Epica Begins Recording 6th Album

I'm pretty late on this scoop but Epica announced a few (and by few I mean six...) days ago that they're entering the studio to record their 6th album.

Mark Jansen (guitar) comments "We wrote about 18 new tracks for the album which we all will be recording. This puts us in a luxury position since we will be able to choose the best of these tracks for the album! So far the songs contain all known Epica elements, it is a balanced mix between old and new influences. We are extremely happy with all the material and can't wait to put it out there!!"

Epica doesn't have a date for the album yet but since they've scheduled a release show with Insomnium on April 30th, I reckon it'll be around that time.

Meanwhile Epica is getting ready to release their live CD/DVD, Retrospect on November 8th via Nuclear Blast Records. The album/video was recorded/shot earlier this year in March with a full orchestra behind them.

Here's an early-released track from Retrospect, Unleashed.