The following message was posted by Mark Jansen on Epica's official forum. He wrote on his message some things about his vocal recordings and the writing process:

"Hi folks,

This is my studio report of the "Divine Conspiracy" sessions.
First I would like to talk a about the origin of the songs. After the Consign to Oblivion recordings we were very curious about how the fans would react to the title track. For us it was some kind of experiment to see if this kind of style would be appreciated by our fans.
Surprisingly we noticed that this song was by far the favourite track. So the experiment was successful and we started working on new tracks. This time there was a huge difference; we didn't think that much while composing but we just did it. Everything that felt good found its way into the songs. The result was that some songs turned out be quite long and also quite extreme. Some journalists have already mentioned to us that they think we have taken a huge risk, but I'm quite confident. Consign to Oblivion (the song) has proven that our die-hard fans like this kind of style and we make the music especially for them and ourselves. We don't necessarily need to force a breakthrough in the mainstream music scene. If a single gains some success we'll be happy but our main focus will be the metal scene. That's why we have signed with the metal label Nuclear Blast and wrote this heavier album.
Last year, when the songs were almost finished we started the pre-production of TDC. We mainly focussed on the vocal lines. Simone and I drove to Wolfsburg and worked together with Amanda and Sascha on the vocal lines and the lyrics. Sascha has the ability to improve the weaker parts of vocal lines just by hearing them only once. Amanda is a great lyric writer herself and when a vocal line changes, which means most of the time that the lyrics need to be adapted as well, she can come up with alternatives very fast. This way of working was very fruitful and creative.

The actual recordings:
The vocal recordings: Simone and I recorded our vocals during the same period. Most of the time when Simone needed some rest, I filled in the gaps. I experimented a lot this time to improve my grunts and put some more variation in them. I also discovered that after eating a good old Ehmer Döner Kebab the grunt sounded deeper. So I had to eat a lot of döners to get the best out of myself The Dutch chocolate milk was also present to maintain the sound for a longer time. During the recordings of the Death cover Crystal Mountain (more than one year ago) I discovered that in order to get the best result, I need to have all grunt lines in mind before recording them. In the past I often experimented in the studio as well but the disadvantage is that you lose a lot of aggression when you have to record a piece over and over again. This time I wanted to grasp the aggression of the moment.
At least I hope you guys will hear the difference
The keyboard recordings: I programmed most of the keyboards during the composing period and worked out the arrangements. It's the last thing of the recording session we do, recording the keyboards. Once again we worked with Miro, he's got the ability to bring arrangements to a higher level by using incredible sounds and sometimes add some extra percussion or additional arrangements. It takes a lot of time to compose the keyboards and sometimes I think to myself, why do we make this kind of music? But when I hear the end result, I'm very happy after all.

Greets Mark".

And here the pictures added on his post:
Picture 1.
Picture 2.
Picture 3.

@ White Winter Sun: thanks for the report. I feel this one would be a really really cool album, maybe Epica's best.

i started listening to epica about two weeks ago, and i've liked it ... a lot! Simone is an awesome singer, and she's beautiful too, but damn! i dont like their videos...

Does anyone know if there'll be any kind of guitar solos in the upcoming album?

Out of the three full-length releases, I prefer the newest cover the best. "The Phantom Agony" always seemed a bit contrived and unnatural, while the cover of "Consign" never excited me (though I don't hate it either). This new cover has a great use of colors, and thankfully did not fall into what seems to be the trend of late: those covers like Sonata Arctica's "Unia" or AF's latest, which are as boring as hell IMO. And yes it does use a nude shot of Simone, but it actually fits the theme of the album, so it's excuseable the way I see it. I simply love the shade of blue "The Divine Conspiracy" cover artwork has on it, there is something alluring about it...

And hopefully what I've read about the new CD's musical direction will be faithful to the music - that it will be in the direction of the title track on "Consign To Oblivion" !

Written by Bitch Boy on 23.06.2007 at 20:45

@ White Winter Sun: thanks for the report. I feel this one would be a really really cool album, maybe Epica's best.

Yeah i think that this is their best album ever . Firstly they are making a concept album and also they have a new drummer in their line up.

