Band:	Simone Simons
Album:	Vermillion
Style:	Symphonic progressive metal
Release date:	August 2024
A review by:	Ivor

01. Aeterna
02. In Love We Rust
03. Cradle To The Grave [feat. Alissa White-Gluz]
04. Fight Or Flight
05. The Weight Of My World
06. Vermillion Dreams
07. The Core
08. Dystopia
09. R.E.D.
10. Dark Night Of The Soul

There is probably a very good executive-level excuse why this album is a Simone Simons album. Whatever it is it has little sway over the fact that rationally this is anything but. Perhaps squinting at it proper and stripping it of all context you can then assess it as one but why keep up with the pretence? The defining characteristic of this album is exactly what it isn't.

When established musicians venture outside their main bands into a solo career, it's often to realise their creative sides that don't fit in or don't get much attention otherwise, be that writing or musicianship. To showcase their skill, the challenge is to write the music and gather the band, so to speak. Singers, however — at least those not known to be (multi-)instrumentalist composers themselves — often face a different hurdle to begin with: that of recruiting writers to compose the actual music for them. The choice of their travel companions and the baggage those bring along either make or break the album. Simone has gone and boldly chosen Arjen Lucassen. ...and Arjen comes with a lo-o-ot of baggage.

Arjen has been very prolific under various monikers that have mildly been disguised as different-sounding projects. He's been basically going solo for over 30 years and has collaborated with hundreds of musicians and singers to forge a legacy that is like a compilation of sorts of a certain slice of modern rock and metal. However, broadly speaking, by now anything he writes is pretty much sounding like Arjen with slight variations to that general Arjen-sound.

The main trouble with Arjen, however, is not his distinctive and recognisable vibe but that he hasn't really much written music for others. Oh, he's very good at accommodating his own compositions to bring out the best in the singers and musicians he invites to guest on his albums, including Simone. That's his speciality dish. However, writing your own music in a way that leaves space for someone to shine in isn't quite the same as writing music for someone to call their own.

This album could have been kin to The Gentle Storm, a collaboration project between Arjen and Anneke van Giersbergen. That one had a core sound concept that lent it some unique character. This here, however, sounds like Guilt Machine, Star One, some Ambeon, Arjen's solo, and of course Ayreon all rolled into one. It's highly unlikely that Simone turned to Arjen with a request to write her an Ayreon album of her own where she could sing start to finish. Yet this is pretty much how it appears to be, sans the overarching lyrical concept, which is rather more related to Guilt Machine because of Lori Linstruth's input.

Vermillion is fundamentally lacking in one aspect it's meant to be. It doesn't have a single unique characteristic that would define it as a Simone Simons album. It's an album Simone sings on but leaving aside the voice it has nothing to set it distinctly apart and for her to claim as uniquely her own. Sadly, she's not even the focus here — the music is. It's an Arjen project with a main singer and a cast of guests with all that it entails, primarily that Arjen doesn't write music to be in the background. And, I mean, musically it's not bad and is catchy in an Arjen sort of way. At three-quarters of an hour it's more concise and far less constrained than anything Arjen has lately written for himself. It's a decent all-around portfolio of his sound. The only thing it says about Simone, however, is that she can hold her ground on any composition he can throw at her.

I'm starting to think that there's more to the usual mild singer-songwriter solo stuff than meets the ear. That at least puts the focus where it needs to be as is in this particular case excellently demonstrated by the closing track "Dark Night of the Soul" in a collaboration with Joost van den Broek on piano. When it's solo we need something unique and defining to that person that takes the centre stage. Nobody cares about a musician or a singer who sounds like a cover band of the main thing they are in or, what's worse, some other band they are not in. I really don't know how a proper Simone Simons album would sound but, frankly, this isn't it. However, it would appear that neither does Simone, really. The question begs, what does she really want for her personal music legacy? As things are, if feuding band members are allowed to sue each other for plagiarism, you're welcome to return this album claiming false advertising. What's in a name, you would think? ...Too much really, it would appear...