Simon Oberender

Simon Oberender — German keyboardist and mastering engineer — was a central piece of Trillium, Amanda Somerville's project, holding both the keyboard and mastering duties on the debut album Alloy (2011). That combination says a great deal about how the record was made. Alloy is a symphonic metal album built in the studio, with layers of orchestration, choirs and multiple overlaid voices — material that depends entirely on technical handling not to become an indistinct mass. Having the same person writing the keyboards and finishing the master means the sonic criterion was a single one from beginning to end. Oberender belonged to the circle of German musicians and engineers around which Amanda Somerville built much of her European career — the same milieu that produced work with Avantasia, Epica and Kiske/Somerville. He died in 2012, shortly after Alloy's release. Trillium's second record, Tectonic, would only appear in 2018, with a different team.