Written by Lupas on 24.06.2007 at 22:37

Written by Bitch Boy on 23.06.2007 at 20:45

@ White Winter Sun: thanks for the report. I feel this one would be a really really cool album, maybe Epica's best.

Yeah i think that this is their best album ever . Firstly they are making a concept album and also they have a new drummer in their line up.

And also it seems like they've prepared themselves, for example Mark with his vocals.

The report was awesome, i like Mark he is a great band leader, and then there is Simone... She will be brilliant on the new album im sure of it... These guys work hard for every album so far, and they sound as though they are going to work even harder for this one.

An audio sample of a brand new Epica track, entitled 'Menace of Vanity', has been posted on the group's MySpace page here. Enjoy.

If ít's possible, Epica sounds even more "film music" now, it sure will be intresting to hear the rest of the album...

Yeah!The new sample sounds cool.
btw,at the very beginning of the song,I felt like I was listening to Mozart's"Requiem".

I just started listening to Epica when I saw that they'll be opening up for Sonata Arctica. And so far I'm very pleased with what I've heard, awesome Symphonic Metal! My friend thinks that the occasional growl suck, but I don't agree... the growl is simple but feels at the same time very true.

@White winter sun : thanks for the info bro


After i heard this song , i must agree with you , that it seems like a movie soundtrack. But it is a great song , great vocals , just i can't wait anymore for this album

Am not really into goth music , but I do have a couple of their stuff... not that great but some tunes are o.K. I rather Tristania than Epica..
Stay Metal !

Yeah...I'm also not a die-hard fan, far from that, but they're not bad...and I'm also not so into goth, but when I'm totally depressed it' kind of nice to hear it..but in this case I'll still stick with Dark Sanctuary or The sins of thy Beloved.

Epica are an awesome band, simone has a beautiful voice. i cant wait to hear their new album, i hope its as good as the others i love their style of metal and its very catchy.

Epica really blows my head everytime im listening to them
i really really like them...so much!! im addicted to Ms. Simone and the Co...aw!!
wish they could make any tour here in Philippines..(how i wish)
my friends really like their style, heavy and symphonic plus the powerful voice of Simone and grunts by Mr.Mark Janssen, oh yeah!! Ü

Hey have you heard the news if Mark did that charity bike race

Written by Lupas on 06.07.2007 at 18:36

Hey have you heard the news if Mark did that charity bike race

The charity race is tomorrow. And since I am sponsoring him he'll let me know how it went.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.07.2007 at 18:41

Written by Lupas on 06.07.2007 at 18:36

Hey have you heard the news if Mark did that charity bike race

The charity race is tomorrow. And since I am sponsoring him he'll let me know how it went.

Wish him luck
But it could be better if you take part of this event .:) Sponsoring him = to give him a bottle of water or just say "keep going. almost there "

realy great band. i've seen them live once. And gonna see them again in november in 013 Tilburg! Simone has almost the greatest voice in the world. Only Tarja (ex-Nightwish) is better than simone!

realy great band. i've seen them live once. And gonna see them again in november in 013 Tilburg! Simone has almost the greatest voice in the world. Only Tarja (ex-Nightwish) is better than simone!

Just for information Nuclear Blast Records has set an August 28 North American release date for the new Epica album, entitled "The Divine Conspiracy".
European must wait more time , the CD will be issued in in Europe on September 10 (September 7 in Germany). That's all.

can't really wait for this release!!!

I cant wait for the release either, i hope its an awesome album. i dont want to be disappointed

Oh no , two more months for this release.

2 months? i cant wait that long. are there samples of their new songs on their site?

The following update was posted on Epica's official MySpace page:

"You can watch our latest videoclip 'Never Enough' on our myspace page or on this link.

A longer and darker version of this video was also made and will be included in the Deluxe Edition of "The divine Conspiracy" along with a "Making of" video.

You can preorder "The Divine Conspiracy" here"

Thanks for the info ( i must remember this when i submit news )

Epica shall release a good or maybe their best album . I like the more strong voice that Simons have now. She is at her top voice.

An audio interview with Mark Jansen conducted by the Metal Symphony webzine has been posted at this location.