Star One is a Dutch progressive metal outfit, probably most correctly referred to as a side-project for Arjen Anthony Lucassen of Ayreon fame.
Some of Lucassen’s output has been mentioned on these pages before, containing a lot of background about the man, his musical projects, and his mode of operation. I will refer to those writings for that type of background, enabling me to jump more directly into the Star One album this time than perhaps I normally would have.
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Followers of Lucassen and his Ayreon albums will know that each of those albums follow a well-defined storyline, becoming progressive rock operas with people singing different parts. Star One follows a different path, with each song being a different story with a Science Fiction concept. In fact, every Star One track is based on a classic science fiction movie or TV series.
The project takes its name from the second season of Blake’s 7, and songs from the first two albums Space Metal (2002) and Victims of the Modern Age (2010) were inspired by Doctor Who, Outland, Star Trek, Dune, Alien, 2001, Star Wars, The Matrix, Firefly, Blade Runner, and many more.
There is a method to the madness. On Space Metal, the picked songs are all about movies that are entirely set in space. On Victims of the Modern Age, the tracks are all based on dystopian, apocalyptic movies. The 2022 saw the release of the third Star One album Revel In Time, which is all about movies that somehow has something to do with the manipulation of time. We’ll get back to this as we go through the album.
Whereas the first two Star One album featured the same four main vocalists singing defined roles (Sir Russell Allen, Lord Damian Wilson, Dan Swanö, and Floor Jansen), the new album sees each song feature a unique main vocalist. This was done for both practical and creative reasons. Normally, Lucassen invites his singers to his studio in Holland where he can direct them and make sure the singers deliver the correct level of interaction with the other parts. This was impossible to do this time due to international travel restrictions during the pandemic. Giving each song a unique voice made it easier for each singer to deliver their parts from their home studios, and also allowed Lucassen to work with more people. He has become well known, and people don’t need the convincing they once did to participate in his projects. On the contrary, people are frequently knocking on his door. This is nice to see, and opens for a lot of interesting collaborations
Musically, Star One is largely seen as Lucassen’s heaviest project. It has a lot of the same bombast found in Ayreon, adds inspiration from 1970s space rock and blending that with modern progressive metal. The music does contain what could be called very typical Lucassen trademarks in the song arrangements, the multi-layered vocals, and the use of synthesizers and Hammond organs as part of the main instrumentation.
As with previous projects, Revel In Time contains a collection of songs – 11 in total – inspired by Sci-Fi titles from books, movies, and TV serials. With a lot of the more obvious titles being picked on the first few albums, I was curious is we were going to get more connoisseur’s picks this time, or different takes from the well known picks. Let’s take a look.
The album opens with Fate of Man, which was inspired by The Terminator. The original movie is fast-paced and full of action, which is a good way to describe Fate of Man as well. It comes out of the gate with an ominous synthesizer sound, which builds into a lovely and adventurous intro ahead of the highly charged rhythm.
Brittney Slayes from Canadian power metallers Unleash the Archers sings on this track, which pleases me to no end. She has been one of the biggest emerging names over the past ten years, and deserves this spotlight. Her banshee voice of power deliver everything the song requires. Michael Romero from Symphony X also delivers a face-melting guitar solo on this track. This is an example of the more straightahead tracks on the albums, with few key changes, slow builds, extra sections or anything like that. It charges ahead until it ends, and does that well, but as far as more interesting song builds goes the best is clearly yet to come.
Lyrically, the song explores the impossibility of fighting an enemy without a single trace of morality, feelings or humanity. This gave the first movie an extra dimension and goes a long way towards explaining its somewhat unexpected mainstream success.
28 Days (Till the End of Time) is sung by Sir Russell Allen – one of the original Star One vocalists and long-time Lucassen collaborator. His song is inspired by Donnie Darko, which has a huge cult following and nearly-there-but-just-not-quite as far as mainstream success. Are we still careful about spoiling movies that came out over 20 years ago? Well, suffice to say the movie has a lot of quirky elements, as well as more familiar themes of powerlessness as well as questions about doing the ultimate sacrifice. The song is filled with the levels of drama you’d come to expect from a situation like the one reflected in the song’s title.
This also means that the song is more complex than the album opener. It has fanfares, several different verses, and different types of instrumental/solo sections. The song is pure space opera, and Allen delivers one of those amazing performances he is known for. Long may he continue to show up on Lucassen’s releases!
Moving on, the next track Prescient is lyrically inspired by the movie Primer, which describes what might happen if humanity should stumble over the secret of time travel accidentally. A more realistic take on the topic – there are no flashing lights, amazing vehicles or phone booths, floating clocks or cyborgs. Just the human condition, which is what the song also talks about in the lyrics.
The song has a delightful build, with several layers of organ and guitars, complete with time signature shifts and parts coming in and going out at all times – yet it manages to retain a strong melodic sustainability.
The song is sung by Michael Mills (Toehider) and Ross Jennings (Haken, D’Virgilio/Morse/Jennings), representing the two main characters of Primer as they debate between themselves what is going on. This is a great example of people singing different parts and really interacting and performing against each other, which is normal for most Star One/Ayreon albums – except this one, with this exception. The video that has been produced really emphasises this vocal interaction.
