Design Your Universe

Design Your Universe is Epica's fourth album, a representative symphonic-metal work that grandly integrated orchestra, choir and heavy riffs. It is the first album with guitarist Isaac Delahaye and drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek, a breakthrough hailed by many fans and critics as the band's landmark. It contains parts four through six of the suite "A New Age Dawns," begun on the previous Consign to Oblivion. It reached No. 8 in the Netherlands, the band's highest chart position at the time. The 13-minute "Kingdom of Heaven" is an epic that perfects progressive development. From the opener "Resign to Surrender" to the single "Unleashed" and on to the grand title track, the structure is stunning. Simone Simons's singing and Delahaye's brilliant guitar drive the whole record, with Coen Janssen's keyboards and orchestra ringing out splendidly as well. Embodying a perfect fusion of the classical and the metal, it is one of the band's signature works. Under Sascha Paeth's production, it integrates meticulous orchestration and weighty riffs at a high level.