Simone Simons - Vermillion (2024)

Country: The Netherlands
Style: Symphonic Metal
Rating: 7/10
Release Date: 23 Aug 2024
Sites: Wikipedia

Vermillion is the first solo album from Simone Simons, best known as the lead singer of Epica and the former lead singer of After Forever, of course both symphonic metal bands. If it might initially seem to answer the question of what Epica might sound like without a harsh male co-vocalist, it's a little resistant to answer that because it's really not a Simons solo album; it's a collaboration of Simons and Arjen Lucassen, the mastermind behind Ayreon. She provides all the vocals and he all the instrumentation, except for guest appearances on both fronts, and both shape it.

The most interesting song is the first one, which quickly impressed me and just as quickly flustered me. It's called Aeterna and it feels heavier than Epica with Lucassen providing a real crunch. Part of that heaviness is the tone but much of it is the pace, because it's slow, symphonic doom, with a tasty middle eastern flavour laid over it. The instrumentation is higher in the mix than I'd expect for a solo album from a symphonic metal singer too. Then it adds a choral backdrop that reminds of Therion, some hints at industrial and then a real shift into electronica. It's fascinating stuff.

The album as a whole is varied, so Aeterna doesn't entirely set the stage for what's to come, but it does in one crucial respect. The instrumentation is often fundamentally simple, surprisingly so for something that dips into prog, but the songwriting is just as often not. In other words, there are a lot of complicated songs here that are played simply, which feels odd but helps to focus attention on Simons's clear soprano, whatever else is going on. Now, remember this when I talk about all the cool things Lucassen does behind her!

My favourite song after Aeterna is probably Cradle to the Grave, surprisingly because the guest on this one is Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy. I've never been a particular fan of hers, as capable as she is, preferring her predecessor Angela Gossow and not much liking the Agonist, her metalcore band. However, she does a strong job here, lending her harsh voice to be a counter to Simons in an impressively patient manner. Had she duetted throughout, it wouldn't be as good a song, but she chimes in when and only when her particularly texture is warranted and it works gloriously.

I'm not going to even try to rank the remaining eight songs, but they cover a lot of ground.

Some start softly, like In Love We Rust, Fight or Flight and Dystopia, but they ramp up eventually and in very different style. In Love We Rust combines clean vocals and pulsing electronica, powers up, powers down, powers up again and ends up almost like a commercial gothic metal song. Fight or Flight features some delicious guitarwork from Lucassen that's oddly almost an aside and the elegant violin of guest Ben Mathot. As it finishes, Simons duets with herself in operatic Tristania fashion. Dystopia is soft and patient with occasional prog flurries to stir it up and a tasty guitar solo from Lucassen in the second half.

Others power up quickly. Weight of My World alternates between a heavy guitar/bass combo and light electronica. Most obvoiusly, The Core starts up heavy, with Mark Jansen, Simons's former co-vocalist in After Forever, on shouty growls, making it almost sound like elegant metalcore. That's almost appropriate given the song title, but that's not what it's about. Like White-Gluz on Cradle to the Grave, he's a texture behind her when needed, but he starts the song out and is much more prominent.

And then there are songs so different that they're either not metal at all or only touch on it when they feel like it. Vermillion Dreams, presumably the title track, starts out with avant-garde notes and unfolds as soaring vocals over pulsing electronica. I like the melodies in this one but it finds its metal escalation very late, making it as much new wave as symphonic metal. R.E.D. features some flamboyant synths and its punchy opening gives way to something more gothic, like heavy darkwave. And, talking about gothic, I was expecting the closer, Dark Night of the Soul, to be a gothic metal song, what with the presence of piano and cello, but it's really a chamber ballad because it's entirely piano and cello behind Simons's vocals.

All in all, this is an interesting album, one that suggests that Simons is trying to stretch her music into new directions that aren't likely to be viable in Epica. I often appreciate that sort of thing but don't always enjoy it. I did here. For what could be fairly classified experimental, it's an accessible album that's often commercial. While I'm still looking forward to the next Epica album, given that I gave 2021's Omega a highly recommended 8/10, I both appreciated and enjoyed this side journey.