Epica vocalist Simone Simons is featured in a new interview with Playboy.com discussing the band's new album, The Quantum Enigma, and balancing band life with motherhood. An excerpt is available below (sorry guys, the clothes stay on...):

Playboy.com: You guys seem to be on the road a lot. What’s the biggest difference for you in terms of audiences you play?

Simons: "I would say that Americans are very respectful. They keep their distance, they know how to have a good time and are very positive-minded and friendly. What I do like as well is that in America everything is mixed. In our audience we see people from all different ethnicities. You’ll even see people that you think are totally into rap or country or whatever but they are in our audience going crazy with Epica! It’s super fun to see that it’s international and interracial. We value our fans so much, we love to get to know those who love our music and who support us."

Playboy.com: Is it tough to be a woman in heavy metal?

Simons: "No, I must say that I don’t really experience that. There are many other female singers in this genre and we all tend to stick together. We all stand our ground amongst the guys and never feel discriminated or disrespected. I am sometimes one of the guys—I can burp as loud as them and have a good time. Of course I like my girly things and sometimes need a break, but they also sometimes need a break from me! We all really get along; it’s like having a family with 30 brothers."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Epica have released a lyric video for the track "Unchain Utopia", featured on the band's new album, The Quantum Enigma, released on May 6th.

Commented guitarist Mark Jansen: “The "Unchain Utopia" lyric video is one of the coolest lyric videos I have ever seen. The footage worked out very well for this approach. Images and words strengthen each other. Initially we had a normal video in mind but that didn't have the same impact. We hope you will enjoy "Unchain Utopia"!!!“

Tracklisting:

"Originem"
"The Second Stone"
"The Essence Of Silence"
"Victims Of Contingency"
"Sense Without Sanity (The Impervious Code)"
"Unchain Utopia"
"The Fifth Guardian" (Interlude) "Chemical Insomnia"
"Reverence (Living In The Heart)"
"Omen (The Ghoulish Malady)"
"Canvas Of Life"
"Natural Corruption"
"The Quantum Enigma (Kingdom Of Heaven Part II)"

Digipack additional track: "In All Conscience"

Earbook additional track: "Dreamscape"

Vinyl additional track: "Memento"

iTunes additional track: "Banish Your Illusion"

Disc 2 (Digipack and Earbook only):

"Canvas Of Life" (acoustic version)

"In All Conscience" (acoustic version)

"Dreamscape" (acoustic version)

"Natural Corruption" (acoustic version)

Disc 3 (Earbook Only):

"Originem" (instrumental)

"The Second Stone" (instrumental)

"The Essence Of Silence" (instrumental)

"Victims Of Contingency" (instrumental)

"Sense Without Sanity" (instrumental)

"Unchain Utopia" (instrumental)

"The Fifth Guardian" (instrumental)

"Chemical Insomnia" (instrumental)

"Reverence" (instrumental)

"Omen" (instrumental)

"Canvas Of Life" (instrumental)

"Natural Corruption" (instrumental)

"The Quantum Enigma" (instrumental)

Bass and drum playthrough clips for "The Esseence Of Silence" featuring Rob van der Loo and Arien van Weesenbeek respectively:

Epica recently checked in with the following update: "We are excited to announce that we will perform in Lebanon this summer. On August 2nd we will perform at the Byblos International festival in Jbeil-Byblos. We have had a lot of requests from Lebanese fans over the years to perform there. We are happy it will finally happen!"

Go to this location for event information.

Epica's schedule is now as follows:

June

7 - Landgraaf, The Netherlands - Pinkpop
14 - Nickelsdorf, Austria - Novarock
29 - Den Haag, The Netherlands - Parkpop

July

5 - Barcelona, Spain - Barcelona Rock Festival
11 - Vizovice, Czech Republic - Masters Of Rock
12 - Wegorzewo, Poland - Seven Festival

August

2 - Jbeil-Byblos, Lebanon - Byblos International Festival
8 - Vagos, Portugal - Vagos Open Air
10 - Montreal, Quebec - Heavy MTL
16 - Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
17 - Saint Nolff, France - Motocultor Festival
21 - Bogotá Colombia - Metal Millenium 2014

November

20 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Kulturfabrik
21 - Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
22 - Zurich, Switzerland - X-TRA
24 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz
25 - Rome, Italy - Orion
26 - Marseille, France - Le Moulin
28 - Madrid, Spain - Shoko
29 - Lisbon, Portugal - Paradise Garage
30 - Porto, Portugal - Hard Club Porto Portugal

December

2 - Barcelona, Spain - Apolo
3 - Toulouse, France - Bikini
4 -Bordeaux, France - Rocher de Palmer
6 - London, UK - The Forum

January

15 - Paris, France - L’Olympia