Dutch symphonic metal giants, Epica, will return to North America this August and September for the North American leg of the Ultimate Principle tour, the band’s biggest North American tour to date. The band will be joined on this tour by Italian Gothfathers Lacuna Coil, their friends in Finnish melodic death metal Insomnium and newcomers Elantris.

Epica frontwoman Simone Simons and guitar player Isaac Delahaye comment: “You asked for more, you'll get more! After all the great reactions we got on our latest album The Holographic Principle and the amazing North American tour we've done end of last year, we're really stoked to come back to your side of the planet so soon again. Bigger venues, bigger production, we're ready to give you all we've got. Not to mention the absolutely killer bands we're bringing over with us! I'm genuinely looking forward to play for you and to see you all rocking out with us. See you all soon!”

Described as “female fronted symphonic metal hailing from Ohio, USA”, Elantris (pictured below) will be supporting their recently-released debut album, This Sacrifice.

Comprised of band members Lindsay Victoria Ketchum - Vocals, Thomas Ullom - Vocals, Garrett Chetock - Guitar, John Dobosh - Bass, Mark Liber - Keys, and Erik Liber- Drums, Elantris are extremely excited about the upcoming trek, as evidenced by the following quote: “We are very excited for the opportunity to perform with such incredible bands. With our combined powers, we see no reason we can't reshape the hearts and souls of everyone present at the shows. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to play on a fantastic tour and get to play our music at so many great venues, in front of so many incredible fans.”

“Our main goal on this tour is to stimulate the economy by increasing the production of mops and buckets. These will be vital in dealing with the increased sweat and face melting that occurs at most venues due to extreme headbanging and joyous feeling that occurs from witnessing raw epicness!”

Two songs from Elantris are available for streaming below:

The Ultimate Principle tour dates are listed below.

August
31 - Royale - Boston, MA

September
1 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC
2 - Imperial Theater - Quebec City, QC
3 - Opera House - Toronto, ON
5 - The Agora - Theatre Cleveland, OH
6 - The Forge - Joliet, IL
8 - Ogden - Theatre Denver, CO
9 - The Complex - Salt Lake City, UT
11 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA
12 - The Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR  
14 - The UC Theater - Berkeley, CA
15 - The NOVO - Los Angeles, CA
16 - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA
17 - Marquee Theatre - Phoenix, AZ
19 - Alamo Music Hall - San Antonio, TX
20 - Gas Monkey Live! - Dallas, TX
21 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
23 - Revolution Live - Ft Lauderdale, FL
24 - The Plaza Live - Orlando, FL
25 - Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
27 - Ram's Head Live! - Baltimore, MD
28 - Trocadero Theatre - Philadelphia, PA
29 - Playstation Theater - New York, NY

VIP tickets for this tour including a meet & greet, photo opportunity with the band, exclusive merchandise and more are on sale now through epica.vip. General admission tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10 AM, local time.