitar, grunts, screams * Ad Slu ...
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Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Bizet's '' Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French-language operas give the leading female role to mezzos, includin ...
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Folk Metal
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example, Dutch Heidevolk, Danish Sylvatica and Spanish Stone of Erech). It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock. The earliest folk metal bands were Skyclad from England and Cruachan from Ireland. Skyclad's debut album '' The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth'' was released in 1991 and would be considered a thrash metal album with some folk influences, unlike Cruachan’s early work which embraced the folk element as a defining part of their sound. It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe and beyond. Among these early groups, the German band Subway to Sally spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as medie ...
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Djent
Djent () is a subgenre of progressive metal characterised by its use of off-beat and complex rhythm patterns. Its distinctive sound is that of high-gain, distorted, palm-muted, down-tuned strings. The name "djent" is an onomatopoeia of this sound. Development Fredrik Thordendal, lead guitarist of Swedish band Meshuggah, is considered the originator of the djent technique."Djent, the metal geek's microgenre"
''The Guardian''. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011
However, the band did not coin the term itself; In a 2018 interview by Rauta, Meshuggah guitarist apologised for the band's role in creating the "djent" genre. Other bands important in ...
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