STAR ONE

It is strange to think that not only is this the first album from Lucassen's Star One project in 12 years, it is actually only the third one ever. I can still remember when I heard the first back in 2001 and just how amazed I was at the time. Since then, Lucassen has been concentrating mostly on Ayreon, but now he has found time to get back to the more metallic side of his music and of course he has brought in loads of top musicians to help him out. The core of the band are Arjen Lucassen (guitars, bass, keyboards), Ed Warby (drums), Erik van Ittersum (Solina strings), Joost van den Broek (Hammond organ), Marcela Bovio (backing vocals) and Irene Jansen (backing vocals), and then we get a host of lead singers and guitarists providing solos on different songs as well as additional keyboard players.

Lucassen has long worked with many musicians, preferring that to restricting himself to a set band when it comes to this style of music, and part of the fun when playing this for the first time is to try and pick out the singers without reading the notes. Jeff Scott Soto is instantly recognizable of course with his bluesy take on melodic metal, while Joe Lynn Turner is as powerful now as he was when I saw him fronting Rainbow more than 40 years ago. There was one male singer in particular I was looking for, and when we came to "Bridge of Life" there he was, the instantly recognizable sound of Damian Wilson. Mind you, it is not all male singers, and while I have named just a few of those involved it is no surprise to find Floor Jansen involved yet again, as she has been in the past.

But while Arjen has provided an amazing platform for a host of wonderful singers to show what they can do, this is far more than that with a wonderful balance between catchy metal and dynamic prog, full of passion and power. He has an ability to write music which is uncompromising and in your face while also extremely melodic and exciting. All the guests only have one song in which to make their presence felt, although if you are wise enough to get the double disc then you can hear the same songs with different singers. This is the same for all involved, whatever part they play, so the likes of the incredible Adrian Vandenberg only appears once, as does the mighty Steve Vai on album closer "Lost Children of the Universe", which is the longest number at nearly ten minutes, and the most dramatic.

Arjen Lucassen has a skill in bringing together different musicians and singers to create something which is always clearly identifiable as Star One, yet allowing them to leave their own mark on the album. It may have only been three albums in 20+ years, but this is a prog metal masterpiece and let us hope that he really does not leave it too long until the next one.  

In the same way that on Ayreon's The Source album, Arjen Lucassen fused the concepts of Ayreon and Star One, I get the feeling that on this Star One album he has tried to do it again, but taking the variety of artists from his operas to a conceptual album.

Personally, this is something that hasn't completely convinced me, simply because Damian Wilson, Floor Jansen and Russell Allen are three of my favorite metal singers, and I would have preferred an album with only them singing, just like the previous one.

This is not a completely negative thing, because there are some songs on this album where the voices of their singers stand out in some absolutely epic moments. However, it is a small longing that is going to stay there.

For the rest, I can't say that Revel in Time is an absolutely perfect album like Victims of the Modern Age seemed to me, but it's still a very good and enjoyable album by my favorite metal musician. I can't criticize him, because Arjen Lucassen just makes the music I like the way I enjoy it the most.

Despite the fact that I was relatively late to the party on Star One and Lucassen at large, it's pretty wild to think that this is the first studio album for the project in 12 years. They always have stellar branding, the album art always showing some kind of highly futuristic (at times utopian, at times dystopian) sci-fi existence. Revel In Time, Star One's third LP, displays more the latter mode, with a seemingly water-color painting of a strange forest of clocks and stained glass. Beautiful, really, but at first eerie and unsettling. As with his Ayreon project, Lucassen features numerous guest vocalists and guitarists (and here three keyboardists), and you can bet your ass I'll be telling you all about 'em here haha.

