VICTIMS OF THE MODERN AGE

First with Aryeon and now with Star One, again. Once again he has a star studded cast that includes Floor Jansen, Russell Allen, Dan Swanö, and many more. I am so glad that Dan Swanö is in on this one since he is so good. You can easily hear him on "Victims of a Modern Age" and "Human See, Human Do", where he graces us with his growling talent. This album also has a great mix of both heavy and light metal. Victims is much more lighter than I expected, but that is good since I tend to like lighter metal better.

Another thing I like about this album that is new to me is a prominent woman vocalist. I always backed away from them because I never thought that a higher pitched voice should be in the same sentence as metal. Boy was I wrong. Floor Jansen really adds to the overall feel of the album.

A great example of this is in the song "Human See, Human Do". It shows the great things that come from the contrast between high and low sounds. The chorus is very good, and in the end of the song Dan Swanö comes in and growls for the second and last time on the album. Besides the great vocals there are supreme keyboards from Arjen Lucassen and guitars from Gary Wehrkamp and Arjen Lucassen again. It has a very 70's feel to the song along with more modern implements. The song is based off of the 1960's movie "Planet of the Apes", which you could tell from the line, "We were here first?".

Another song that I like a lot is "Cassandra Complex" which features a great duel between Floor Jansen and Russell Allen, which is very cool. It, once again, has great guitars from Gary Wehrkamp, too. "Cassandra Complex" also has one of the more catchier riffs on the album, so it sticks in my mind, making it more memorable.

One other song with a great chorus is "Digital Rain" which was the first song that Arjen Lucassen wrote for the album. It has great drums from Ed Warby, and at the end it features a cool a cappella section. The last song "It All Ends Here" has a Pink Floyd feel to it, and is much darker, and longer than all the other songs on the album.

Overall this is definitely one of the best albums of 2010 featuring many stars including Arjen Lucassen, Dan Swanö, Floor Jansen, and many more. It definitely deserves the five stars I am giving it, but one thing I would have liked was more growling from Dan Swanö.

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