page_title: The Holographic Principle
section_title: Songs
hierarchical_section_title: The Holographic Principle / Songs
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die niederländische Symphonic-Metal-Band Epica beim Summer Breeze Open Air 2017 in Dinkelsbühl//Deutschland. English: The Dutch symphonic metal band Epica at the Summer Breeze Open Air 2017 in Dinkelsbühl/Germany.
context_page_description: The Holographic Principle is the seventh studio album by the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, released on 30 September 2016. The album was produced by Joost van den Broek and mixed by Jacob Hansen. The release date along with the album's title and cover was revealed on Epica's website on 3 June 2016, the tracklisting was revealed on 17 June 2016.
  The album is notable for being the first without band leader Mark Jansen as guitarist, as he only provides growled vocals; Isaac Delahaye played all guitars on the album.
  No reason has been given for this, either from Jansen or Delahaye.
  The band has explained that the idea behind the album is the universe is a digitally generated hologram.
  The album produced two singles: "Universal Death Squad" and "Edge of the Blade".
context_section_description: "Eidola" is the first track that appears on the album. Mark Jansen and Simone Simons said about the track:  “The title comes from the ancient Greek for phantom or image, and it’s where the word ‘idol’ comes from. The idea is that after death, it's all that remains of the body. After I had written the music for Eidola, I felt there was something missing so our keyboard player Coen (Janssen) rebuilt it with many new parts and it became massive. He added an orchestra which gives a cinematic feel and we have all these metal riffs going on. It's like a wild roller coaster ride.” The child vocals were provided by Coen Janssen's daughter Cato.
  The second track on the album is entitled "Edge of the Blade" and Simone has stated: “The music for this one was written by our guitarist Isaac Delahaye, but the lyrics are mine. I’m singing about self-acceptance and about not concentrating too much on the unimportant things in life. You have to nurture your soul and not focus on being perfect because who defines perfection anyway? A lot of people are obsessed with looks these days but if someone has a good heart, that will always come through. Edge of the blade is another way of saying 'the tip of the iceberg'; it’s very dangerous to get too wrapped up in unimportant things.”
  "A Phantasmic Parade" was inspired by the movies Inception and The Matrix. The song is basically about The Matrix and the idea of manipulating your dreams to create new realities.
  The lyrics of "Universal Death Squad" are about robots who decide they want to kill; that is, artificial intelligence that's programmed to fight in wars without anyone having to push a button. Mark Jansen said in an interview: "There have been many science fiction movies about robots who can think for themselves, but now it’s really happening. If you can put emotions into robots and create sentient artificial intelligence, what’s the difference between a robot and a human? And what if we’re all robots but just don’t know it?"
  The fifth track isn't actually part of the concept, but musically, it turned out to be one of the stronger songs so it was included on the album. "Divide and Conquer" talks about media only giving us one side of the story of what is going on in the Middle East, but when you dig deeper, you find layers of truth about natural resources, like oil, that are influencing the region. The media report on how the new political regime has brought democracy to the region but maybe the inhabitants were better off before. What the West are really delivering is mainly destruction. They're making people fight each other and when the West conquers, the big companies come in and make money.
  Despite the title, "Beyond the Matrix" isn't about the movie. It's basically about being able to see that you're in a matrix, to see that you're in a cage. It's hard to be able to see beyond your immediate surroundings when you're trapped so you have to project yourself outside the matrix to understand. Musically, the song has quite a simple structure and the catchiest chorus, but the middle is completely wild.
  The ballad "Once Upon a Nightmare" takes the seventh spot on the album and it's melancholic and has more of a themed vocal going through it than a chorus. “I’m a big fan of classic fairy tales and the lyrics were inspired by a dark German tale about the Alder King, or Erlking, who steals children’s souls. A lot of times, parents don’t take their children seriously, especially when it comes to seeing monsters in the closet so it’s a dark twist on fairy tales. It’s symbolic of being stuck in a life without a happy ending and how our innocence is taken away from us as soon as we’re born,” explained Simone Simons when asked about the song.
  Mark Jansen said that he is most proud of the lyrics to "The Cosmic Algorithm" and explained the meaning behind the song: “It's about the man beneath the hologram. Machines operate in numbers and code, and you can find similar algorithms in nature, so literally the whole universe as we know it is built on mathematical calculations. When you start seeing the al
caption: Simone Simons, Epica's lead singer and frontwoman, and guitarist Isaac Delahaye promoting the album on tour.
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