It's like RFTI and TQE had a baby, with a bunch of influence from the earlier Epica albums, as well as some bits of Nightwish and After Forever. It's really an incredible album, and it's almost everything I've wanted from Epica. I'm not nearly as critical of it as you are (and I give both this album and TQE a 10/10) but I still found the criticisms to be fair. I agree with a lot of the points you made, especially in regards to the lyrics.

It’s symbolic of being stuck in a life without a happy ending and how our innocence is taken away from us as soon as we’re born. A lot of times, parents don’t take their children seriously, especially when it comes to seeing monsters in the closet so it’s a dark twist on fairy tales. I’m a big fan of classic fairy tales and the lyrics were inspired by a dark German tale about the Alder King, or Erlking, who steals children’s souls. Simone: “This isn’t a typical ballad it’s melancholic and has more of a themed vocal going through it than a chorus. This song is like a second attempt to get a similar message across but it actually works, and has some of the best riffs in the album. Still this song worked out a lot better musically than the title track of TQE did, which started strong but gave way halfway through to directionless orchestral meandering and a rather anticlimactic finale. Not bad lyrics, but Epica try to make this seem like a scientific album when it's really just a couple new scientific terms mixed in with their already established philosophy about life. The only thing marring this song is that the lyrics are basically another recycled mix of material from TQE and possibly DYU with the phrase “Holographic Principle” thrown in a couple of times. The chorus is nice but is mostly a typical Epica chorus with a few new orchestral flourishes. These riffs have heavy guitar accompaniment and go with Mark's growls for another new Epica element – I think the only other time growls and fast scale-heavy/technical riffs occurred together was for a short time in Deter the Tyrant, but this goes way beyond that and is appreciated. Near the end there is a groovy orchestral riff (actually 2 or 3,) that are fast and complex and sound like a more jazzy and much longer (fortunately) version of riffs from The Obsessive Devotion or Kingdom of Heaven. This song has some of Epica's best orchestral writing – possibly THE best, and considering that it is all performed by a live orchestra instead of samples or part samples/part live strings, only makes it all the more epic. A fresh Latin choir intro that sounds like late Renaissance or early Baroque counterpoint, leading into orchestra and piano building up into a new kind of growling riff: staccato guitars and orchestra for the ultimate punchy and kind of soundtracky accompaniment to Mark's growls. While the title sounds a bit pretentious, this is an excellent song. The Holographic Principle – A Profound Understanding of Reality

I see this as becoming one of the most iconic and popular songs of the album, as it's really one of the few truly new elements in this album which has so far been just improvements upon the TQE style and tributes to past albums. This reminds me that the drums in the whole album are mixed lower than in TQE so they kind of fade into the mix instead of being a prominent driving force. It manages to keep sounding fresh and majestic even when there are brutal double bass drumbeats supporting the chorus. In other words, it's a fresh breath of air and doesn't really sound like anything else Epica has done so far. It almost seems to have a more Gypsy or Jewish folk sound to it (sorry if this is vague, it reminds me of the Jewish songs in Prince of Egypt or the songs of the Israeli band Orphaned Land more than of the Arabic types of Middle Eastern songs that Epica has done in the past). While Epica has done a TON of Middle-Eastern sounding songs before, this one really stands out.

A phantasmic parade lyrics