ON THIS PERFECT DAY

Out of all the things Arjen Lucassen produces, I must say I that I like this the best. There's no cringey bits on this release, it's all moody and there's an underlying rage. It doesn't have the all star singers (aka "We are the world"/Dio's "Stars"), but it does has one great singer, clear and expressive with an excellent range.

Musically, there are lots of quiet moody melodic atmospheric guitars, keyboards, cello, many tension building sections which I love, heavy guitars when needed, and some tasty guitar solos. Very similar to where Ayreon is on 0111100110101010101001, with the industrial feel but less of the folk (...and, and, no cringe ;o).

The first four tracks are the heaviest, climaxing with Season of Denial. Track 5 takes a lighter path before the final track builds moodily to the heavy end.

It's a superb progresive metal album that'd appeal to more people than Ayreon, that's why I give it a 5, maybe 4.5 if I'm mean. P.S. The singer's own band "Arid" is alas, a bit average in comparison. So if you want hear him at his best, this is it.