"Fate of Man" is our opener, the first single for the album, released in November 2021. This has that classic Power-level Prog Metal sound that we have come to expect from Star One. This is Prog Metal rooted in the works of DT, Fates Warning and the like. It features on vocals Brittney Slayes of Unleash The Archers. Fantastic guitar solo here by Michael Romeo of Symphony X, too, another vital participant in that early Prog Metal pantheon. "28 Days (Till the End of Time)" features some synth-soaking, which really reminded me of early '80s Rush. And speaking of Symphony X, their lead vocalist, the very talented Russell Allen, is this track's vocalist. On guitar, Timo Somers of Delain... supposedly haha. I'm so utterly ignorant of this side of the music world. I'm not wild about this song, to be completely honest. Some really cool ideas nonetheless, like the huge, vaulting swells and the inclusion of flute(?!), the latter making for some classic Prog-homagery (yes, that is not a word). Almost good haha.

"Prescient" is up next, the second single from the album, and this one has dual lead-and-backing vocals by Toehider's Michael Mills and Haken's Ross Jennings. They certainly compliment each other very well! And this is a song: it's got great melody, hooks, and stellar composition. At the end, it has a sort of Highlands feel? Pretty epic, too, as it closes up. Nice guitar riffage, and I love the loud-soft dynamics with the sections including acoustic guitar. Awesome. With the start of "Back from the Past", I was like... 'Dio?!' haha. The vocals of Jeff Scott Soto, associated with Yngwie Malmsteen and the vocalist of Sons of Apollo and--I had no idea(!)--Trans-Siberian Orchestra(?!), are gruff and full. Decent song. Definitely feels like a blast from the past. Pretty nice solo by the excellent Bumblefoot (to me, obviously). Anyway, as I often say, nearly good. Then it's on to the title track, "Revel In Time"... and that is a helluva melody! I like! Feels a bit like... I don't know, but it's like Post-Post-Grunge. Great vocals are delivered by Brandon Yeagley of Crobot! Seriously, awesome vocal control, range and beeves. Adrian Vandenberg (I guess it's high time I explored Whitesnake, eh?) performs a swelling guitar solo, which tonally reminded me of Zakk Wylde. Maybe? It's good. Big'n.

Speaking of big'ns, "The Year of '41" has more of that good ol' Metal feeling. The drums on this are really fun, honestly; an upbeat number. It features a post-Dio, post-Cozy Rainbow vocalist, Joe Lynn Turner: a talented, classic Metal vocalist, for sure. The guitar solo, which is one of the best on the albums, is performed by current Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra (also of TSO, and at one time of Night Ranger and Foreigner). And then... this synth solo? Awesome! Performed by a very familiar name in this realm, Jens Johansson of Stratovarious and (also?!) Rainbow and Yngwie('s band). Then it's the very familiar vocals of Damian Wilson, whom I know from Headspace (and at one point in time of the band Threshold), on the beefy "Bridge of Life". Some melodic things here are just alright, but some are quite interesting. This is a riff-heavy number and features some nice female vocals. Is that children's... toy mallets at the end? I like it regardless.

Much heavier is "Today is Yesterday" [...hold up... /s] with the great Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Pan.Thy.Monium) on lead vocals. This one, though, is honestly pretty corny to me... The guitar solo was pretty good, but very shortlived, performed by the current (surprise) guitarist of classic Dutch Prog band Kayak[!!!], Marcel Singor. There's a synth solo? [No.] To the theme at hand, we have next "A Hand on the Clock". Big beefy guitar here, although I'm not in love with the vocals of Nightwish's Floor Jansen (unsurprised she's here though). This has some pretty noticeable Hammond organ throughout, the eventual solo performed by After Forever's Joost van den Broek. Pretty wild solo. Very classic! I mean, it hearkens all the way back to Rod (F*cking) Argent in The Zombies, no? Often where my mind goes. Moving right along, we have the spacy creep of "Beyond the Edge of it All". Another evocation of Ronnie James Dio is the performance by John Jaycee Cuijpers of Praying Mantis here. Very cool. I'm just impressed by these vocals... Man... Finally, "Lost Children of the Universe", our sole mini-epic (at 10 minutes), features the dynamic, dramatic vibrato of Roy Khan (Conception, Kamelot). I like the keys here. I will say, though, the composition is rather slow-going [and, as you'll see, overall just static]. Just about midway, we get the other feature that I was most excited for: the unmistakable Steve Vai. Beautiful solo. And of course, this particular peccary-- err--- I mean-- this particular solo is clearly the longest of the bunch, too haha. Ooooh, a little Zappa-ism around 6:35? I see you, Stevie. Unsurprisingly, this did not turn over a new leaf for the song; it was fine.

