After eight Epica records, soprano empress Simone Simons has carved out her own symphonic metal universe. The Dutch singer’s first solo album is drowning in a sea of red. Rising and diving from opulent crimson heights to blood-smeared rumbles of industrial fury, Simone unravels the horrors and joys of the world through a rouge-tinted pair of spectacles. And the results are epic.
Vermillion was written incollaboration with Arjen Lucassen, leader of symphonic Dutch prog metallers Ayreon and a specialist in sprawling rock operas. It shows: opener Aeterna is remarkable, a swelling mix of orchestral might, bold riffs and thrumming electronic pulses.
