Suite à une erreur technique, le dernier morceau du nouvel album d'EPICA (Metal Symphonique - Pays-Bas), "Requiem For The Indifferent", s'est retrouvé en version instrumental sur le CD en lieu et place de la version avec les vocaux. Les fans de la belle Simone Simons (photo ci-contre) seront donc ravis d'apprendre que Nuclear Blast a décidé d'offrir en téléchargement libre et gratuit la version initiale du morceau "Serenade of Self-Destruction" tel qu'il aurait dû figurer sur l'album. Avis à tous ceux qui ont déjà acheté "Requiem For The Indifferent", vous avez désormais un collector entre les mains. Pour télécharger "Serenade of Self-Destruction", rendez vous sur cette page » EPICA - Serenade of Self-Destruction

Bassist Yves Huts has left Dutch female-fronted symphonic metallers EPICA.

Commented the band: "Yves has been with us from the start and has been of great value to the band.

"We want to thank Yves for his contribution to EPICA's success and wish him the very best in his future career, whether musically or in a different way. We will never forget the good times we shared together on the road!

"The silver lining to this cloud is that we can already announce an awesome successor. Fulfilling duties on bass from now on will be none other than Rob van der Loo. You might know Rob from his work with MAYAN or DELAIN. We are sure that Rob will fit perfectly as a musician and as a person, and we are looking forward to share the stage for the first time next week.

Stated Huts: "013 is the venue where we did our first show with EPICA and, almost a decade later, also my last.

"I'm leaving the band because I have another career opportunity that is not combinable with the schedule of a world-touring band. I've tried to live these two different lives simultaneously for as long as I could, but in the end I just had to make a choice, one of the most difficult ones in my life.

"I look back to these 10 years in EPICA satisfied and enriched with life experience. As a founding member, I'm proud of what we've achieved so far and I'm sure the future has a lot more great things in store for the band.

"I would like to thank the band, crew, fans and everybody else involved for the good times and I wish my successor good luck."

Commented Rob van der Loo: "A few days ago I spoke to Yves and he brought back a memory from the time when EPICA was still a support band for one of my former bands. At that time he would never have guessed that almost 10 years later I'd be his successor in EPICA... Well, neither did I... but I'm damn proud of it!

"I've been sharing the stage with the people from EPICA for almost ten years now, and becoming a member of MAYAN last year brought us even closer. So making the decision to join EPICA feels pretty good. Therefore I want to show my gratitude to the bandmembers (including Yves) and the crew for allowing me in the EPICA family!

We are happy to announce that Simone is pregnant!

Simone and longtime partner Oliver Palotai (Kamelot, Sons of Seasons) are expecting their first child around the end of summer. To ensure the best possible pregnancy and considering Simone's and the babies health, we have decided to stop our live activities from the 1st of July. This means Epica will not play this years Masters of Rock festival in the Czech Republic.

However this does not mean Epica won't do anything!
Our Retrospect live-DVD will be released upcoming fall. Furthermore, during the second half of 2013 Epica will start working on a brand new record which will be released in 2014.

We are looking forward to see you all at the remaining shows this year and will be back next year with a new CD, stronger than ever!