[Usually I say something to uhhh... wrap things up with my reviews, but alas, I know nothing of this album editing it now over year later.]

The second single off of [Arjen Anthony Lucassen's] Star One, "Prescient" was released December 2021. I didn't even see who was on this track until just now as I was reviewing, and my excitement is definitely going on up [and my anticipation was met with positivity!]: on lead and backing vocals is Michael Mills (of Toehider, a band of which I am very ignorant) and Ross Jennings (of Haken, whom I think everyone should know), and boy do they ever compliment each other well! I tend to consider myself more or less a song-oriented listener. I like melody. I like hooks. I like compositional structure (simple or complicated). This one has it all.

True Rate: 4.5/5.0

Released in November 2021, "Fate Of Man" was the first single for the latest [Arjen Anthony Lucassen's] Star One album, Revel In Time. On vocals, giving a stellar, deeper and fuller performance than one might anticipate from... anyone, was Unleash The Archers' Brittney Slayes. And despite my ignorance of her or her band, well fitted into the Power-Metal-lean of Star One's more classic, epic Prog Metal sound (like Fates Warning, Evergrey or even some Dream Theater before them). Of that similar early Prog Metal vein is the guitar feature, Michael Romeo of Symphony X, with just a killer solo. Big song. Pretty darn good opener [to the album], I must say.

True Rate: 3.75/5.00

Arjen Anthony Lucassen did it again. With Revel in Time, his third full-length release under the banner Star One, he managed to write yet another progressive metal masterpiece. Packed with an astonishing list of elite guest musicians and bursting with one of the most diverse, fun and energetic tracklists ever put together by the Dutch maestro, Revel in Time is a tremendous album that, come December, will no doubt find its place at the top of many Album of the Year lists.

Arjen's fame is well established by now. With its main project Ayreon, the Dutchman has developed a strong reputation as one of the most accomplished prog metal composers of our times, as well as uncontested master of rock/metal operas. Launched in 2002, Star One was born as a side-project where Arjen could explore the more metallic side of his music. For those who are most familiar with the recent Ayreon's albums, this may sound odd given that metal is a prominent ingredient of many of those records. But back in early 2000s Ayreon was still largely a progressive rock affair, and with Star One Arjen was trying something different relative to his mainband, focusing on heavier and leaner songs, that did not form part of a larger-scale narrative and were based on the interplay between a restricted number of singers rather than the usual army of guest singers one can find on Ayreon's albums. Thus, the two previous Star One albums, 2002's Space Metal and 2010's Victims of the Modern Age, both featured the same four singers (Russel Allen, Damian Wilson, Floor Jansen and Dan Swanö) and were comprised of briefer, self-contained musical pieces that had the only common characteristic of being inspired by sci-fi cinematography (films about space in the case of Space Metal, dystopian movies in Victims of the Modern Age).

Revel in Time follows in the footsteps of the previous Star One albums, but it also marks a departure from some of the guidelines that had driven the project so far. The new record continues the theme of movie-inspired music, this time drawing from films centred on the theme of time manipulation (from Back to the Future to Groundhog Day). Other than this common conceptual thread, the songs are pretty much standalone pieces, each focused on the narrative of its respective movie. Musically, we are in classic metal / hard rock territory, albeit with plenty of progressive undercurrents (much more so than the previous two Star One albums, to the point that Revel in Time actually feels like a hybrid between Star One and Ayreon). The songs are strongly riff-based and feature a fat guitar sound and a powerful, no-frills rhythmic backbone courtesy of Arjen's long-time partner in crime, drum maestro Ed Warby. The keyboards are used prominently too, albeit mostly to provide spacey futuristic soundscapes or lush symphonic arrangements, rather than as lead instrument.

