On behalf of the staff of The Fantom Agony, we wish everyone a wonderful Christmas time. See you in 2010!

For the upcoming weeks, we have some pre-production files of the track Kingdom of Heaven available. Each week we’ll upload one of them, with some comments by Mark.

Those pre-production files are recorded like three years ago. I composed them in my homestudio and only after having the basics done, I got in touch with the other guys, to lift the song up to a higher level. The main difference between the pre-productions and the actual album are (1) the sounds I used, because the pre-productions are made in my home studio with my own soundlibrary, while the album is recorded in a professional studio with the best samples possible and (2) lots of small details here and there, which are added later in the process.

You will find the new sound clips at Media > Sound clips

We have extended the special offer for new members; those who become a fanclub member at the Metal Female Voices Fest, will receive an Epica clock as welcome present. To become a member, go to the merchandise stand after the Epica show and fill in a registration form.

As you may know already, Ad recently mixed the debut album 'Secrets' of the Spanish gothic metal band 'Diabulus in Musica'. Exclusively for fanclub members we have been given the opportunity to upload two of the songs featured on 'Secrets' and to ask Ad a few question about his first experience as a mixing engineer.

After you log in, just go to Media > Sound clips to find the interview two songs from Diabulus in Musica's album Secrets.

We have made a photo impression of the fanclub meeting in Veenendaal last friday. To see it, just go to the Meetings section!

A review of Epica's brand new album Design Your Universe was written by Marta, our former fanzine editor. You can read it here!

Those who become a member of The Fantom Agony or The French Crusade at the Epica show in the Escape - Veenendaal (October 9) or Paradiso - Amsterdam (October 10) will get an exclusive Epica clock as welcome gift! You can find registration forms during and after these shows near the merch stand.

We have some good news for those members who would like to be part of the fanclub meeting in Veenendaal on the 9th of October, but were too late registering for it. Due to the enormous response, the maximum capacity for the meeting has been increased; this means that at this moment, some spots are still available. When you go to the Meetings page and register yourself, you have a good chance of being part of this event after all!

The new Epica album 'Design Your Universe' has been recorded and is now being printed. A lot of fans can't wait to hear the new album. To make the wait a bit more bearable, we organize – just like two years ago – a listening session.

This listening session will again take place at The Little Devil in Tilburg (http://www.littledevil.nl) on Saturday the 26th of September. All members are welcome at 15:00 without an entrance fee; each member is allowed to bring one guest (at the cost of 2 euro).

All further information has been sent to the members by email. If you want to come to the listening session, please register here.

On Friday the 9th of October, Epica will play a try-out show for the new Design Your Universe album in Escape in Veenendaal, The Netherlands. Before the show, a fanclub meeting will take place for members of The Fantom Agony.

Update: the capacity of the meeting has been reached, so signing up is no longer possible. Members can put themselves on a backup list though. Check out the Meetings section for further details.

Saturday the 29th of August, Epica is playing at the festival Geuzenpop in Enschede. The organization of the festival gives members of The Fantom Agony the possibility to get discounted tickets. The discounted tickets are € 12.50 each and give access to the camping also.

An email containing details on how to order the tickets has been sent to all users. If you have not received this mail, or if you have questions, please contact us using the contact form

As you can see, we have renewed our website! We did our very best and we hope you like it. Our thanks go out to Nina for doing the layout.

When you click on the flag you will notice the website now has two languages: English and Dutch.

You will notice that our fan-area is still quite empty, so feel free to help us fill it.

Have fun surfing around!

The deadline for the big Epica quiz has passed, and the five winners have been picked. Check the Contests section to see if you have won one of the exclusive shirts!

During their Latin-American tour last year, Epica has come across some interesting, non-official merchandise items. During the previous months, we have already given away several items to randomly selected, lucky members. For the last items, we have started a quiz; the winners of this quiz will all receive an exclusive Epica shirt!

Go to Contests to start the quiz!

The first live mp3 of the concert Epica played in Montreal last year, has now been put online.

The results of the photo contest are now online; check the Contests section in the member area!

Photos taken at the listening session are now online, check the Meetings section in the member area!

Listening session new Epica album: "The Divine Conspiracy", check the Meetings section on the member area!

Since we didn’t want to keep you waiting until the single release, we would like to give you some more info on the cover that is going to be released as a bonus track on the upcoming single of Quietus. The cover Epica has recently recorded (read about it in the diary section) is Crystal Mountain by Death. Death was formed in 1983 by guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter Chuck Schuldiner and they have released 7 ground breaking cd’s ever since (not counting live- or ‘best of’ cd’s). One of those albums is Symbolic, which features Crystal Mountain and was released in 1995.
The metal scene lost a true pioneer on December 13, 2001, when Chuck Schuldiner, died at 34 years of age following a lengthy battle with a brain tumour.

    

For more info on Chuck: www.emptywords.org

Next week Epica will enter the Excess studios in Rotterdam for the recording of two songs that will feature on our next single as bonus tracks. One of these songs will be a cover (which I’m not going to reveal yet:p) and the other one will be a new song. More news will follow!

And as you all may know on the 8th of September their new cd The Score will be released, but since we didn’t want to keep you waiting you can already listen to one of its songs over here:  Unholy Trinity (you have to be logged in to see this page)