Refering to their excellent new album "Consign to Oblivion" Ad Sluijter, guitarist of Epica, answeared some questions to Nathalie Mohr.

But have a look yourself!

Hi! Thanks for taking time for some questions. Would you please introduce the band to the people who don't know you?
We are Epica, a dutch gothic metal band that was formed in 2002. Since then we have released two cd’s The Phantom Agony and Consign to Oblivion and have been touring in Europe and Mexico.

How would you describe or name your music? Metal with a lot of film music influences.

Which meaning does the bandname have?
Epica is a place in the universe which holds answers to the questions of life. This is a subject which also is covered in in a lot of our lyrics.

Let's come to your new album „Cosign to Oblivion“ Who did the coverartwork and who had the idea for it?
Simone came up with the idea for it and she discussed it with Carsten Drescher (who also did The Phantom Agony) and he worked it out.

The album includes some very monumental parts which remind me of soundtracks for fantasy movies. Do you have a special connection to such influences?
Like I said we are all influenced a lot by film music. Maybe interesting to mention that Mark, Coen and Yves have just finnished their first film score. They composed it for t Dutch movie called Joyride which is going to be released within the next few months.

How was the promotiontour with Kamelot and Kotipelto for you?
You had little time, but I think I can say that you really rocked (by music and by body) ;)...
This tour was great, really the best one so far!
Allthough we couldn’t play as long as we would have wanted to we accepted our place as a support act so everything was fine. Both bands are fantastic and it was a real honour for us to be part of this tour!

Are there any anecdotes out of tour- or studio-everyday life you would like to tell me?
Well this tour it was probably the word “knal“ (if I write it correctly) which means like drunk in Finnish. Those guys from Kotipelto knew how to have a party.

Do you have rituals before going on stage?
No not really just shaking hands and wishing each other the best of luck and stuff like that.

Did/does anybody of you even play a classic instrument (like violin for example)?
Well I only played it in our video of Feint;-)

How do you handle comparisons with other bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation etc.?
Well we are all influenced by the same music so it is obvious that you can hear similarities in our music as well.

How do you approach the songwriting-process?
Usually our songs start with some melodies played on keyboards, so coming up with the best possible melodyline is the basis approach to it :-)

Do you have special hobbys?
I like to do atheltics but that’s not that special isn't it?

What are your favorite bands?
Depeche Mode, Hans Zimmer, Carcass and Death to new a few.

What are your plans for future?
Within the next few months we are going to do a lot of festivals and later, in that same period the soundtrack I mentioned earlier is going to be released. Later on this year we are going to do a tour again through Europe together with The Old Dead Tree and The Legion Of Hetheria. After that we are going to work on material of our next cd which will be recorded next summer.

What's your attitude towards internetmagazines?
I like to read them a lot. They are way more up to date than normal magazined who just come out once a month or so.

Finally some brainstorming:
religion: Can be good, can also be bad Goethe's Faust: Ask this question to Mark and he will write a whole paper on it ;-)
Wacken: Are we going to start calling names? ;-)

Thank you! The last words are yours!
We would like to thank all our fans for their support and see you soon!