Before the dust is settled from “The Quantum Enigma”, the Dutch outfit returns with yet another album of high standards. One can easily argue that “The Holographic Principle” is the natural successor of the previous album that was released a couple of years ago although such matters are not really important.

The good thing about the new Epica album is that it is a really satisfying one. Mark Jansen has managed to establish all these years his personal style of symphonic metal sound that it’s totally different to the one that Thomas Holopainen –for instance- is known for. Epica sets no boundaries on this 70-minute opus and let their inspiration talk! This time, they have put aside the samples (that were so evident on the previous album) and used additional instruments (like percussion, horns and strings) in their natural form thus adding more depth and width to their sound.

I can’t be sure if this is the best Epica album of their career because the truth is that all these details from a production standpoint may sacrifice the immediacy of the compositions themselves. Having said that, the one thing that I can be certain of is that “The Holographic Principle” won’t leave anyone unsatisfied. As it is common for Nuclear Blast, the album has been released in various formats in some of which the fans can track down some acoustic takes of songs from the album and the instrumental version of the whole album.