HDK / ex-AFTER FOREVER guitarist Sander Gommans has checked in with the following update:

"Hi everybody. Hope you are all doing well!

After the HDK release I took a little break songwriting-wise, but here's some news for you and I think some of you might be extra thrilled to read this:

New project of Mark Jansen (EPICA / ex-After Forever), Sander Gommans (HDK / ex-After Forever) and Jack Driessen (ex-After Forever).

Having written songs together for After Forever in the past, we feel that there is enough respect and creativity to work on new songs again. We're really happy with the material we've come up with so far, which made us decide to make our project public. This is a project that we'd like to do without any boundaries nor stress, we don't have a time schedule and we'd like to take the time for it. We'll keep you updated when there's any more news, keep checking our individual (myspace) sites for these updates. Take care everybody, and enjoy your holidays!

Don't expect a lot of updates in the near future, just be patient and we'll see what comes out of it..."

As previously reported, two new songs from the HDK debut System Overload - featuring Gommans and vocalist Amanda Somerville, who is known for her work with EPICA, AVANTASIA and KAMELOT - are available for streaming on MySpace. Go to this location to check out 'March' and 'Breakdown'.

Click here for an interview covering the debut album.

In addition, Epica recently announced that they had finished the mixing and mastering of their new album, Design Your Universe, at Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany, stating: "We are very pleased with the result!" The band have since revealed the tracklisting for Design Your Universe. Tracks include:

'Samadhi - Prelude'

'Resign To Surrender - A New Age Dawns - Pt. IV'

'Unleashed'

'Martyr Of The Free Word'

'Our Destiny'

'Kingdom Of Heaven - A New Age Dawns - Pt. V'

'The Price Of Freedom - Interlude'

'Burn To A Cinder'

'Tides Of Time'

'Deconstruct'

'Semblance Of Liberty'

'White Waters'

'Design Your Universe - A New Age Dawns - Pt. VI'

Nuclear Blast has set the release date on the October 16th.