Epica

Hailing originally as Sahara Dust, Holland’s Epica emerged in early 2003 when After Forever guitarist Mark Jansen chose to depart from the band he co-founded to start his operatic metal project. Enlisting teen mezzo-soprano Simone Simons, guitarist Ad Sluijter, keyboardist Coen Janssen, bassist Yves Huts, and drummer Jeroen Simons, Epica headed to Wolfsburg, Germany's Gate Studio with a choir and string section to record their debut album, The Phantom Agony. Released by Transmission Records in late 2003, the album produced several singles.

The band's initial success led to 2005’s Consign to Oblivion, which performed well in the Netherlands. After signing with metal giant Nuclear Blast and introducing Ariën van Weesenbeek on drums, Epica released their first conceptual album, The Divine Conspiracy, in 2007. It charted throughout Europe, as did 2009's Design Your Universe, which matched their highest Dutch chart position at number eight and featured new guitarist Isaac Delahaye.

In 2012, Epica’s fifth studio album, Requiem for the Indifferent, marked their first to chart in the U.K. and U.S., followed by lineup changes that saw Huts replaced by Rob van der Loo on bass. The band celebrated its ten-year milestone in March 2013 with a special show in Eindhoven that was subsequently released as Retrospect, featuring former members Sluijter, Simons, and Huts. Just a year later, they released The Quantum Enigma, their first studio work with Rob van der Loo. Epica’s subsequent album, 2016's Holographic Principle, was described by Simons as their "most ambitious offering to date." ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi