Gelap Pekat

With the overwhelming success of their last trek through North America earlier this year, Dutch female-fronted symphonic metallers EPICA will return to the U.S. and Canada for 24 headlining shows with Nuclear Blast labelmates SCAR SYMMETRY, as well as MUTINY WITHIN and BLACKGUARD. The tour is set to launch on November 16 in West Springfield, Virginia and wrap up in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 18. This will be EPICA's second North American trek in support of the band's latest album, "Design Your Universe", which came out last October. The CD landed at position No. 12 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

Confirmed tour dates are:

Nov. 16 - Jaxx - W. Springfield, VA
Nov. 17 - The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 19 - The Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY
Nov. 20 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
Nov. 21 - Club Soda - Montreal, QC - CANADA
Nov. 23 - Music Hall - London, ON - CANADA
Nov. 24 - Peabody's - Cleveland, OH
Nov. 26 - Blondie's - Detroit, MI
Nov. 27 - Headliner's Music Hall - Louisville, KY
Nov. 28 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 30 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
Dec. 02 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Dec. 03 - Rickshaw Theatre - Vancouver, BC - CANADA
Dec. 04 - Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR
Dec. 05 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA
Dec. 07 - The Key Club - Hollywood, CA
Dec. 08 - Ramona Mainstage - Ramona, CA
Dec. 09 - Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
Dec. 11 - Trees - Dallas, TX
Dec. 12 - Emo's - Austin, TX
Dec. 14 - The Club at Firestone - Orlando, FL
Dec. 15 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Dec. 17 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
Dec. 18 - Volume 11 - Raleigh, NC

Exclusive pre-sale tickets for the tour are on sale now at EnterTheVault.com through June 3. Tickets go on sale through all normal ticketing outlets on June 4.

As previously reported, EPICA's April 10 concert at Via Funchal in Sao Paulo, Brazil was filmed for a forthcoming DVD.

The band's South American tour kicked off on April 7 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and took EPICA to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Goetia Metal has uploaded video footage (see below) of EPICA's March 27, 2010 concert in Madrid, Spain. Also available is a full concert review with exclusive pictures.

On March 9, EPICA singer Simone Simons was in Hilversum, The Netherlands filming a video for the song "This Is The Time", which was written for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

EPICA celebrated the five-year anniversary of its sophomore album, "Consign To Oblivion", by performing the CD in its entirety on March 21 at Effenaar in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Keyboardist Coen Janssen was forced to sit out EPICA's recent North American headlining tour because of "personal reasons." He was replaced by Simone's boyfriend Oliver Palotai (KAMELOT, SONS OF SEASONS, DORO).