Quick Reviews: Simone Simmons & Leprous

Here's a couple of albums I wouldn't be covering if I had to fill an entire review with thoughts I don't have:

Simone Simmons - Vermillion

You know how there are some people you know are talented, but are in a band you can't bring yourself to like? That's how I feel about Simone Simmons, who I know is a great singer, but I have never been able to get into Epica's brand of technically symphonic beauty-and-the-beast metal. The idea of her making a solo album is great, because it might finally be an opportunity for me to hear her in a better setting where I can fully appreciate her abiltities...

And then she partners up with Arjen from Ayreon, who might be the single most boring songwriter I've ever heard. I have also never liked Ayreon, or any of his other projects, so the combination is rife for disappointment. And disappoint it does.

The album is filled with slow songs trying to wring drama out of the affair, but they drag so much Simone's notes never amount to a strong melody. It's a series of pretty sounds that don't add up to much of anything. As good as she is from a technical standpoint, I don't think she has the charisma to carry a record entirely on her own, and these songs would require that kind of herculean effort. This one adds up to a record you can easily skip without missing out on anything.

Leprous - Melodies Of Atonement

A few albums ago, Leprous found 'their sound', which is also a slow and plodding style that focuses on emotiona vocals than melodic construction. The off-kilter riffs and rhythms make it difficult to grasp onto anything from these songs but the vocals, and maybe the style works for some people, but not for me. The delivery is histrionic, not emotional, to my ears. It's wailing without any pain behind it, which leaves the record feeling rather cold and lifeless.

What does interest me about the record is hearing some people describe it as 'emo', because I'm not sure how in the heck they come to that conclusion. I will grant that this doesn't sound like prog metal, despite them still being labelled a prog metal band, but emo is completely out of left field.

Leprous is kind of like taking the most boring ballad you can think of, then breaking up the musical notes into more random combinations. Maybe it's interesting if you sit down and chart the intersection of math, but it isn't enjoyable to listen to. It's that two hour movie that could have easily been done as a thirty minute short film, because there just isn't any meat to the story. Leprous is nice cinematography with no plot.