Differently from the previous Star One albums, Revel in Time features a large number of singers, each appearing on one of the 11 tracks of the album. This was partly due to the COVID-19 international travel restrictions that prevented Arjen from flying the singers over to his own studio where they would have recorded their interactive parts as usual. Nevertheless, the four regular Star One singers, Russel Allen, Damian Wilson, Floor Jansen and Dan Swanö, are all present on the record, with one song each. Next to them, we have an unbelievable list of guest vocalists, including Roy Khan (Conception, ex-Kamelot), Brittney Hayes (Unleash the Archers), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Rainbow, ex-Deep Purple, ex-Malmsteen), Jeff Scott Soto (Sons of Apollo, ex-Malmsteen), Brandon Yeagley (Crobot), Ross Jennings (Haken), John Cuijpers (Praying Mantis), and Michael Mills (Toehider). As if this wasn't impressive enough, Arjen also managed to gather a stellar cast of instrumentalists who provide jaw-dropping guitar and keyboard solos throughout the album, from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius) over to Michael Romeo (Symphony X), Timo Somers (ex-Delain), Bumblefoot (Sons of Apollo, ex- Guns N' Roses), Adrian Vandenberg (ex-Whitesnake), and no other than his guitar majesty Steve Vai. And if this still does not convey the bonkers scale of the project, just know that the album comes with a second CD containing alternative versions of all 11 songs, each sung by a different vocalist!

As you go through the list of incredible musicians featuring on the album, two things should become clear. First, the musicianship is incredible. Arjen has a strong reputation for writing songs that bring the best out of his guest musicians, and the 11 tracks of this record could not confirm this more clearly. The performances are astonishing, from the first to the last note. Second, the heterogeneous cast of performers means that the album accommodates a very diverse range of styles, from hard rock ("Back from the Past", "Revel in Time", "The Year of '41"), to Rainbowesque classic metal ("28 Days", "Beyond the Edge of It All", "Lost Children of the Universe"), to full-on power metal ("Fate of Man"), to symphonic metal ("A Hand on the Clock"), to more out-there progressive rock ("Prescient", "Today Is Yesterday"). This diversity is undoubtedly the main strength of the album, which feels fresh, fun and dynamic, providing a stark contrast especially with previous Star One record, the monolithic and monotonous Victims of the Modern Age. Amazingly, despite its heterogeneity, Revel in Time also feels very cohesive, thanks to the consistent sound production and Arjen's unique songwriting style that ties together all the different influences into a harmonious musical almanac.

The album offers highlight after highlight. Each song features amazing hooks, with melodies that get instantly stuck in your brain and burrow there for days. At the same time, there is plenty of musical depth too, with structures that often depart from the simple verse/chorus repetition and experiment with complex, multi-part vocal harmonies (backing singers Marcela Bovio, Irene Jansen and Will Shaw deserve huge praise here), or venture in interesting detours, like the operatic choral bombast of the epic "Lost Children of the Universe", arguably the best song of the album. In this way, the record strikes the perfect balance between immediacy and subtlety, delivering payoffs that are both instant and gradual. Most of all, though, Revel in Time is a thoroughly enjoyable and fun album to listen to: free from the constraints of the rock opera format, where each song must play its part in the overall aesthetic of the concept, Revel in Time's 11 songs seem instead to have been written as each and every one of them was meant to be the climactic point of the album. It's a constant deluge of great musical ideas that simply floors the listener time and time again.