Jeff Scott Soto (known from his stints with Journey, Yngwie Malmsteen, Talisman, W.E.T., Sons of Apollo, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and too many others to mention) sings on Back From the Past. The title is a play on the title of its inspiration Back To the Future, which is a timeless movie that should need no introduction. The movies encapsulate the credo “the meaning of life is to give life meaning” and this becomes the direction for the song as well. Soto is a perfect fit for this track, which has a vintage feel (well, a lot of the songs do) as well as a more basic structure. This is solid, melodic hard rock with synths and Hammond giving it serious momentum at times. Bumblefoot, aka. Ron Thal, is the guesting guitar soloist on this track.
This is as good a moment as any to highlight Marcella Bovio and Irene Jansen, who serve as backing vocalists on every track of the album. More than that, though, they serve as a chorus who frequently handle key vocal parts and add their voices to the main vocalist, creating a choir of immense power and melody. They add so much to the overall sound. This is also a sign of the luxury problem Lucassen now has, as these singers are accomplished lead vocalists in their own right and have sung lead parts on Ayreon tracks previously. While they are far too good to be regarded as “just” backing vocalists, Lucassen’s use of them do them no disservice, and they contribute massively to the end product.
Title track time! Revel In Time continues the celebration of the happy-go-lucky time travel stories with Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The fact that they were metalheads probably did not hurt as far as Lucassen enjoying the results, and he will have enjoyed the unbridled optimism found in it as well. This optimism is exactly what he latched onto here. “Time is basically all we’ve got in this world,” Lucassen writes in the liner notes. “Let’s make the best of it. Let’s revel in it!” (It is tempting to add, “…and be excellent to each other!”)
The track is sung by Brandon Yeagley, who was the lone singer I wasn’t familiar with this time. He sings in the American groove-driven hard rock band Crobot from Pennsylvania. He does a great job here, revealing a wide range as well as the ability to add some personality and chutzpah to his performance. Possibly the track suits him very well, as it’s very groove-oriented, similar to his main band. Adrian Vandenberg contributes a lovely solo.
Next up is The Year of ‘41, based on the movie (not the song) The Final Countdown from 1980. Picking up on the theme of the movie, Lucassen spends the lyrics questioning whether we have the right to change the course of history if it means avoiding a disaster. The title is a bit of a homage to Queen and their own song Year of ’39 from their classic A Night At the Opera album (1975).
The well-known vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Malmsteen, Deep Purple) sings this song, which fits his own brand of classic, melodic hard rock well. The track is fairly adventurous with several segments, with the Hammond organ and the two backing vocalists giving a solid lift to the choruses. Joel Hoekstra (guitar) and Jens Johansson (synth) are guesting solo duellists.
Bridge of Life features another one of Lucassen’s stalwart compadres and main collaborators: Lord Damian Wilson (“If Russell Allen is a Sir, then I’m at least a Lord!”). Wilson has a naturally high register, and is able to really take off whenever required. He has sung on every Star One release, and is one of the most recurring voices overall in Lucassen’s catalogue. This time around, he sings on what might be my favourite song on the album.
The feel of the song is massive, due to two things. There is an ambience about the song – an atmospheric bedding, if you will – which exists back there even as the songs build through the verses into a powerful chorus. The topic of the song also struck a nerve with me. It is based on the movie Frequency, released in 2000 and written by Toby Emmerich. An occurrence of the aurora borealis allows a man to reach back in time and talk to his dead father through an old ham radio, trying to save his life. The film has the feel of a modern fairy tale, which is reflected in the ‘once upon a’-form of the lyrics. The title Bridge of Life refers to the mysterious connection across time between the father and the son. A powerful song both thematically and musically, with amazing performances by Wilson and the powerhouse backing vocalists.
Today Is Yesterday is the next one out. Those good at trivia games might on reflection figure out that the title is a play on Groundhog Day. This is a well-known movie – a classic of its genre, with room for humour as well as desperation as the gravity of the situation sinks in. One of the things you can take away from the movie is that the power of love always proves to be the strongest. Only when the main character’s feelings for the girl becomes genuine was he able to break free from the time-loop spell. This becomes the focus of the song, which is very riff-based and fast-paced, with a heavy bottom line. It is sung by Dan Swanö (Nightingale), another Star One stalwart, who sings in a natural low register which is used to excellent effect as the song describes the feelings of someone trapped in a loop and starting to lose himself, until the way onward becomes clear.
The final ever-present Star One alumni shows up in A Hand On the Clock as Floor Jansen (Nightwish, After Forever) gets a moment to shine.
The song is based on the blockbuster movie Source Code from 2011, starring Jake Gyllenthal. The song feels like a blockbuster as well, taking off with a mighty riff/groove that feels slightly eastern to me, unlike the rest of the song. The chorus is huge, and in being one of few female vocalists this time, Jansen blends naturally with the backing singers, forming a choir of incredible, powerful voices. Meanwhile, long-time Lucassen collaborator Joost van den Broek contributes a fierce Hammond solo.
