Simone Simons announces solo album “Vermillion” and releases single

Simone Simons announced the release of his first solo album. “Vermillion” arrives on August 23rd, through the record label Nuclear Blast.

The vocalist of Epica developed the work in partnership with Arjen Anthony Lucassen. The multi-instrumentalist and producer is especially notable for leading the Ayreon — a project Simons has collaborated on in the past.

– Advertisement –

The initial preview of this record is “Aeternal”, single with music video directed by Patric Ullaeus. It is the first of the 10 tracks on the album’s tracklist, which features Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) on one of them, “Cradle to the Grave”.

Check out “Aeterna” below.

In a joint statement, Simone and Arjen reveal:

“The song ‘Aeterna’ certainly recalls the characteristic sound of Epica and Ayreon, combining Latin lyrics with a hint of oriental sound. We seek to balance the powerful and bombastic elements with more atmospheric moments.”

In a separate note, Simons comments on the idea of finally making solo work available:

“Epica has my priority and I always have the freedom to do other musical projects besides my career at Epica. I’ve never had time to dive into a project like that.”

Regarding the collaboration with Lucassen, the singer highlighted:

“Metal has my heart and so does Arjen [risos]. I fell in love with Ayreon’s music when I was 16 years old. It has always been a dream of mine to work with Arjen. Many years and even more appearances in Ayreon later, I got in touch with Arjen saying that I would love to compose an entire album with him. That must have been about five or six years ago. We talked to each other from time to time, but we were busy and couldn’t commit to such a project. Now the timing was right for both of us.”

Epica and “Omega”

Simone Simons’ plans should not get in the way of Epica. Last March, the singer told Summa Inferno (via Blabbermouth) that the band plans to make their next album available only in 2025. The material has already been composed.

One of the most successful heavy metal bands in the Netherlands, Epica has released 8 studio albums. “Omega”the most recent, came out in 2021.

The album reached the top 10 in the group’s homeland (7th), Germany (4th), Switzerland (5th) and Belgium (6th).

The group came to Brazil in April to perform at the national edition of the Summer Breeze festival. They were scheduled for April 27, the second of three days.