It is really hard to find something to criticize here. One might be tempted to say that Revel in Time does not bring much new to the already stellar catalogue of Ayreon / Star One. But then I listen to the Devin Townsend-esque extravaganza of "Today Is Yesterday", the 70s hardrock echoes of "Revel in Time", and the power metal assault of "Fate of Man", and I cannot help but feel that there is a boldness here, an audacity to embrace a whole universe of heavy metal music that makes this album very special and unique, even when compared to Arjen's impressive standards. Revel in Time is without doubt the best Star One release so far, and also one of the most convincing pieces of work written by Arjen across all his projects. If you are a fan of bombastic, melodic progressive metal, you simply cannot miss this album.

[Originally written for The Metal Observer]

Star One is one of the heavier projects of Dutch gifted multi-instrumentalist and composer Arjen Lucassen. After releasing the brilliant Gothic "Embrace the Storm" in 2005, together with his creation Stream of Passion, Arjen busied himself with some mellower side of the prog rock. He released "01011001" with his "home" project Ayreon in 2008, and made a side step with a completely new project Guilt Machine in 2009, which resulted in a not perfect, but quite good "On This Perfect Day". Both projects probably didn't completely satisfied the hard side of his musical personality.

That is probably why Arjen decided to go to his garage and clean dust from the space ship called Star One, stalled there already for quite some time. This ship took off for the first time in 2002, when the trendsetting Space rock album with a very fitting name "Space Metal" was released. Being mostly a studio musician, Lucassen still could not resist the enthusiastic reception of the space metal concept and went on tour with the complete Star One band, featuring 5 (!) vocalists: Russell Allen (Symphony X, Avantasia), Damian Wilson (Headspace, Threshold), sisters Floor Jansen (After Forever, ReVamp) and Irene Jansen (Karma) and Robert Soeterboek (Lana Lane, Cotton Soeterboek band). The old-time Ayreon staff supplied the space ship with all the fusion reaction elements, necessary for the intergalactic propulsion: Ed Warby on drums (Hail of Bullets, Gorefest), Peter Vink on bass and Joost van den Broek on keyboards (After Forever). You can still find the ship log of this flight in the stores. "Live on Earth" was issued in 2003 and contains two CD's and a DVD, full of energizing and in the same time tasteful material.

So, the Star One was refuelled again, the trusted old crew members called in. From the original crew only Irene Jansen and Robert Soeterboek didn't make it this time. Instead, Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Second Sky, Bloodbath, Edge of Sanity) was recruited. I must say, he is not the last one, who gives to this mix a quite heavy sound, with his growls and low vocals. The edgy rhythm guitars, powerful bass and busy drumming give the album an even more heavy metallic sound then the first Star One project. By the way, there are also some nice surprises on the second cd, that comes with the deluxe edition. I would definitely advise everybody to go for that one, otherwise, you will just miss a half of the fun.

Well, the ship could have been made heavier, it was not going very far this time. Just like in "Space Metal", all songs were written after a science fiction movie. But this time, the most of them are the apocalyptic films about a sad future awaiting the Mother Earth. Only two songs deviate from this concept: "Human See, Human Do" (Planet of the Apes) and "Earth That Was" (Firefly). This last one is directly one of the high moments on the album, not in the last place because of the pretty heavy, haunting rhythm guitar loop (ideal for head-banging!) and a really tasteful solo on the synthesizer, signed by the reliable old crew member Joost van den Broek. Bravo, maestro!

The lyrics are not too complicated, but they succeed perfectly to call the right associations at the right moment of the song. This effect makes the whole emotional appreciation of the songs even stronger.

Check the title song "Victim of the Modern Age", written after the classic sci-fi movie "A Clockwork Orange". You just see it before your very eyes again: rainy country side, uncontrollable Alex, breaking in into somebody's house, and you hear the melody from the famous "Singing in the Rain". Of course, it is not in the least the merit of the genius director Stanley Kubrick, who created such unforgettable images back in 1971 (!). But one have to give the credit to Arjen as well, it is very clever how he makes this concept work. Sometimes it is the use of the same lines or words, spoken in the movie. Sometimes it is creating of the just right image, the right association.

