History Music / Epica

* EpicRocking: The title tracks of each album, but usually at least one other track:

** ''The Divine Conspiracy'': "The Obsessive Devotion" is 7:13 (combined with "[[EpicInstrumentalOpener Indigo]]," it would be 9:18 long,) "Chasing the Dragon" is 7:40 long, "Fools of Damnation" clocks in at 8:42, and the title track is the band's longest song to date, at 13:57.
** ''Design Your Universe'': "Kingdom of Heaven" is Epica's second-longest song, a 13:35-long five-movement suite. The title track clocks in at 9:28.
** ''Requiem for the Indifferent'': "Monopoly on Truth" lasts for 7:11 (combined with "[[EpicInstrumentalOpener Karma]]," it would be 8:44 long,) the title track is 8:34 long and "Serenade of Self-Destruction" clocks in at 9:52.
** ''The Quantum Enigma'': The title track is Epica's third-longest song at 11:53, "Sense Without Sanity" (The Impervious Code) is 7:42.

* IdiosyncraticAlbumTheming: Every studio album has an intro between 90 seconds and two minutes long, and starting with ''The Divine Conspiracy'', there is also a similar interlude about halfway through. Each album also ends with [[EpicRocking an unusually long composition]], which was also the title track on every album until ''Requiem for the Indifferent''.
* IncrediblyLongNote: While not as long as examples by other singers, Simone ends "Never Enough" with an impressive G5 held for ten seconds.

* [[SopranoAndGravel Mezzo-Soprano And Gravel]]: In a twist, newer albums have ''two'' gravel voices. Mark supplies the deeper grunts, but Ariën provides higher-pitched screams starting on ''Design Your Universe''.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Can be found as early as ''The Phantom Agony'' where Simone speaks a monologue in "Seif al-Din."

* TruckDriversGearChange; Played with:

Epica is a [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Dutch]] band that straddles several genres depending on which particular song they are playing at any given moment, from SymphonicMetal to PowerMetal, from GothicMetal to ProgressiveMetal and even stepping into the territory of DeathMetal from time to time. They began playing as Epica (a name taken from a Music/{{Kamelot}} album) in 2003, before that they were known as ''Sahara Dust'' before gaining the talents of Simone in 2003 and changing their name to Epica. The band are still going strong, currently on their ''The Quantum Enigma'' tour following the release of their newest album in 2014 of the same name.

* [[Music/{{Mayan}} Mark Jansen]] - rhythm Guitar and growled Vocals (2002-)
* [[Music/GodDethroned Isaac Delahaye]] - lead guitar
* Rob van der Loo - bass (2012-)
* Coen Janssen - keyboards (2002-)

** To be fair, the cover is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the Garden of Eden. That being said, the cover for ''The Phantom Agony'' does contain AbsoluteCleavage. And let's not forget about the white body suit worn in "Storm the Sorrow"...

[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a9ea2723dc708fd643aa354a9f938861.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Just keeps getting more Epic-a.]]

* 2003 ''The Phantom Agony''
** 2004 ''We Will Take You with Us'' (DVD)
* 2005 ''Consign to Oblivion''
** 2005 ''The Score - An Epic Journey'' (Classical instrumental soundtrack album)
** 2006 ''The Road to Paradiso'' (CD/Book collection for fans)
* 2007 ''The Divine Conspiracy''
** 2009 ''The Classical Conspiracy'' (Live album, recorded with a 40-piece orchestra and a 30-piece choir)
* 2009 ''Design Your Universe''
* 2012 ''Requiem for the Indifferent''
* 2013 ''Retrospect'' (A ten year anniversary live album)
* 2014 ''The Quantum Enigma''

!!Current and past band members
'''Current Line-up''':
* Vocals: Simone Simons
* Rhythm Guitar and growled vocals: [[Music/{{Mayan}} Mark Jansen]]
* Lead Guitar: [[Music/GodDethroned Isaac Delahaye]]
* Bass Guitar: Rob van der Loo
* Leopards: Coen Janssen
* Drums, spoken word and growled vocals: Ariën van Weesenbeek

'''Former band members''':
* Vocals: Helena Iren Michaelsen (2002-2003)
* Drums: Jeroen Simons (2002-2006)
* Lead Guitar: Ad Sluitjer (2002-2008)
* Vocals: Amanda Somerville (2008; filled in for Simone while she was ill)
* Bass: Yves Huts (2003-2012)

