Epica Release ‘The Alchemy Project’
Dutch symphonic metal band Epica has been going strong for 20 years. To celebrate this milestone, the band has recruited some of their allies in metal to collaborate on a truly ear-shattering and headbanging album. Titled The Alchemy Project, the album consists of seven killer tracks, each co-written and performed by some of metal’s most innovative and engaging stars.
The first single off The Alchemy Project is the track “The Great Tribulation.” For this song, Epica joined forces with the Italian band Fleshgod Apocalypse, whose own brand of symphonic metal has heavy technical death metal influences. The two bands had previously shared the stage during a North American tour in 2016.
"We know the guys and girl from Fleshgod Apocalypse already for quite a long time and toured together,” said rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist Mark Jansen. “There’s a lot of mutual respect for each other’s music, so when we approached them to work together on a track, they were right away enthusiastic. I did send them some very basic ideas I had for two songs, so they could pick what they liked the most. They ended up using all the ideas and combining them into one song. That was already very promising. From there on, we organized several sessions where we worked on the song together. The process was very smooth and very inspiring. I think the result is a perfect blend between both bands!"
The resulting collaboration has produced a song that is fittingly apocalyptic in theme. The remaining six tracks are no less explosive. The list of collaborators is a diverse representation of the metal scene from Epica’s native country of the Netherlands, other European nations, and the United States.
“Wake the World” features Phil Lanzon of English metal legends Uriah Heep and Tommy Karevik of American power metal band Kamelot. Swedish black metal band The Shining appears on the song “The Final Lullaby.” From the Netherlands are Charlotte Wessels & black metal band Myrkur who worked together on “Sirens - Of Blood and Water.” Frank Schiphorst of the Dutch band MaYaN and Björn "Speed" Strid of Swedish group Soilwork appear on the song “Death is Not the End.” On “Human Devastation,” Henri Sattler of the Dutch extreme metal band God Dethroned plays alongside Sven de Caluwé Belgian of the death metal band Aborted. “The Miner” features Finnish death metal musicians Asim Searah of Damnation Plan and Niilo Sevänen of Insomnium teaming up with Roel van Helden of German power metal band Powerwolf.
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