These rankings inevitably consign to oblivion presidents who simply governed according to the circumstances of their times.
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In the first place, this chapter is an eirenicon, intended to consign to oblivion the divisions and feuds of the Chosen People.
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Their second release, entitled Consign to Oblivion, was influenced by the culture of the Maya civilization, which can be noticed on songs in the "A New Age Dawns" series. "A New Age Dawns" refers to the time system of the Mayan people, which extends up to 2012, and makes no reference of what may happen past said year. Consign to Oblivion was composed with film scores as a basis, with Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman cited as major inspirations. The album features guest singing by Roy Khan (from Kamelot) on the song "Trois Vierges".
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After the disbandment De Koeyer focused on a studio- project called ColdPopCulture, together with Iljan Mol. In 2004, he took part in the re-united Gorefest. In 2006, he appeared at EPICA's concert in Paradiso (Amsterdam) as a guest grunter on the song Consign to Oblivion (A New Age Dawns #3).
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Gorefest reformed in 2004 and played various summer festivals in 2005. The band then came out with a new album, La Muerte. They produced the album themselves, with mixing by Tue Madsen from Antfarm Studios. In 2006, De Koeyer appeared at EPICA's concert in Paradiso (Amsterdam) as a guest grunter on the song "Consign to Oblivion"(A New Age Dawns #3).
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Epica performing in 2009 On March 4, 2009, Epica announced their return to the studio where they would begin the recording process for a new album. In April 2009, it was revealed that the new album's title would be Design Your Universe. It continued the A New Age Dawns saga which started on Consign to Oblivion. The album was released on October 16, 2009.
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Consign to Oblivion followed in 2005, and debuted at No. 12 in the Dutch charts. They moved labels to Nuclear Blast following Transmission's bankruptcy, and in 2007, released their third studio album The Divine Conspiracy, which charted at No. 9 in the Netherlands. 2009's Design Your Universe was met with yet greater success, debuting at No. 8 in the Dutch Albums Chart, and charting across Europe, also garnering much critical acclaim. Epica's fifth studio album Requiem for the Indifferent was released in 2012.
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Ad uses a six-string guitar with different tuning variations. On The Phantom Agony, he used standard E tuning, except for the two songs from the Sahara Dust demo, Cry for the Moon and Illusive Consensus, where he detuned to Drop D tuning. On Consign to Oblivion, the guitars were tuned down much lower to C# and C. On The Divine Conspiracy, Ad uses B tuning as seen below: :B E A D G B B tuning has been used in all subsequent Epica albums since Ad's 2008 departure.
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The band entered Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany on 2 March 2009 to start recording the album with usual collaborators Sascha Paeth, Amanda Somerville and Michael 'Miro' Rodenberg. The band's previous album, The Divine Conspiracy, was dealing with the idea that God created many religions and that it was to man to understand that they are all the same, and this album will be dealing with the power of thoughts and imaginations, as Mark Jansen stated: Three songs of this album continue the A New Age Dawns saga, which started on the album Consign to Oblivion of 2005. Sonata Arctica frontman Tony Kakko announced in an interview with La Grosse Radio.com that he would duet with Simone Simons on the album.
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Epica uses a "trademark of many symphonic and gothic metal bands" in contrasting "two extremes, death grunts and brutality on one side, airy female melodiousness on the other." Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic notes that the band's "attraction ultimately hinges on exploring the sonic contrasts of light and dark; the punishing intensity of those elephantine guitar riffs and hyperactive drumming cast against the soaring, layered sweetness of the orchestrated strings and keyboards." Simone Simons delivers classical (operatic) vocals in a mezzo-soprano range, she's begun to sing in a more modern style with belted vocals too (Rock/Pop, as she described it with the release of Consign to Oblivion on an interview) over time, and she has also been known to sometimes sing "with a clear alto voice that has a flawless tone and a lot of emotion." But, subsequently, Simone admitted that she was wrong and that she's not a mezzo-soprano, but a soprano.
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