'''Session members''':
* Koen Herfst – Drums (tour 2007)
* Amanda Somerville – Lead vocals (North American tour 2008,) soprano vocals on "The Phantom Agony" and "We Will Take You With Us," background vocals on "Consign to Oblivion," "The Divine Conspiracy," "Design Your Universe," and "Requiem for the Indifferent" (Somerville also performed alto choir vocals for this album,) now married to [[Music/AfterForever Sander Gommans]].
* Oliver Palotai – Touring leopards (North American tour 2010,) also Simone's partner.
* Bridgit Fogle - Alto vocals on "We Will Take You With Us" and "The Phantom Agony," background vocals on "Consign to Oblivion," "The Divine Conspiracy," and "Design Your Universe."
* Annie Gobel - Alto and backing vocals on "We Will Take You with Us."
* Linda Janssen: Backing vocals on "We Will Take You With Us," choir vocals on "Consign to Oblivion," "The Divine Conspiracy," and "Design Your Universe", soprano choir vocals on "Requiem for the Indifferent," also Coen's wife.
* Laura Macri: Soprano choir vocals on "Requiem for the Indifferent," also a member of the project group [=MaYan=] along with Mark and Ariën.

[[quoteright:492:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a9ea2723dc708fd643aa354a9f938861.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:492:Just keeps getting more Epic-a.]]

[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Epica.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Just keeps getting more Epic-a.]]

* LastNoteNightmare: "Beyond Belief" -- a song about death and what might or might not come after— ends with a chilling wind and a gradually fading heartbeat.
* [[SopranoAndGravel Mezzo-Soprano And Gravel]]: In a twist, newer albums have ''two'' gravel voices. Mark supplies the deeper grunts, but Ariën provides higher-pitched screams starting on ''Design Your Universe.''

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Because of the HarshVocals and MelodicDeathMetal influences, Epica is a bit heavier than other SymphonicMetal bands on average, hovering around 7 to 9. Some of the ballads can go as low as 1, but [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome ''Chasing The Dragon'']] [[SerialEscalation covers everything from 2 to 9.]]
* MoodWhiplash: "The Fifth Guardian"/"Chemical Insomnia" - a calm, oriental-themed orchestral piece segues straight into a death metal-esque intro.

* NewSoundAlbum:

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: The title track of ''Requiem of the Indifferent'' samples an extreme amount of sounds from Asian to classical choirs to epic riffs...but they generally tend to mix and match any and all music genre's, for example; "Never Enough" is classical pop inspired metal.

** ''The Phantom Agony'': "Sensorium," "Cry for the Moon," "Illusive Concensus"
** ''Consign to Oblivion'': [[UpToEleven Almost the entire album, including the title track]]. The only songs [[AvertedTrope that have a full title drop]] or a close approximation are "The Last Crusade," "Blank Infinity" and "Another Me" (its subtitle, "In Lack'ech," translates from Mayan to "you are the other me").
** ''The Divine Conspiracy'': "Menace of Vanity," "Chasing the Dragon," "Fools of Damnation," "Beyond Belief," "Safeguard to Paradise," "Sancta Terra"
** ''Design Your Universe'': "Resign to Surrender," "Kingdom of Heaven," "Deconstruct," "White Waters"

** ''The Quantum Enigma'': Scaled back somewhat with "Victims of Contingency", "Reverence - Living in the Heart" not employing the non-parenthesised title in the lyrics. "Sense Without Sanity" is used in the line "Sense without your sanity".

* OminousLatinChanting: Every album. Good examples include "Martyr of the Free World", "Fools of Damnation" and "Serenade of Self-Destruction."
* OneWomanWail: Occurs frequently in their songs including "Quietus" and "Twin Flames".
* PowerBallad: "Tides of Time", "Delirium", "Solitary Ground", "Canvas of Life".
* RapunzelHair: Simone is known for her long, flowing red hair. This also extends to the other members of Epica (save for Coen, who shaved his hair off for charity in 2013).
* ReligionRantSong: Not afraid of this trope at all. Examples include "Cry For The Moon", "Requiem for the Indifferent" (song) and "The Embrace That Smothers" saga shared with AfterForever. ''The Divine Conspiracy'' is very much a Religion Rant ''Album''.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: "Requiem For The Indifferent" is very grounded in many of the issues of the early 2010s, including one song about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and another about the [[UsefulNotes/{{Libya}} Libyan Civil War]].

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: According to Mark, the reason why a music video was released for "Victims of Contingency". Beforehand, the Epica songs given music videos were generally the most single-friendly and focused a lot on Simone's vocals. "Victims of Contingency" is one of the heaviest songs on ''The Quantum Enigma'' with Simone only singing during the chorus.

