SIMONE SIMONS – Vermillion – review
Nuclear Blast Records 2024
Big Epica fan. Big Ayreon fan. So this was a bit of a no brainer.
And as befits a solo album, it’s a step away from her day job of singing with the best symphonic metal band on the planet. There, I said it. What it isn’t, is a step away from Ayreons day job of composing hard hitting prog metal. In fact, if this had come out under an Ayreon banner, no-one would have blinked an eye. After all, he’s done it before. Hello, The Gentle Storm.
The music is 98% Arjen and most of the lyrics are co-writes between Ms Simons and Ayreons partner, Lori Linstruth. So, even more Ayreon. But wat de hel, is it any good? Oh, yes.
Simone and Arjen have worked together many times in the past, so it probably made the process a lot more comfortable than working with strangers. And Rob van der Loo plays bass on all the tracks so there is an Epica connection as well. Not forgetting a couple of growl cameos from Mark Jansen. In fact, a lot of the usual suspects pop in, although Koen Herfst, formerly of Vandenberg, plays drums. Oh, and he toured with Epica back in 2007!
Musically, it’s a delight, from the opening Ayreon on steroids of ‘Aeterna’ on into the big ballad, ‘In Love We Rust’ and the hard driving album highlight ‘The Core’. Apart from the opening song, there are no lengthy epics here, and it’s quite nice to hear Arjen being confined into four and five minute songs.
Ten tracks, no filler, some incredible vocals and great musical performances. For sure, it’s not a Great Leap Sideways but did I want that? No. I wanted this. A point off for my usual gripe about vinyl releases. Where’s my fucking download code? Cheap bastards.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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