Label: Insideout Music
Release date: 2/18/2022
Production: Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Album length: 66.42 min
Genre: Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
From the very first spin of “Revel In Time,” the fourth studio album from the progressive metal project Star One, you can’t shake the feeling that mastermind Arjen Anthony Lucassen, after the rather pale impression left by the last Ayreon album “Transitus” (2020, RockLine review), has really spat on his hands this time and come up with a superb, eclectic and atmospherically charged piece of work that has everything we missed on “Transitus.” Sure, the Star One albums have always leaned more prog metal than what Arjen usually does with the more prog-rock Ayreon, but plenty of people will wryly point out that “Revel In Time” sounds like a kind of “lost” Ayreon album, and is basically everything “Transitus” should have been if most of the fans had had the final say in the creative process.
Once again, Arjen and his longtime drummer Ed Warby have rounded up an impressive “crew” of guest musicians. Among the instrumentalists, the standouts are guitar virtuosos Steve Vai, Michael Romeo (Symphony X), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Sons of Apollo), Adrian Vandenberg (ex-Whitesnake) and keyboard wizard Jens Johansson (Stratovarius). This time, a different singer was picked for every track and for the alternate versions on the second disc. Arjen’s old vocal acquaintances like Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damien Wilson (Arena), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Irene Jansen and Marcela Bovio (Mayan) are joined on “Revel In Time” by Ross Jennings (Haken), Jeff Scott Soto (Sons of Apollo), Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Rainbow), Roy Khan (ex-Kamelot) and Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath), to name just the most famous.
In keeping with tradition, “Revel In Time” is a concept album, or as Arjen likes to call his Star One projects, a space metal opera. This time the central theme running through all the songs is a classic sci-fi phenomenon: time travel. Unlike some past Star One efforts, which mostly drew inspiration from notorious sci-fi films that even non-fans of the genre know, Arjen this time draws, besides well-known cult films, on lesser-known films and TV series that, apart from die-hard fans of the genre, most mere mortals have never heard of.
It’s a really colorful mix: besides well-known sci-fi films like ’Terminator,’ ’Donnie Darko,’ ’Back to the Future,’ ’Groundhog Day,’ ’Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ and ’Interstellar,’ the songs also find inspiration in far less famous films like ’Primer,’ ’The Final Countdown,’ ’Frequency,’ ’Source Code’ and the old British TV series ’Sapphire & Steel.’ The latter is probably known only to hardcore sci-fi fans of Arjen’s generation, since it’s practically unknown in our part of the world.
“Revel In Time” opens with the prog/power metal hybrid “Fate Of Man,” inspired by the most notorious of the films listed above, namely Terminator. Contrary to expectations, given the bloody, post-apocalyptic reputation of films about killer robots, where you’d picture a singer with raw, masculine energy for a concept like this, Arjen went with Brittney Slayes (Unleash the Archers) for this track, whose “manly” vocal approach turns out to be a surprisingly successful pick. The melodic, rousing chorus is pure power metal, but it comes off nicely and won’t bother most prog metal purists, who will also appreciate the juicy guitar solo courtesy of Michael Romeo. “28 Days (Till the End of Time),” inspired by the sci-fi psychological thriller ’Donnie Darko’ (Arjen is obviously a big fan of the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, since “Revel In Time” contains two songs inspired by films starring the American actor), has a darker mood, as expected, which suits the traditionally angry, gruff vocal approach of Arjen’s longtime buddy Russell Allen very well.
“Prescient” has an interesting, “spacey”-sounding synth motif at the start. It’s a track that successfully bridges prog metal and prog rock, and it has a special vocal dynamic because it features two different singers: the aforementioned Ross Jennings and his lesser-known vocal sidekick Michael Mills (Toehider). “Back From The Past” takes a more hard-rock approach with a hefty guitar riff, which is no surprise, as the always excellent Jeff Scott Soto steps up to the mic this time. The somewhat brighter but still charged vibe fits the lyrics inspired by the cult trilogy ’Back to the Future,’ while Bumblefoot’s solo provides a properly “off the wall” moment that recalls the brilliantly mad Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown.
The title track, which draws on the first of the three comedies about Bill and Ted and their bogus journeys, is not at all comical but a fairly punchy and direct piece, with an explosive guitar solo courtesy of hard-rock veteran Adrian Vandenberg and vocals from Brandon Yeagley of the hard rockers Crobot. The unexpectedly melodic “The Year of ’41” works wonderfully, with female vocal harmonies keeping Joe Lynn Turner company. He’s the main “narrator” of the dramatic events from ’The Final Countdown,’ starring Kirk Douglas and Michael Sheen. The dramatic keyboard solo comes from Jens Johansson.
