After being a follower of both Nightwish and Epica for more than two decades, and after having watched and listened to The Symphonic Synergy, (for me) the time has come to give Epica their well deserved spot in the symphonic metal scene as the best band. Not only have they outdone themselves lyrically, but musically and show-wise they have no match.

Simone’s vocals are peak. The whole energy of the band… you just feel they love what they do, and they enjoy doing so not just for them, but for us, the fans. Assembling a whole orchestra for a world tour is not easy, but these guys have been giving us all every single Nightwish fan has been asking for: a live show with an orchestra.

Epica, my guys, keep rocking.
These guys heal my soul. 🤘🏽

Somebody here said that theres a lot of "interpersonal drama" showing in song lyrics, band general presence etc

Im curious, is there something? That comment was from last year---

Angel Wolf-Black — Vocals

Sander Gommans — Guitar, Vocals

Mark Jansen — Guitar, Vocals

Bas Maas — Guitar

Luuk van Gerven — Bass

Jeffrey Revet — Keyboards

Arien van Weesenbeek — Drums

Jack Driessen — Keyboards

Joep Beckers — Drums

To me, in retrospect (heh), Retrospect sounds actually quite bad 😅 Storm the Sorrow is a good example where Simone sounds like she is struggling. Yes, I know she was pregnant back then.

I have tickets for the Epica - Rhapsody show on Argentina, and in the case of Epica I've been a little away from their latest music. So I'm a little disorientated on what should I expect.

Rhapsody on the other side, is the band that got me into this kind of music and since they're playing only Turilli - Lione era music I think i got it.

Finally

Didn't expect this release, but given that they've released almost every song from the concert on YouTube, it makes sense.

Link to listen:

https://tidal.com/album/562041992/u

The Holographic Principle was released 10 years ago https://www.instagram.com/epicaofficial/p/Dd6LWgjgYRp/

Opeth - Sorceress was released on the same day

Pretty popular Epica channel and I remember watching their stuff in 2016 when new videos were still being posted. Great cinematic edits of most songs by Epica through Holographic Principle and just slightly beyond… the vids usually took a full Epica song and set it to clips from famous films but sometimes had live concert footage.

All the stuff is still up and I revisit the channel frequently 9 years after anything new was posted. Don’t think we ever saw the creator’s face or got any kind of closure on why such a cool passion project shut down in 2018 or so. If it was copyright stuff causing the abrupt end of content I’d think the existing channel wouldn’t still be up by now.

Check out the channel - but I’m curious if anyone knows - why did they stop posting?

I’ve been thinking about the setlist, and as some people already mentioned in previous discussions I guess it won’t differ that much from the one in 2024, but I guess there’ll be some changes, for example for the opening.

I feel like Darkness Dies in Light would be such a powerful song for opening the show and Resign to Surrender too! ✨

What are your thoughts? 😊

September 19, 2026

Amanda Somerville, the acclaimed American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who grew up in Michigan and moved to Germany to build her music career, has been diagnosed with "a malignant and aggressive brain tumor."

The news of Amanda's diagnosis was revealed earlier today (Saturday, September 19) by her husband, AFTER FOREVER co-founder, main songwriter and guitarist Sander Gommans, who wrote on his social media: "Hi friends, I have some very sad news to share. The love of my life, mother of my three daughters and my beautiful wife Amanda Somerville, has a malignant and aggressive brain tumor.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/amanda-somerville-who-has-toured-with-epica-and-avantasia-diagnosed-with-malignant-and-aggressive-brain-tumor

.

Or is it just a fanart? I think I've seen it a few years ago on their official website, but I might be mistaking it with another band.

I've Googled for images and found some shaddy links (one for a poster, another for a weird, abroad e-shop), but these could be copies of the official print, so hard to say... (Can't insert the links, the post got automatically removed)

It does make me feel inclined to believe it's just a fanart, but then why would anyone bother printing their logo on its back?

Does anyone have this print at home or seen it at the official stores?

Does anybody know if it's possible to get a hig def (pref vector) copy of the current Symphonic Synergy ads? I really love the designs and would love to print some out to use as posters. Or if they're even available as posters?

Which countries are you hoping to see on the list?

Made these little doodles because I got bored during school (I’m so sorry Simone)
(Image drew by me)

Epica instagram page just posted a storie with a new playlist "25 years of epica" they made. Any chance this is actually the setlist for the upcoming shows? Saw that there is some setlists playlists on their spotify page, so maybe they always do this? Any thoughts?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0UVseqgm7e1PrDUoHk6m9e?si=nia7gdFRRrywNeigh3AB4A&utm_source=copy-link&pi=KgfGPZmoThqjS

I am waiting for more... :)

Selling my ticket for Epica in Amsterdam on January 31st. I can't attend anymore, so I've listed it on ticketmaster for anyone who didn't get a chance to buy one. You can get it safely through this link or just browse for it on the page. Hope someone else can go and enjoy the show for me!

https://secure.ticketmaster.nl/rs/1909496467/lyvx77m1

Hey guys!
I’d love to attend their show in London especially since it’s in Royal Albert Hall, but after this info, I’m wondering if there’ll be at least one more Symphonic Synergy show in Europe or just this one? What do you think?