* SpokenWordInMusic: ''This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today'', spoken by TonyBlair in "Facade Of Reality"
** ''Design Your Universe'': Cameos by UsefulNotes/BarackObama and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush in "The Price Of Freedom" and "Semblance Of Liberty" respectively.
** ''Requiem For The Indifferent'': Excerpts from a speech given by UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi features in "Deter The Tyrant"
** General news reports can be heard in "Living A Lie" and "Serenade of Self-Destruction"
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Can be found as early as ''The Phantom Agony'' where Simone speaks a monologue in "Seif al-Din".

* TakeThat: "Run for a Fall", it was a harsh critique of [[Music/AfterForever After Forever's]] change in sound.

* ThreeMinutesOfWrithing:The video for "Storm the Sorrow". [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that although Simone is wearing a white form-fitting body suit throughout most of the video, the writhing is due to the tar-like tentacles trying to consume her at every opportunity.
* TitleRequiem: The album and title track ''Requiem for the Indifferent''
* TruckDriversGearChange: Played with:
** Straight: "Solitary Ground", "Unleashed", "Our Destiny", "Storm the Sorrow", "Twin Flames", "Avalanche", "Victims of Contingency" and "The Essence of Silence".
** Subversions: "Beyond Belief", "The Last Crusade" and "Chasing the Dragon"

** An interesting case occurs on "Monopoly on Truth" - The second chorus (where Simone sings by herself) is modulated lower than both the first and final choruses.
* UncommonTime: A lot of their songs like to randomly throw in bars of alternating time signatures (e.g. "Menace of Vanity" alternates between 4/4 and 6/4 while "Internal Warfare" alternates between 4/4 and 7/8).
* VocalEvolution: The operatic vocals are less prominent with each album. Simone also did away with higher pitches and started using a more deeper and intimate voice with "The Divine Conspiracy".[[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] in this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=WZyb_xECc5I&feature=endscreen video]].
* VocalTagTeam: Simone and the male vocalist(s). Most often Mark (and occasionally Ariën as of the newer albums), but can also be one of the guest voices.

** Despite Mark leaving AfterForever over creative differences, members from both bands have featured in the other's works or appeared in concerts as guest stars.
* WomanInBlack: "Storm The Sorro
* WomanInWhite: "The Phantom Agony", "Storm the Sorrow"

Epica is a Dutch band that straddles several genres depending on which particular song they are playing at any given moment, from SymphonicMetal to PowerMetal, from GothicMetal to ProgressiveMetal and even stepping into the territory of DeathMetal from time to time. They began playing as Epica (a name taken from a Music/{{Kamelot}} album) in 2003, before that they were known as ''Sahara Dust'' before gaining the talents of Simone in 2003 and changing their name to Epica. The band are still going strong, currently on their ‘The Quantum Enigma’ tour following the release of their newest album in 2014 of the same name.

Similar bands include: Music/AfterForever, Music/{{Nightwish}} and Music/WithinTemptation.

** 2004 ''We Will Take You With Us'' (DVD)

'''Session members'''
* Koen Herfst – drums (tour 2007)
* Amanda Somerville – Lead vocals (North American tour 2008), soprano vocals on "The Phantom Agony" and "We Will Take You With Us", background vocals on "Consign to Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy", "Design Your Universe", and "Requiem for the Indifferent" (Somerville also performed alto choir vocals for this album), now married to [[AfterForever Sander Gommans]].
* Oliver Palotai – touring leopards (North American tour 2010), also Simone's partner.
* Bridgit Fogle - Alto vocals on "We Will Take You With Us" and "The Phantom Agony", background vocals on "Consign To Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy" and "Design Your Universe".
* Annie Gobel - Alto and backing vocals on "We Will Take You With Us".
* Linda Janssen: Backing vocals on "We Will Take You With Us", choir vocals on "Consign To Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy" and "Design Your Universe", soprano choir vocals on "Requiem For The Indifferent", also Coen's wife.
* Laura Macri: Soprano choir vocals on "Requiem For The Indifferent", also a member of the project group [=MaYan=] along with Mark and Ariën.

* {{Aesop}}: Most of their songs have some sort of greater message or story or moral, sometimes {{anvilicious}}, sometimes sneaked in..

** Mark Jansen's ''The Embrace That Smothers'' (started with [[Music/AfterForever After Forever's]] ''Prison of Desire'' and ended with ''The Divine Conspiracy'') elaborates humanity's flirtation with belief in a higher power and the associated corruption.
** Also ''A New Age Dawns'' (started with ''Consign to Oblivion'' ended with ''Design Your Universe''), based on the Mayan civilization.

