The band began to record their next outpouring late in 1970: a musical adaptation of the biblical Book of Revelation, entitled 666. Koulouris, having finished his Greek army duty rejoined the band. However, relations between all the band members were not good at the time, and continued to worsen during the album's creation.
Essentially, 666 was Vangelis' concept, created with an outside lyricist, Costas Ferris. The music that Vangelis was creating for 666 was much more psychedelic and progressive rock oriented than anything the band had done before. This did not sit well with the other band members, who wished to continue in the pop direction that had brought them success. Furthermore, Roussos was being groomed for a solo career, and recorded his first solo single We Shall Dance (with Sideras on drums), and his first solo album On the Greek Side of My Mind, whereas Vangelis recorded the score for L'Apocalypse des animaux and worked on a single with his girlfriend Vilma Ladopoulou, performing with Koulouris using the pseudonym 'Alpha Beta'.
By the time the double album 666 finally was released in June 1972, and having sold over 20 million albums, the band had already split. Both Vangelis and Roussos pursued successful solo careers, Roussos as a pop singer and Vangelis first in electronic music, then in movie soundtracks, which made him a successful film score composer of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (decade), having penned such titles as 1982's Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and 2004's Oliver Stone's Alexander among many others. Koulouris worked with both on occasion. Sideras pursued a less successful solo career, releasing an album and the single Rising Sun after the break-up then disappearing into obscurity.
Read more about this topic: Aphrodite's Child