Design Your Universe, the new studio album from Holland’s symphonic metal band EPICA, has debuted on the Billboard Heatseekers chart at #12 and the Top Hard Music Albums chart at #47 for first-week sales in excess of 2,000 copies.

“The album title, Design Your Universe, deals with new breakthroughs in quantum physics,” states guitarist/songwriter Mark Jansen. “It proves that we are all connected to each other on subatomic level. Also, it shows that we can create or at least influence matter with our thoughts... a very interesting fact. Because it changes everything for us, our whole worldview collapses once you accept these facts and integrate them in your lives.”

Design Your Universe currently ranks #6 on Amazon.com’s Top 100 Best-Selling Rock/Metal MP3 albums list with 10 days in the Top 100.

Epica will be headlining a North American tour in 2010 featuring THREAT SIGNAL and BLACKGUARD.

Confirmed tour dates are as follows:

January

26 - Jaxx Nightclub - West Springfield, VA
27 - Trocadero Theater - Philadelphia, PA
29 - The Blender Theatre at Gramercy - New York, NY
30 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
31 - Club Soda - Montreal, QC

February

1 - MOD Club - Toronto, ON
3 - Peabody's - Cleveland, OH
4 - The Pearl Room - Mokena IL
5 - The Rave - Milwaukee, VI
6 - Station 4 - St. Paul, MN
8 - Royal Albert Arms - Winnipeg, MA
10 - Starlite Room - Edmonton, AL
11 - Warehouse - Calgary, AL
13 - Sugar Nightclub - Victoria, BC
14 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
15 - Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR
17 - Key Club - West Hollywood, CA
19 - U.B.'s Bar - Mesa, AZ
20 - The Rock - Tucson - Tucson, AZ
22 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
23 - Marquee - Tulsa, OK
24 - Scout Bar - Houston, TX
25 - Scout Bar - San Antonio - San Antonio, TX
27 - Volume 11 - Raleigh, NC
28 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA

Pre-sale tickets for the tour are available at EnterTheVault.com.

View exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the band’s European tour on their Royal Artist Club page.