** ''Consign To Oblivion'' is inspired by Mayan Civilization/religion.

* DrivenToMadness: The protagonist from the "Unleashed" video - he is shot in front of his partner during a robbery. He seems to recover from the attack, until he starts seeing the band members of Epica staring menacingly at him everywhere he goes until eventually he ends up in a mental hospital, with the staff also being the members of Epica. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this is revealed to be a hallucination as the man ended up dying from the aforementioned burglary.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Discussed in "Serenade of Self-Destruction".

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: One at the start of every album, but their more recent albums each have one more in the middle ("La‘petach Chatat Rovetz", "The Price of Freedom", "Anima" and "The Fifth Guardian").

** ''The Divine Conspiracy'': "The Obsessive Devotion" is 7:13 (combined with [[EpicInstrumentalOpener "Indigo,"]] it would be 9:18 long), "Chasing the Dragon" is 7:40 long, "Fools of Damnation" clocks in at 8:42, and the title track is the band's longest song to date, at 13:57.

** ''Requiem for the Indifferent'': "Monopoly on Truth" lasts for 7:11 (combined with [[EpicInstrumentalOpener "Karma,"]] it would be 8:44 long), the title track is 8:34 long and "Serenade of Self-Destruction" clocks in at 9:52.

---> ''Don't forget you're able to [[TitleDrop design your own universe]]''
** "Guilty Demeanor" is a song about staying true to yourself in the face of criticism. "Storm The Sorrow", about songwriting in the face of criticism, also features this.
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], however, with "Stay the Course" - the song is a political commentary on UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's presidency and suggests that what he thinks he's doing is actually part of someone else's plan.

* GirlyGirl: Simone's blog Smoon'Style focuses a lot on make-up and accessories.
* GreenAesop: "This is the Time", "Deep Water Horizon"
* HarshVocals: Mark Jansen always grunts, growls and screams. In addition to Mark, both drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek and lead guitarist Isaac Delahaye provide harsh vocals as well (all 3 harsh vocalists can be heard on Requiem for the Indifferent, for instance Ariën can be heard providing the harsh vocals on the verses for Stay the Course), although Isaac tends to limit himself to doing live backing growls only. This makes Epica a quadruple-vocalist band, which deserves awesomeness points in itself.
* HeavyMithril: A fair amount of their songs fall into this category with the combination of social commentary. Their earlier videos for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UOJ5U0jY9k&feature=related The Phantom Agony]]" and "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1hWAcnMdQ Feint]]" oozes the stuff as well.
* [[HugeGuyTinyGirl Huge Girl Tiny Girl]]: [[http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/070/4/c/floor_jansen_and_simone_simons_by_elinevanderlaan-d5xo2ff.jpg Whenever]] Simone [[http://www3.images.coolspotters.com/photos/1036187/simone-simons-gallery.jpg performs with]] [[AfterForever Floor Jansen]]. Simone's 5'6, and Floor is at least six feet tall.
* HumansAreBastards: "Semblance of Liberty"

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Simone's surname is pronounced in a similar manner to her first name: "See-mons"
* KubrickStare: Used heavily in the video for "Unleashed", mostly coming from Simons, but the rest of the band is also featured during the video as well.
** Also done towards the end of the video for "[[https://i.imgur.com/evhe6P9.png Victims of Contingency"]].
* LastChorusSlowDown: "Kingdom of Heaven", "Karma".
* LastNoteNightmare: "Beyond Belief"— a song about death and what might or might not come after— ends with a chilling wind and a gradually fading heartbeat.

* Keyboards: Coen Janssen

* Oliver Palotai – touring keyboards (North American tour 2010), also Simone's partner.

* WomanInBlack: "Storm The Sorrow"

* Leopards: Coen Janssen

* Oliver Palotai – touring leopards (North American tour 2010), also Simone's partner.

* Laura Macri: Soprano choir vocals on "Requiem For The Indifferent", also a member of the project group [=MaYan=] along with Simone and Amanda.

** ''Design Your Universe'': Cameos by BarackObama and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush in "The Price Of Freedom" and "Semblance Of Liberty" respectively.

* AlbumSingle: "The Phantom Agony", "Quietus" and "Solitary Ground". "The Phantom Agony" was egregious in which all of Mark's vocal parts were cut from the single and it's music video.

