MAYAN — the band featuring EPICA guitarist/songwriter Mark Jansen alongside Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Frank Schiphorst — will release its sophomore album, "Antagonise", on January 31, 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records. The 11-song CD, which was recorded at Sandlane studio with producer Joost Van Der Broek (REVAMP, STREAM OF PASSION), features guest appearances by Floor Jansen (NIGHTWISH, REVAMP), Marcela Bovio (STREAM OF PASSION) and the Greek virtuozo violinist Dimitris Katsoulis.

The concept for "Antagonise" is based on "the current state of the world which is going totally insane," according to a press release. "For example the explosive situation in Syria, governments who constantly accusing each other of lying, spying and using tricks to revoke their own population."

Henning Basse (LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA) and Laura Macri recently joined MAYAN as permanent members.

MAYAN is:

Mark Jansen - grunts, screams

Henning Basse - vocals

Laura Macri - soprano

Jack Driessen - keys

Frank Schiphorst - guitar

Rob van der Loo - bass

Arien van Weesenbeek - drums

MAYAN will present "Antagonise" at two Dutch CD-reloease shows: on January 30 at Mezz in Breda and on January 31, 2014 at Tivoli in Utrecht.

Guitarist Isaac Delahaye (EPICA) recently left MAYAN because he "wanted to concentrate on other things."

MAYAN's debut album, "Quarterpast", was released in Europe on May 20, 2011 and in North America on July 12, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded and mixed by Sascha Paeth (EPICA, KAMELOT).

In an interview with The Great Southern Brainfart, Mark Jansen stated about MAYAN, "It started as just something for fun but soon it grew into something that had to be perfect as well. I thought it was just for fun to make music with old friends but now it's as serious for me as EPICA is. Of course, EPICA remains my priority band and that's the band that's doing the most of the tours but MAYAN will fill in the gaps."

When asked if the MAYAN material is — conceptually and lyrically — similar to EPICA, Mark replied, "Lyrically, you will find a lot of comparisons because it's my style of writing. I didn't attempt to write about completely different stuff. It could have been lyrics for an EPICA CD as well but music-wise it's completely different. It contains way more grunts and it's way more heavy. It is still symphonic because I love that kind of music. It's like a mixture of SYMPHONY X and OPETH style. That kind of direction."