Band:
Instrumentalists:
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – guitars, hammond, mellotron, analog synths, solina strings, vocals
Ed Warby – drums
Peter Vink – bass guitar
Joost van den Broek – keyboard solos
Gary Wehrkamp – guitar solos
Vocals:
Sir Russell Allen
Damian Wilson
Dan Swanö
Floor Jansen
Diskography:
Space Metal (2002)
Live On Earth (2003)
Guests:
Tony Martin – vocals
Mike Andersson – vocals
Rodney Blaze – vocals
Info:
Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Production
Released 1/11-2010
Reviewed 18/1-2011
Links:
arjenlucassen.com
myspace
insideout
The album I have has 9 songs on disc one and that reaches 53 minutes and then there are five more tracks and a video on the second disc and another 20 minutes or so of music, which adds up to over 70 minutes which usually is a tad much but this is Star One, not anything else.
Musically it is like Arjen has taken his projekt Ayreon and put it on Steroids so it grows heavier, faster, more powerful and simpler much like a steroid user in the human world really. For you who has not heard Ayreon it is quite hard to explain but it encompass more or less everything you can imagine musically and especially complexity and atmosphere. Star One is also a little of this but more based in the heavier metal genre, a bit in the power metal perhaps but with focus on melodies and with more complex passages and the such. Another thing setting Star One apart from other more standard metal bands is the fact that the band use four singers which are the same ones as it is one the first album from 2002. I think that the best way of describing this album musically is: spacious, futuristic heavy metal with a sound that has returned from a world in another time, a future time.
For those of you who have already been checking out the ratings there is no doubt there what I think about this album. I think that perfection is a good word for it and I think it is hard to make a better album than this and had it not been for the amazing and magnificent Pins and Needles by The Birthday Massacre it would have been easy to appoint this album the best of 2010. In fact, had it been from any other of the year of the Hallowed webzine it would have been the best of that year and the same would probably have been true of 2011 as well. If it is better than the prior Star One albums you ask? Possibly I reply but I am in no way certain of that thing, no way at all as those albums are amazing with Live on Earth being one of my all time favourite albums and the Studio album that was before it is not much worse just the fact that the live album was spiced up with Ayreon song makes it a tad better. Even if it isn’t better than those it is a fantastic album and for me there is no doubt that this album is one of the two best in 2010 if it is the best I will have to leave unanswered for now, the race is just too close to call at this time, maybe I can decide in 2012 just before the world ends.
This album starts with a short instrumental track that is called Down the Rabbit Hole which builds up tension for the album and within second of this track you can almost not wait for the first track to start and for you to have been immersed in the entirety of this album, it is that interesting already from the start. This first track then leaves over to Digital Rain which is the first proper track and it is an amazing, fantastic and whatever other superlative you wish to use track. The same can then be said for all the tracks that follow, I will not take out a favourite track, in fact I wrote all as favourite tracks in my Swedish review but I don’t have the energy to do it once more but all the tracks are my favourites. A good thing you can always do when you listen to this album early on is trying to figure out which movies the tracks feature, the title track was easy being a quote from the movie A Clockwork Orange, Human See, Human Do is another easy track, you will have to listen to the album as to why. Some others were more difficult but it is a fun challenge, the same was for Space Metal when it arrived in 2002.
Another thing that strikes me is the time, I usually complain about long albums but in the case of this one it is no problem at all, you kind of forget both space and time when you listen to this album. This makes the album a good way to ignore annoying people as it is making you forget everything but what you are listening to, this is really one of those great albums to listen to. You can listen to it and just sit around and still feel like your doing something useful, it is that good.
I would say that whoever doesn’t buy this album and still calls him- or herself a music lover is an idiot!
HHHHHHH
