THE HUMAN EQUATION

It's very difficult to be original in music these days. The success of the innovative rock bands during the 1950's and 60's will probably never be repeated. The thing that made them so successful is because they were different and were able to expand the horizons of music. Progressive rock contributed to this in many ways but even bands like King Crimson, Yes and Genesis where overshadowed by the revolutionary bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones who really defined Rock as a genre.

So believe me when I say that "The Human Equation" is as original as it gets now, beyond going one step further into "unknown waters." The concept isn't really unique but that in no ways degrades its effect. The fact that it is a rock opera is kind of cool, but many bands had already make rock-operas at least 25 years earlier. The Who's "Tommy" is one example among many. I think that the fact that "The Human Equation" is a prog rock opera makes it unique, if only a little. That said this isn't even the first by Arjen Lucassen, he had already made many before this.

One may argue that this is the "best" of his works, I tend to agree these days as he spares no expense to create this album. The combination of vintage instruments, metal, amazing vocalists both male and female and my personal favorite feature obscure instruments makes "The Human Equation" my favorite from his catalog I own.

The album is about a guy who has a car crash in the middle of the day for no reason. He then goes through a recount of his life in the world in his mind in which he re-faces all his hardships and torments, as well as some of the highlights. The album is also about him trying to get back into the real world and related matters. This guy is a really mean tough character, like Micky who is part of the art rock team here (hahahah). This side of him is influenced by his tough childhood brought upon mostly by his father. Yes, it is very cheesy but in a good way.

I really, really cannot be bothered going through a track by track analysis right now, maybe later. I'll just list some of my favorite songs here "Pain", "Loser", "Love" and most of all "Confrontation" which has a great surprise at the end.

I really like "The Human Equation" and it deserves its four star rating. Due to its length it can be hard to listen to and the cheese can be so strong that it overpowers you. Apart from that it's great! I'd recommend this album to all prog metal fans, it is an absolute essential for you guys.