''The Alchemy Project'' is the third EP by Dutch

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

. It features seven songs, all co-written and performed with guest artists. The lyrical content mainly deals with apocalyptic themes (with the exception of "Sirens - Of Blood and Water").

Background, composition and release

The EP was announced on September 16, 2022 with the release of its first single, "The Final Lullaby" (featuring the band Shining). Rob van der Loo stated that the song was intended to be a "mash-up" between the two bands' sounds, for which he "would come up with some riffs that would be typical Shining and they would do the complete opposite". The band also teased that the EP would include the "heaviest death metal track we’ve ever recorded": "Human Devastation". On the release date of the EP on November 11, 2022, the band also uploaded a music video for the song "Sirens - Of Blood And Water", which features both

Charlotte Wessels Johanna Charlotte Wessels (born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is best known as the former lead vocalist for the symphonic metal band Delain. Background Wessels has been trained in both jazz singing and classical singing. S ...

and Amalie Bruun. The song stems from Simons and Wessels' shared fascination of

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

, and is told from the perspective of the protagonist's sisters. The album cover was designed by German visual artist Stefan "Heilemania" Heilemann.

Track listing

Personnel

Epica *

Simone Simons Simone Johanna Maria Simons (born 17 January 1985) is a Dutch singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, which she joined at the age of seventeen, releasing nine studio albums and touring the world ...

– lead vocals, photography *

Mark Jansen Markus Hubertus Johannes Jansen (born 15 December 1978) is a Dutch guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. A prominent figure in the symphonic metal subgenre, he is known for his work with the bands After Forever (1995–2002), Epica (2002–pr ...

– rhythm guitar, grunts *

Isaac Delahaye Isaac Delahaye (born 9 January 1982) is a Belgian guitarist and composer, best known as the lead guitarist of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica since 2009. Prior to that he was lead guitarist in the Dutch death metal band God Dethroned. Dela ...

– lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar *Coen Janssen – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, choir scoring *Rob van der Loo – bass *Ariën van Weesenbeek – drums Guest musicians *Francesco Ferrini – orchestral arrangements (1) *Francesco Paoli – grunts (1) *Fabio Bartoletti – lead guitar (1) *Veronica Bordacchini – clean vocals (1) * Phil Lanzon – keyboards (2) *

Tommy Karevik Tommy Karevik (born 1 November 1981) is a Swedish Heavy metal music, metal vocalist. He is the lead singer of Kamelot and former lead vocalist of Seventh Wonder from 2005 to 2023. He also appeared on Ayreon's 2013 album ''The Theory of Everythi ...

– vocals (2) *

Jørgen Munkeby Jørgen Munkeby (born 3 September 1980 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegians, Norwegian jazz rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, known as the frontman in the band Shining (Norwegian band), Shining ...

– vocals, rhythm guitar, tenor saxophone (3) *

– vocals (4) *

Myrkur Myrkur is a solo black metal project by Danish singer Amalie Bruun. Initially, the real-life identity of the person behind the project was kept unknown. Her identity has since been made public. Myrkur has released four full-length studio albums ...

– vocals (4) * Frank Schiphorst – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, orchestral arrangements (5) * Björn "Speed" Strid – vocals (5) * Henri Sattler – guitars, grunts (6) * Sven de Caluwé – grunts (6) * Asim Searah – vocals, lead guitar (7) * Niilo Sevänen – growls (7) *

Roel Van Helden Roel van Helden (born 2 September 1980) is a Dutch musician known mostly for his work as a drummer for German power metal band Powerwolf. Career He played in DVPLO, Gramoxone, Marcel Coenen, My Favorite Scar, Subsignal, and Sun Caged. He c ...

– drums (7) *

Marcela Bovio Marcela Alejandra Bovio García (born October 17, 1979) is a Mexican singer and violinist who is currently a member of the Dutch symphonic metal bands Stream of Passion and MaYaN. In 1995, she joined Hydra, a Mexican metal band, singing and ...

– backing vocals *Linda Janssen-van Summeren – backing vocals Choir – Kamerkoor PA'dam *Maria van Nieukerken – choir director *Martha Bosch, Frédérique Klooster, Annemieke Nuijten, Alfrun Schmidt – sopranos *Karne Langnedonk, Cecile Roovers, Annemarie Verburg, Annette Vermeulen – altos *Guido Groenland, Henk Gunneman, René Veen, Joost van Velzen – tenors *Jan Douwes, Jan Hoffmann, Martijn de Graaf Bierbrauwer, Angus van Grevenbroek – basses *Gjalt Lucassen, Jaap Toorenar – Latin translation Strings *Ben Mathot, Ian de Jong – 1st violin *Loes Dooren, Sabine Torrico-Poiesz – 2nd violin *Mark Mulder, Adriaan Breunis – viola *Marije de Jong, Eilidh Martin – cello *Robin Assen – strings scoring Production *Joost van den Broek – producer, engineer, editing, mixing *Jos Driessen – engineer, editing, mixing *Darius van Helfteren – mastering *Stefan Heilemann – art direction, design, photography *Tim Tronckoe, Sandra Ludewig, Chantik Photography, Lotte Verdellen – photography

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alchemy Project Epica (band) albums 2021 albums Nuclear Blast albums