Let me tell you about one of the best songs to my taste here, "24 Hours". It is made after the movie "Escape from New York", an unforgettable creation of another super-director, John Carpenter. The slow and mean solo guitar and Damian's dark voice duet during the intro brings us already into the scene of the "crime-ridden city, confined within these walls, a place without pity, a place of sin?". Hearing the line "You've got 24 hours to change the course of the history, just 24 hours to trace our man and set him free" (thank you, Russell, you blow the veins from my body here, nobody could sing it better), I imagine vividly the one-eyed tough guy Snake Plissken, standing there, on the border of the ravaged New York, taking in the instructions, legs wide, head bowed, full of different counteracting emotions: rage, determination and doubt. Funny coincidence, Plissken was played by Kurt Russell, and Russell Allen is singing in this song (well, together with Damian and Floor). I checked the history. Russell Allen was born in 1971 and the movie was released in 1981. So it couldn't have been this movie, that inspired his parents to name him Russell, alas there goes my speculation :-) Or was it still the actor? He played in quite some movies before that one? But let us not wander off the path here.

Another high moment of the record, the heavy prog epic "It All Ends Here" is written after "Blade Runner". It is still one of the best sci-fi movies ever, however made back in 1982. With the first, Black Sabbathical, or doom-like, if you wish, accords, you get inside the future. It's dark and hopeless fate of the Nexus-6 humanoid robots that you are experiencing now. They are built perfect, beautiful and strong, clever and quickly learning, but made to last only 4 years. Because in these 4 years they gather too much emotions, and eventually become almost human. Or even more than human? On one hand, they can become an unfair competition for men. On the other hand, who has right to decide the future of a living, thinking, feeling and dreaming being, no matter that the origin of this being is a factory? The fate is just not fare for Roy Batty, now he has nothing more to loose. And my god, how Roy is played by Rutger Hauer in the movie, unearthly! Listening to the music, you will see him dying there on the roof, a rusty spike in his hand, talking about decaying dreams and "tears in the rain". Arjen, you are a genius, to use exactly these words here! And even more, for the outrageously beautiful solo in the end of the song!

Just a few words about the second CD that comes with the deluxe edition. As I already told, there will be some nice surprises for you there, besides the "Making of" video.

One of them ? another epic, "Closer to the Stars". Very Black Sabbath or Rainbow-like, in their Ronnie James Dio periods. And yes, Arjen has gone to some length here and got a real Black Sabbath singer: Tony Martin. This song is nothing less than a younger brother to the Rainbow's famous "Stargazer". Even some words associate perfectly, it's all about "going home", "children of the stars", "gotta fly"?

I also loved the only one song sang by Arjen himself, it is the sophisticated "Lastday", with a really nice guitar solo at the end.

The last surprise will also be the last song, the remake of the Emerson's "Knife Edge". Being one of the less symphonic numbers or the EL&P's first record back in 1971, it's funny how it stands here on it's own, becoming maybe one of the most proggy songs in the Star One reincarnation. I hope Arjen will go one time and make a whole record full of covers. With his arranging and adapting talent, it will be another "must have", I am sure.

Arjen Lucassen has many talents. Among them there is his commercial instinct and entrepreneurship. Did you follow the contest to guess the movies that inspired the songs from "Victims?" on Internet? If you have time, check on Youtube. Just type in the search screen something like "Star One contest". I guess it invoked quite a lot of attention from the rock and sci-fi fans in the pre-release period, well-done, Arjen!