Like many time travel movies, this one (and the song) is about accepting the inevitable. The focus is on the main protagonist’s determination to save the victim, rather than just blindly hunt down the perpetrator. It also touches on the premise that each alternate reality is an actual reality in its own right, just as important to fight for and protect. I’m finding out that there are no small topics in the realm of time travel.
Beyond the Edge of It All is based on the wonderfully supernatural British cult TV series Sapphire and Steel from 1979-81, which definitely is the quirkiest choice of song inspiration this time around. It is however a show that I have actually seen (and highly enjoyed) – within the last year, even! The series follow two interdimensional operators who guards the flow of time against powerful and disruptive forces.
As is becoming of a song based on that show, the intro and parts of the verses are a bit mysterious, while the bridges and choruses are full-blown and somewhat epic. The song is not particularly complex structurally, but quite layered, with significant thought put into which sounds to use and how to build scope – up towards the skies, not to mention down again. A lovely bedding of keyboards gives it a lovely and constant ambience. And the guitar solo? This time Arjen Lucassen performs it himself.
The voice is another important aspect. The song is sung by John Jaycee Cuijpers, who I primarily know as the singer for NWOBHM legends Praying Mantis for the past ten years, as well as previous Ayreon contributions (including guide vocals for several albums). He has a classically trained, naturally melodic yet powerful voice. His performance on this track is very impressive, and it blends wonderfully with the backing singers who really shine on this track.
Eventually, everything has to end. The final track on the album is Lost Children of the Universe. It makes sense for the Ragnarok of the album to be sung by a Norwegian: Roy Khan, best known from Kamelot.
You’ll usually want to go out with a bang, so the final track is a blockbuster in every sense. It is the longest track on the album with some distance at 9:46. It is inspired by one of the modern classics of its genre: Interstellar, which was one of those movies that most people needed to watch a couple of times to grasp the whole plot-within-a-plot narrative. The movie has an epic, larger-than-life feel, which is reflected on the track. The lyrics explores (and seems to argue the point) that the end of the planet isn’t necessarily the end of humanity. Deep? Maybe, and Lucassen has interesting lyrics on the topic.
The track goes through many thematic and musical shifts, one which includes the sounds of a mighty choir (the Hellscore Choir, to be precice), guesting on the album to sing their incantations. They sound incredible. Even so, the most musical moment on the song comes from a guesting guitar player. Enter Steve Vai.
One of Lucassen’s long-standing bucket list items was to get Vai to perform a solo on one of his albums. He asked Vai many times over the years, but he does not really do a lot of guest appearances. This time, though, Lucassen dangled the bait directly in front of him by sending a clip of the suggested section that he felt Vai would be able to do something amazing with. That worked! Unable to resist, Vai later stated “Arjen sent me this intoxicatingly delicious track and I felt I needed to impregnate it. I’m very happy with what it birthed.”
In sum, this album leaves you with the same feeling as most of Arjen Lucassen’s albums: that of having been on an amazing musical journey. At nearly 67 minutes, the album contains a lot to begin with, but the amount of music, lyrics and creative stuff to take in is more than that of your average album. The album certainly works as background music, but by focusing and being an active listener, the rewards are immense.
But wait, there’s more! There are several versions of every album Lucassen release, from single album releases to special editions, Earbook editions, and all kinds of packages. Most of them this time around has a second CD which contains different vocalists than on CD1. As the vocal contributions are so important here, as on all Lucassen projects, it leads to some tracks almost getting a completely different feel and narrative. It’s like replacing a lead character in a movie with someone else.
It is particularly nice to hear the backing vocalists get more of a spotlight, as Marcela Bovio takes the lead on Fate of Man, with Irene Janssen joining in for A Hand On the Clock.
John Joycee Cuijpers is very important for the outcome of this album. This amazing Dutch vocalist sang all the male guide vocals on this album, raising the bar for all the others. You may recall that he sings Beyond the Edge of It All on the main disc, while three of the guide vocals are included on the second one: 28 Days, Back From the Past, and Revel In Time.
Additionally, Will Shaw (Heir Apparent, Ayreon) did Prescient, Alessandro Del Vecchio (JORN, Revolution Saints, Hardline, Frontiers label projects, ++) sings on The Year of ’41, while Wilmer Waarbroek and Mike Andersson (who have provided backing & guide vocals (and the odd lead) on several of Lucassen’s projects) do Bridge of Life and Beyond the Edge of It All respectively. Not to forget that Lucassen himself tackles Today Is Yesterday, before Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) ends it all with a truly wonderful take on Lost Children of the Universe.
While other versions and packages will include even more variations on the music from the album – including instrumental versions, 5.1 audio mixes, video clips, documentaries/behind the scenes etc., we’ll draw the line here. Exploring a Lucassen release can be quite the immersive experience. So can writing about it, but ultimately taking the plunge will pretty much always provide a splendid and rewarding – and what better word to end this on – time.
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