Trivia / Epica

• Creator Couple: Subverted. Simone joined the band while she was Mark's girlfriend but the two of them broke up just before The Phantom Agony was released. Both of them remain in the band to this day.
• Creative Differences: The reason Mark left After Forever and the reason Jeroen left Epica. Averted with Yves' departure, however — he left the band to pursue another career opportunity that he couldn't fully utilize while part of Epica. Both he and the band posted public notes on Facebook thanking and wishing each other luck with their future endeavors.
• Creator-Driven Successor: The Quantum Enigma can be considered this in relation to Design Your Universe. The alternative title for the title track is "Kingdom of Heaven II!"
• Dye Hard: Simone is a natural brunette (link.)
• Hide Your Pregnancy: During the filming of the Retrospect live DVD, Simone was a few months pregnant with her and her now-husband Oliver Palotai's first child. You can just see her baby bump in some of the shots.
• In Memoriam:
  • "Feint" was written after the murder of politician Pim Fortuyn.
  • "Internal Warfare" is dedicated to the victims of the Norway massacre in July 2011.
• What Could Have Been: Originally, Helena Michaelsen, formerly of Trail of Tears, was set to lead the band, but had to drop out for unspecified reasons and was replaced by Simone.

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