Metal Wani editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Mark Jansen of Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA at the Epic Metal Fest on November 22 at Klokgebouw in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Speaking about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to EPICA's 2014 album "The Quantum Enigma", Jansen said: "We are in a luxurious position that we have way too many songs, so we can really select the top quality of the songs. And that will be a hard choice, because everybody will have, of course, slightly different opinions and preferences. But I'm pretty sure we're gonna manage, because there's already some tracks that really stand out and they are better than the others, and they, for sure, are gonna be the framework of the album. Now we have to see which other tracks fit best to the best tracks. 'Cause sometimes there's a track [that is] really good, but not fitting on an album. Now we have the luxurious position to leave them out and put a track that really fits the flow of the album. So we can really [make] a very balanced album. Like a good football team, there's always two options for every position. We have that now for every song — two options."

Regarding the musical direction of the new EPICA material, Jansen said: "I think we experimented quite a bit with 'The Quantum Enigma', 'cause some fans… Ninety percent of the fans said, 'Great! Now you sound how I always wanted you to sound.' Some fans said, 'Ooh, it's a bit heavier.' But I think this is the line we want to keep. So the next album will be in the line of 'The Quantum Enigma'. We will put a little bit different emphasis here and there, but that will be the line. And song-wise, we try to make it an even better one than 'The Quantum Enigma', even though that got very good reviews. We always have the desire to create something better than we've done before. And as long as you feel such a desire, I think then the flame is burning."

EPICA's next album is tentatively due in September 2016.

EPICA will return to North America in January for its rescheduled "Enigma" tour. Support on the trek will come from MOONSPELL and STARKILL.

EPICA's fall 2015 run was supposed to mark the band's long-awaited return to North America after their tour with MACHINE HEAD in late 2014 got canceled. It was also to be the band's first North American trek in support of "The Quantum Enigma", which hit the charts all over Europe and beyond.