Stream of Passion
A War of Our Own

When hearing this album, a band started by the brilliant dutch musician Arjen Lucassen and Marcela Bovio with the latter is the only one of those remaining in the band now, I came up with the everlasting question for a music reviewer and enjoyer. What is it that makes an album great? is what I asked. Is it a great singer? Stream of Passion has that. Is it a strong sense of melody? Stream of Passion ticks that box as well. I think their first album was great so they have a lot of to live up to for me considering that they did something great once upon time.

That was long ago now and I haven’t heard any of the two albums following the debut. Many things have happened to the band as well, they have broken with Napalm the label they had since 2008 and have crowd funded this album through donations of fans which far exceeded their expectations. Dark times maybe and now complete freedom has led to A War of Our Own is the title of this new album and it is covered by a great artwork, it certainly looks the part. And it plays the part of Stream of Passion, it certainly sounds quite similar to what I heard last time in terms of style. Sure, there are some fewer Ayreonatic stuff, but some different approaches to the symphonic styled gothic metal instead. Lovely melodies, excellent production, the variation over the thirteen tracks is relatively large and keeps the album interesting throughout. For sure there is a lot to be excited about with this album.

A War of Our Own is a very strong album with great melodies, excellent production and great songs. Definitely a keeper as they say, or as I say. Maybe it will not go down in history as one of those great albums that stand as timeless classic no matter which tests time throws at them. But is it better than the original? Well, yes and no. Maybe it isn’t as exciting and original as the debut but it covers a wide range of stylistic ideas and should appeal to a very wide audience. Maybe even some spanish audience considering that Marcela goes for some spanish lyrics in the track Delirio.

In the end I think that we all can conclude that this is a very strong album, well worth taking the time to get to know. Best tracks are the title track and earlier mentioned Delirio, those are the standouts for me but all the tracks are very good and the album has a decent playing time making it an album well worth looking at for anyone who likes great music and I think those who donated will be pleased with the result.

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