* CreativeDifferences: The reason Mark left Music/AfterForever and the reason Jeroen left Epica. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Yves' departure however - he left the band to pursue another career opportunity that he couldn't fully utilise while part of Epica. Both he and the band posted public notes on Facebook thanking and wishing each other luck with their future endeavours.
* CreatorCouple: A rare inversion. See WorkingWithTheEx below.

* DyeHard: Simone is a natural brunette ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f5HhZNgxR0 link]]).

* HeyItsThatVoice: [[{{Kamelot}} Roy Khan]] on "Trois Verges" (from ''Consign to Oblivion'') and [[SonataArctica Tony Kakko]] on "White Waters" (from ''Design Your Universe'').

* InMemoriam:
** "Feint" was written after the murder of openly gay, anti-Islamic politician Pim Fortuyn.
** "Internal Warfare" is dedicated to the victims of the Norway massacre in July 2011.

* OneOfUs: Simone, Mark and Coen are self-declared fans of Creator/MontyPython. They, along with Ariën, are also fans of the LordOfTheRings trilogy.

* Keyboards: Coen Janssen

* Oliver Palotai – touring keyboards (North American tour 2010), also Simone's partner.

* AlbumSingle: "The Phantom Agony", "Quietus" and "Never Enough". "The Phantom Agony" was egregious in which all of Mark's vocal parts were cut from the single and it's music video. "Unleashed" and "Storm the Sorrow" avert this however.

* KubrickStare: Used heavily in the video for "Unleashed", mostly coming from Simons, but the rest of the band is also featured during the video as well.

Epica is a Dutch band that straddles several genres depending on which particular song they are playing at any given moment, from SymphonicMetal to PowerMetal, from GothicMetal to ProgressiveMetal and even stepping into the territory of DeathMetal from time to time. They began playing as Epica (a name taken from a Music/{{Kamelot}} album) in 2003, before that they were known as ''Sahara Dust'' before gaining the talents of Simone in 2003 and changing their name to Epica and are still going strong with a tour currently touring following the release of their new album, "Requiem For The Indifferent".

---> ''Dont forget your able to, design your own, universe''

* Amanda Somerville – Lead vocals (North American tour 2008), soprano vocals on "The Phantom Agony" and "We Will Take You With Us", background vocals on "Consign to Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy", "Design Your Universe", and "Requiem for the Indifferent" (Somerville also performed alto choir vocals for this album).

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Mark
** TheLancer: Issac
** TheSmartGuy: Coen
** TheBigGuy: Arien
** TheChick: Simone
** TheSixthRanger: Rob

* Amanda Somerville – Lead vocals (North American tour 2008), soprano vocals on "The Phantom Agony" and "We Will Take You With Us", background vocals on "Consign to Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy", "Design Your Universe", and "Requiem for the Indifferent".

** Straight: "Solitary Ground", "Unleashed", "Our Destiny", "Storm the Sorrow", "Twin Flames", "Avalanche", "The Second Stone" and "The Essence of Silence".

* VocalEvolution: The operatic vocals are less prominent with each album. Simone also did away with higher pitches and started using a more deeper and intimate voice with "The Divine Conspiracy".[[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] in this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=WZyb_xECc5I&feature=endscreen video]]. The operatic vocals are

* PowerBallad: "Tides of Time", "Delirium", "Solitary Ground".
* RapunzelHair: Simone is known for her long, flowing red hair. This also extends to all the current male members of Epica regardless of colour.

** Straight: "Solitary Ground", "Unleashed", "Our Destiny", "Storm the Sorrow", "Twin Flames" and "Avalanche"

* VocalEvolution: The operatic vocals are less prominent with each album. Simone also did away with higher pitches and started using a more deeper and intimate voice with "The Divine Conspiracy".[[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] in this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=WZyb_xECc5I&feature=endscreen video]].

* AlbumSingle: "The Phantom Agony", "Quietus" and "Never Enough". "The Phantom Agony" was egregious in which all of Mark's vocal parts were cut from the single and it's music video. "Unleashed" and "Storm the Sorrow" avert this however, with the latter song's music video being the first to actually show Mark growling in the video.

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: One at the start of every album, but three most recent albums each have one more in the middle ("La‘petach Chatat Rovetz", "The Price of Freedom" and "Anima").

* LastChorusSlowDown: "Kingdom of Heaven", "Karma".]

* Amanda Somerville – vocals (North American tour 2008), background vocals on "The Phantom Agony", "Consign to Oblivion", "The Divine Conspiracy", "Design Your Universe", and "Requiem for the Indifferent".