“Bridge Of Life” with Damian Wilson, who was “tasked” with telling the background of the film ’Frequency,’ starring Dennis Quaid, in the lead vocal role, turns out supremely epic, while the rich atmosphere is deepened further by an unexpected burst of female vocal harmonies. Dan Swanö had a rather tricky job: turning the comedy ’Groundhog Day,’ in which Bill Murray entertained us in a comic-tragic way, into an energy catalyst in the Star One prog metal style. Apart from a few fun references to that film in the lyrics, there’s, as expected, nothing funny about this one musically. Swanö’s recognizable, muffled and “rough-around-the-edges” vocal color is nicely spiced up by female vocal harmonies, while the crazy guitar solo comes from Marcel Singor of the cult prog-rock band Kayak.
“A Hand On the Clock,” where Floor Jansen as lead vocalist joins forces with her old After Forever buddy Joost van den Broek, who delivers the dramatic keyboard solo, is pure drama and a passionate rollercoaster of different emotions. For all those reasons, it’s sure to appeal to most fans of modern Nightwish too. “Beyond the Edge of It All,” with John JayCee Cuijpers (Praying Mantis) on lead vocals, is again a somewhat more hard-rock-leaning piece, while the “spacey-nostalgic” chorus is done in the “classic” Star One and Ayreon style. Dramatic female vocal harmonies are on hand again this time too. The epic “Lost Children of the Universe,” starring former altar boy Roy Khan and Steve Vai, Frank Zappa’s best student and the most prestigious guitar guest on “Revel In Time,” is a wonderfully fitting peak of the album and a world-class finale.
The alternate versions of the songs on the second disc, which feature completely different lead singers, are also interesting. For instance, on the alternate version of “Lost Children of the Universe,” Tony Martin sings instead of Khan, while on the altered version of “Today Is Yesterday,” Mr. Lucassen himself steps up to the mic instead of Swanö. There are no major differences instrumentally, apart from the keyboard solo on the alternate version of “The Year of ’41,” which is played by Alessandro Del Vecchio instead of Johansson.
“Revel In Time” will surely console and cheer up everyone who was let down in one way or another by the latest Ayreon album “Transitus.” The new “space metal” opera is balm for all fans of quality prog metal, and at the same time arguably the most interesting Star One effort since the debut “Space Metal” (2002). Arjen has thus made up for the controversial “Transitus” a bit, and at the same time forced his fans to brush up on their sci-fi movie classics and get acquainted with some more obscure titles known only to a sci-fi “nerd” like him.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Fate of Man (5:29)
2. 28 Days (Till the End of Time) (7:21)
3. Prescient (6:34)
4. Back from the Past (4:50)
5. Revel in Time (4:38)
6. The Year of ’41 (6:20)
7. Bridge of Life (5:14)
8. Today Is Yesterday (5:46)
9. A Hand on the Clock (5:52)
10. Beyond the Edge of It All (4:52)
11. Lost Children of the Universe (9:46)
Lineup:
Arjen Lucassen – guitar, guitar solo on track 10, bass, keyboards
Ed Warby – drums
Erik van Ittersum – ‘Solina’ strings
Joost van den Broek – Hammond organ
Marcela Bovio – backing vocals
Irene Jansen – backing vocals
Guests:
Brittney Slayes – lead and backing vocals on track 1
Michael Romeo – guitar solo on track 1
Sir Russell Allen – lead vocals
Timo Somers – guitar solo on track 2
Michael Mills – lead and backing vocals on track 3
Ross Jennings – lead and backing vocals on track 3
Jeff Scott Soto – lead vocals on track 4
Ron Bumblefoot Thal – guitar solo on track 4
Brandon Yeagley – lead vocals on track 5
Adrian Vandenberg – guitar solo on track 5
Joe Lynn Turner – lead vocals on track 6
Will Shaw – vocalization on track 6
Joel Hoekstra – guitar solo on track 6
Jens Johansson – synthesizer solo (track 6)
Damian Wilson – lead vocals on track 7
Dan Swanö – lead vocals on track 8
Marcel Singor – guitar solo on track 8
Lisa Bella Donna – Moog on track 8
Floor Jansen – lead and backing vocals on track 9
Joost van den Broek – Hammond organ on track 9
John Jaycee Cuijpers – lead vocals on track 10
Roy Khan – lead vocals on track 11
Steve Vai – guitar solo on track 11
‘Hellscore Choir’ – choir vocals on track 11
Guests on the bonus CD (‘de-luxe’ edition):
Marcela Bovio – lead vocals on tracks 1 and 9
John Jaycee Cuijpers – lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, and 5
Will Shaw – lead vocals on track 3
Alessandro Del Vecchio – lead vocals on track 8, synthesizer solo (track 6)
Wilmer Waarbroek – lead vocals on track 7
Arjen Lucassen – lead vocals on track 8
Irene Jansen – lead vocals on track 9
Mike Andersson – lead vocals on track 10
Tony Martin – lead vocals on track 11