Speaking of musical influences, they all can be found on various layers of Arjen's music. Some of them are easily traceable, some not. Just let me give you some examples. The title song goes all the way back to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog", if you let me. The quirky synth tune and sleek and heavy rhythm guitars of the glossy "It's Alive, She's Alive, We're Alive" are clearly inspired by Rammstein.

Yes, The record is full of references, cinematical and musical. Take my advice, buy it and discover them all, and see how it all grows into something unique, something, that will become a reference to generations of musicians to come.

Back in #67 I raved about the new project that had been put together by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Star One. That concept album has since been taken on the road and he has brought with him many of the musicians that were initially involved. This means that there are five singers involved, all with a part to play, and on songs such as "Set Your Controls" when they are vying for position it is a sight to be heard. (!, yeah, I know, but you get the idea). Of course, one of the singers is Damian Wilson and I have never hidden my admiration for his vocal prowess, yet here he is fine company and fits in well instead of dominating the proceedings.

This is technical hard rock, with just enough prog influences to keep fans of that genre interested but in many ways this is more complex than even Damian's old outfit Threshold, although not quite as heavy. This is a concept album being played live, although with some added songs that aren't on the studio, but there are some spoken pieces I an attempt to set the scene. It can be played as separate songs, although if possible it is best to sit and listen intently to the double CD in one sitting. This is the version that I have been sent, but I believe that it is also available as a double CD with a DVD, which must be worth seeing. If you want complicated hard rock with more than a touch of prog metal than this is it.

Originally appeared in Feedback #73, Jun 03

Star One is the brainchild of Arjen Anthony Lucassen who provided not only the vision, all of the songs, but also bass, guitars, Hammond, mellotron and synths. He was joined by Ed Warby on drums and used four main vocalists in Damian Wilson (Threshold, Landmarq, La Salle etc), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, Nightingale) and Floor Jansen (After Forever). He brought in some guest keyboard players such as Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists) and even convinced Dave Brock to make an appearance on guest vocals!

It has been released as a limited edition double digipak and that is definitely the version to get hold of. Arjen is best known for his albums as Ayreon, but his last CD was more of an atmospheric album under the name Ambeon. This is an attempt to bring out a hard rock space metal album for the 21st century, and it succeeds brilliantly. There is always the fear that a project of this kind will always have a disjointed feel, especially when one musician plays so many instruments but that is not the case. Another factor that works very well is that the four vocalists are all very different so that it is always possible to pick out exactly who is singing what. On "Set Your Controls" all of the singers play a part but they all still sound distinctive.

The album was inspired by some of Arjen's favourite sci-fi films and the project itself is named after an episode of "Blake's Seven". While I don't want to take anything away from the main album, which is simply superb, I must just mention also the Hawkwind Medley that is a bonus. "Silver Machine", "Brainstorm", "Spirit Of The Age" and some others played as if they are new fresh songs yet always maintaining that Hawkwind element, given the distinctive and definite seal of approval by Dave Brock providing the vocals. Ten minutes is just not long enough.

Already established as a personal favourite for waking up the office at 06.30, this is class from start to end.

Originally appeared in Feedback #67, Apr 02

Three solid stars to Star One's all-stars' number two

This second album released under the name of Star One once again feature many of the same people as were present on the first, including Shadow Gallery's Gary Wehrkamp on guitar, and Threshold's Damian Wilson and Symphony X's Sir Russell Allen on vocals. Fans of these bands will probably enjoy this. Like on Space Metal, the material here is once again strong with nice melodies and solos. The sound is somewhat heavier and darker this time around and the choruses are not as disturbingly catchy, but the differences are not that big. There are some songs, like Cassandra Complex, that are very much in the vein of traditional heavy Rock (think Deep Purple).

I find both albums by Star One rather enjoyable and I generally prefer both of them over Ayreon's overblown and cheesy Rock Operas. Still, there is nothing on these albums that I find particularly impressive as such.

Every bit as good as Space Metal, if not better, possibly even the best of Arjen Lucassen's many efforts!