The Quantum Enigma
| The Quantum Enigma | ||||
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| Studio album by Epica | ||||
| Released | 2 May 2014 (Europe) 5 May 2014 (UK) 6 May 2014 (North America) |
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| Recorded | August 2013-March 2014 | |||
| Studio | Sandlane Recording Facilities, Rijen, The Netherlands | |||
| Genre | Symphonic metal | |||
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| Label |
Nuclear Blast (Worldwide) Avalon Records (Japan/Korea) |
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| Producer | Joost van den Broek, Epica | |||
| Epica chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Quantum Enigma | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| Exclaim! | 7/10 |
| Metal.de |   |
| Metal Hammer | |
| Metal Storm | 8.0/10 |
| Metal Temple | |
| Ultimate Guitar Archive | 8.3/10 |
The Quantum Enigma is the sixth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It was released by Nuclear Blast on 2 May (Europe), 5 May (UK) and 13 May (USA) 2014. It is their first studio album with new bassist Rob van der Loo, who replaced Yves Huts in 2012.
The album produced two singles: "The Essence of Silence" (released on 17 March 2014) and "Unchain Utopia" (released on 4 April 2014).
After taking a break from the road due the pregnancy of lead singer Simone Simons and the release of a new concert DVD, Retrospect the band started writing and recording of their sixth album. The album was produced by former After Forever keyboard player Joost van den Broek, recorded at Sandlane Recording Facilities in The Netherlands and mixed by Jacob Hansen. Simons went into the studio, when her son, Vincent, was only eight weeks old. "It was quite stressful for me. I was still breastfeeding, so I was mentally and physically exhausted, like the walking dead pretty much. And singing is very physically demanding. I had a strong schedule of ten days, every day for a couple of hours. We had a very regular schedule together with Joost [van den Broek, producer] and it was super-efficient. I was breast feeding and eating at the same time. Isaac, my mum and my husband would take turns in taking care of Vincent" explained Simons and added: "Of course, I write half the lyrics, Mark [Jansen] writes half the lyrics, and we have to know what we are writing about in order to get into that role, but we’ve been working together for so long so we kind of get each other’s brains, and a big change for me has been pregnancy; it transformed my voice, gave it more dimension. It has a new emotion that wasn’t there before."
In an interview with LiveReviewer, Epica guitarist Isaac Delahaye stated about the making of The Quantum Enigma: "It was very much our intention to really make songs. It was because we started with putting a lot of effort into the basics and we gave a lot of attention to the band part, more so than before. And, of course, Jacob Hansen mixed it and he knows how to do these things. We tried out several people and had them do a test mix of certain songs and he came out on top. It's become a heavy album, yet all the details are there. Previously, we used to go to the studio, tune our stuff and then we recorded an album. This time we did a long pre-production in the studio and we got to check out a lot of different combinations of amps and then we could record it. Previously, we just did everything in our home studios and sent each other the parts. And after that we would go into the studio and that's it. But now we sat down together and discussed a lot more, it was more of a band effort. It was working together, rather than reacting. Everyone brought songs to the table, which was very cool. With the previous album, it was mostly Mark, Coen and me writing a lot. And now even Ariën joined in and that made it all feel refreshing. It's odd to say, but it's kind of a new beginning."
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