On The 666 Journalist we interviewed Ariën Van Weesenbeek from EPICA to talk about their new album "The Quantum Enigma", check it out!
- Hello!! Congratulations!! The Quantum Enigma its your sixth album and its pure Symphonic Heavy Metal, it's a really masterpiece. What represents this album for you and why the title TQE?
The album represents growth, evolution, fun, and satisfaction. We feel very good about it, and are proud of it! The title narrows it all down; life’s a mystery, and life is possible and explainable through quantum physics – the quantum enigma.
- What can you tell us about the lyrics? Is there any concept behind it?
The lyrics deal a lot with the human mind and conditions. ‘The second stone’ talks about Alzheimer; people who get this disease die mentally for a first time, then after a while they die physically for a second time. ‘Victims of contingency’ talks about human evolvement, and the power to learn from mistakes in order to grow as a human being. ‘Chemical Insomnia’ talks about the sleeping pill-culture that goes totally out of proportions these days. So, humanity is pretty much the common topic for TQE.
- What was your main inspiration when making “The Quantum Enigma”? What can you tell us about this album musically?
This time, we jammed a lot in the rehearsal room and in the studio to enhance and work out all the songs. We all brought ideas and song structures to the table, and worked them out together with producer Joost van den Broek.He kept an eye and ear on the global flow of the songs, and helped us with adding or cutting some notes, passages, melodies, ideas to lift up the songs.
The music on TQE sounds more evolved and to the point. There’s a lot going on in the songs; fast drums, impressive and difficult guitar playing, grooving, catchy melodies, and all instrumental and vocal parts intertwined and corresponding with each other. Everything’s into place and where it should be, and nothing interfering or clashing. In breaks, the instruments are in unison, and that used to be a bit different on previous albums, haha. It’s just Epica with bigger balls!
- What is the main difference with your previous album “Requiem For The Indifferent ”?The sound, songs, and vibe. We needed a fresh breeze in our way of working. When I listen back to Requiem, the sound is very ‘metalic’ and as if it’s coming from a little can with a pillow over it – it’s hard to explain. But if I compare that sound with the one on the new album, it’s such a huge difference! Our music sounds as if it’s bloomed open, and all dynamics and details are mixed so clearly, and it’s become so heavy that it blows off your pants!!
This time we worked with producer Joost van den Broek, and he was able to create such a brilliant sound! He was closely involved with writing the songs and enhanced and arranged a lot of them to lift the songs to a higher level. It created the vibe we needed, and we jammed for hours in the rehearsal room and in the studio before we started recording. It was a lot of fun!
- What can you tell us about the song Victims Of Contingency ? It's really epic, also the interludes are great like The Fifth Guardian, they give a nice balance to the album
It’s on a tempo that we didn’t play in the past with Epica; fast as hell!! Mark wrote this one, and did a fine job! It has a catchy chorus, brutal verses, even blast beats!! And the mid part is going to move the crowd in a jumping frenzy, haha, at least, I get that feeling when I listen to it. This song talks
about self-reflection; whenever someone makes a mistake, the tendency is to blame someone else for it to shove off responsibility. This way, humanity is stuck in a vicious circle and will never learn or evolve.
The Fifth Guardian is a cool interlude indeed!
- After a lot of album working with Sascha Paeth how was working and recording with Joost van den Broek?It was a welcome fresh change, and I really liked it! Joost is driven to get the best result, and he has a magnificent set of ears, and great song-writing skills, not to mention a great keyboard player. He’s also a very calm and mellow guy, which is very important in a studio. I wouldn’t want to work with a stressy jumpy hyperactive guy. I’d probably freak out someday, haha. Sascha was involved however, but this time in the pre production, arranging vocal lines and melodies.He’s still part of the Epica-crew.
- What can you tell us about the artwork, what represents and who did it?
It was made by Stefan Heilemann. The story behind the album cover represents humanity’s view of the world; on the cover, you see the mountain and the eye, which is how we see the world and there's the underwater world that’s much bigger than the world we actually see. There is a lot of mystery with the boat searching for the answers, the questions of life we have. The buddha stands for spiritualism. You also see the symbols that represent the elements : earth, fire, water, air. And there are also the DNA and molecules : the matter of life and death that are ones of the topics as well. The artwork looks great !!!
- What song you think will sound killer live? And what is your favorite one?
Victims sounds amazing, and our opening track The Second Stone blasts away like a sky rocket!
My favorite one changes every day, haha. We have quite a problem picking out favorite songs for this album!
- How do you see the Symphonic Metal scene and what do you think EPICA adds to it?
I see a lot of talented bands, and it’s still growing. I think Epica added the brutallity and heaviness in the scene. Where some bands go more into the pop-direction, we’ve always kept it metal. I think we proved that metal doesn’t have to go soft with keyboards, orchestra and female vocals: Epica’s music is still fast and pretty demanding music to play.
- Could you tell us something about the tour, any plan about it?
We start playing summer festivals in Europe, and one in Montreal, Canada. In september we start touring in Central- and South America, in october we go to the US, and in November we start with our first leg of our European headlining tour. Next year we’ll do a lot more shows!!
- Could you share with us three albums that you’ve been spinning lately?
Hmm.. I listened to the live album of Morbid Angel – Entangled in Chaos, Slayer’s Decade of Aggression, and Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’.
- Something you would like to say to the fans over the world?
Go get our album, get your pants blown off by the Epi-power and come to our shows for a show to remember!!
Special thanks to Nuclear Blast and Epica!!
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