Defenders Of The Faith, le forum Metal

"War On Terror", the new video from MAYAN — the band featuring EPICA guitarist/songwriter Mark Jansen alongside Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Frank Schiphorst — can be seen below. Also available are photos from the video shoot, which took place on July 3.

"War On Terror" comes off MAYAN's debut album, "Quarterpast", which was released in Europe on May 20 and in North America on July 12 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded and mixed by Sascha Paeth (EPICA, KAMELOT).

"Quarterpast" track listing:

01. Symphony Of Aggression
02. Mainstay Of Society
03. Quarterpast
04. Course Of Life
05. The Savage Massacre
06. Essenza Di Te
07. Bite The Bullet
08. Drown The Demon
09. Celibate Aphrodite
10. War On Terror
11. Tithe
12. Sinner's Last Retreat (bonus track)

"Quarterpast" features vocal contributions from the following musicians:

* Mark Jansen (EPICA, ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Ariën van Weesenbeek (EPICA)
* Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Simone Simons (EPICA)
* Henning Basse (SONS OF SEASONS)
* Laura Macrì (Italian opera singer)

In an interview with The Great Southern Brainfart, Mark Jansen stated about MAYAN, "It started as just something for fun but soon it grew into something that had to be perfect as well. I thought it was just for fun to make music with old friends but now it's as serious for me as EPICA is. Of course, EPICA remains my priority band and that's the band that's doing the most of the tours but MAYAN will fill in the gaps."

When asked if the MAYAN material is — conceptually and lyrically — be similar to EPICA, Mark replied, "Lyrically, you will find a lot of comparisons because it's my style of writing. I didn't attempt to write about completely different stuff. It could have been lyrics for an EPICA CD as well but music-wise it's completely different. It contains way more grunts and it's way more heavy. It is still symphonic because I love that kind of music. It's like a mixture of SYMPHONY X and OPETH style. That kind of direction."

MAYAN is:

* Mark Jansen (EPICA, ex-AFTER FOREVER) – Guitar, Vocals
* Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) - Keyboards
* Frank Schiphorst - Guitar, Vocals
* Rob van der Loo (ex-SUN CAGED, DELAIN) - Bass
* Isaac Delahaye (EPICA) - Guitar
* Ariën van Weesenbeek (EPICA) – Drums

The official lyric video for "The Rhythm Of Freedom", a new song from MAYAN — the band featuring EPICA guitarist/songwriter Mark Jansen alongside Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Frank Schiphorst — can be streamed below. The track is taken from MAYAN's new album, "Dhyana", which will be released on September 21 via Nuclear Blast.

Jansen states: "'The Rhythm Of Freedom' references the sensation of pure freedom you feel when riding your bike or bicycle. This also refers to the album title 'Dhyana', which stands for the moment where the mind gets absorbed by the heart and you feel total happiness without worries about the past and future. But the mind, like a predator, is always waiting for the moment to take over control again.

"We picked this song as our first single as it's the first impression people will get from the new MAYAN album. In it you hear the dynamic sounds in our music, layered with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra who we recorded this album with. Expect a song that is heavy, yet melodic. Enjoy!"

"Dhyana" track listing:

01. The Rhythm Of Freedom
02. Tornado Of Thoughts - I Don't Think Therefore I Am
03. Saints Don't Die
04. Dhyana
05. Rebirth From Despair
06. The Power Process
07. The Illusory Self
08. Satori
09. Maya - The Veil Of Delusion
10. The Flaming Rage Of God
11. Set Me Free

Through his musical contributions in EPICA, AFTER FOREVER and MAYAN, Jansen has introduced another piece of knowledge, spirituality and mystery into the Dutch metal scene. For the third time since their inception in 2010, the now 10-piece symphonic death metal band has joined forces for a new album, and "Dhyana" is set to lift them to an entirely new level.

The collective that is MAYAN has always had a profound love for movie scores, so it comes as no surprise that the next step in the band's career was to record a new album with a live symphonic orchestra. Turning their vision into reality, a crowdfunding campaign was started early 2018 to fund the recording of MAYAN's third album with a live orchestra. With the tremendous support of fans across the world, more than €40,000 was raised and the band could finally approach the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to record their new album with them. Being one of the world's most renowned symphonic orchestras and famous for their work in cinematic features such as the "Star Wars" saga, "Hannibal" (2001) and "Arrival" (2016), as well as the orchestral parts of DIMMU BORGIR's "Death Cult Armageddon", they were the perfect choice to join forces with MAYAN to create the monumental sound landscape for "Dhyana". The crowdfunding campaign packages also included an exclusive EP called "Undercurrent".

Jansen stated: "We have worked with all our energy, efforts and passion to create a remarkable album. 'Dhyana' (which means the moment when the mind gets absorbed by the heart) makes us all very proud and we can't wait for it to be released. With the support of our loyal fans worldwide we were able to record the album with the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Because of this and also producer Joost van den Broek's know-how and enormous motivational drive we were able to meet the high standards of the best productions of today. It's needless to say that we are extremely excited!"

The concept of this third full-length release reflects on conceptual themes such as being self-aware of our thoughts and relinquishing our egos and self-conceited tendencies to finding out who we truly are.

MAYAN will celebrate their new offering with a "Dhyana" release party on September 22 at De Helling in Utrecht, Netherlands. They will be supported by ELYOSE and CARTHAGODS on this evening.