EPICA

Burned out and overstretched, Epica pressed pause on the band in 2018. New album Omega might be the end of a trilogy, but it also marks a bright new beginning

WORDS: RICH HOBSON • PICTURES: TIM TRONCKOE

In 1995, 16-year-old Dutch guitarist Mark Jansen began a musical journey that would ultimately see him become one of the chief creative forces in symphonic metal. Even then, the stage was set for the genre’s eventual conquering of both the charts and arenas. A decade earlier, Celtic Frost had planted the seeds with To Mega Therion, while Angels Cry, the 1993 debut from Brazilian power metal group Angra, possessed a unique combination of bombast, heavy metal histrionics and classical compositions that allowed it to create an international splash (even landing a Top 20 spot in Japan). For their own part,After Forever, formed by Mark and Sander Gommans, bridged the gap between those worlds, possessing elements of the underground while delivering the grandiosity that would define contemporaries such as Within Temptation and Nightwish. And then, in 2002, he left. “I had seven great years with After Forever,” he says fondly. “But ultimately we were young and there were two captains on the same ship.”

Rather than being left adrift at sea, Mark built a new band from the ground up, giving them a name befitting his ambitious musical vision: Epica. Over the next 19 years and seven studio albums, they proved to be one of symphonic metal’s most unique creative forces, incorporating everything from black metal to folk and prog, maintaining their ambitious scope. This approach took them around the world, able to turn up anywhere from Colombia to Japan and still pack in the crowds. The only problem was, they were almost at breaking point. On April 14, 2018, the band decided enough was enough – it was time for some well-deserved rest following their 1,000th headline show.