Artist: Ayreon
Title: The Human Equation
Label: InsideOut Music
Length: Disc I: 50:47 / Disc II: 51:34
Tracks: Disc I: 11 / Disc II: 9
Style: Progressive Rock / Metal
Origin: Netherlands
What do you do, when as artist, you are copied by others? Exactly, you change your course. When Arjen Lucassen surprised friend and foe, almost 10 years ago, with his rock opera 'The Final Experiment', no one could foresee which impact that would have. Since then, several artists have created similar rock opera's or concept albums, so Mr. Lucassen turned into a different direction. But now he is back with the sixth Ayreon studio album.
'The Human Equation' is a rock opera in the vein of Into 'The Electric Castle', as there are multiple vocalists in the songs. Since Arjen Lucassen wanted to have a fresh sound, he chose to work solely with people who had not guested on his Ayreon project before, although very quickly Arjen found he had to make one exception: Drummer Ed Warby, as there was no drummer who would fit so perfectly than he. Outside that there are relatively few guest musicians. The story in a nutshell: A man, "Me", lies in a coma after a car accident and by his side are his "Wife", "Best Friend" and "Father". Inside 7 emotions ("Reason", "Love", "Fear", "Pride", "Passion", "Agony" and 'Rage"), that work in his sub consciousness. The whole story is divided in 20 comatose days.
Musically 'The Human Equation' is a journey through the Walhalla of progressive rock: it has everything, from beautiful symphonic passages to brutal grunts and screams, from folk to even a hint of pop. With an outstanding cast of male and female vocalists, making you check the booklet time and time again, to see who is singing what in each song. And again Mr. Lucassen has succeeded in lifting the phenomena rock opera, to an even higher level. When looking at the cast, one name is noticed very quickly: Marcela Bovio, who makes her first appearance in the opening track
'Day one: Vigil'. Through a search-for-unkown-singers call on his website, Arjen got a copy of the self titled album
'Elfonia', where Marcela Bovio is lead vocalist of. Her vocals efforts are definitely no less than those of Heather Findlay (
Mostly Autumn) or Irene Jansen (
Karma), who play respectively "Love" and "Passion".
Although the album, in my opinion, only has highlights, there still are a few songs that stand out. For example:
'Day three: Pain', mainly because of the combination Devon Graves (
Dead Soul Tribe) as "Agony" and Devon Townsend (
The Devon Townsend Band), as "Rage", who really make a lasting impression here, and again in
'Day eight: Shool'. Wow, plainly fantastic! To be honest, there is something great to say about each vocalist, as I find this the best and most impressive cast, I have ever heard. Despite the fact that James LaBrie (
Dream Theater), plays the lead character, "Me", all vocalists get plenty of room to show their talents and skills. I find it a pleasure to hear Arjen Lucassen as "Best Friend", I love his 'Beatlesque' voice and wouldn't mind hearing him more often.
In the midst of all these excellent vocalists, one singer attracts a lot of attention: Eric Clayton, of the cultband
Saviour Machine,as "Reason", and especially in
'Day seventeen: Accident?', where his, somewhat Bowie-like, theatrical vocals are done justice. Also Mikael Åkerfeldt (
Opeth) deserves a lot of credit, for his role of "Fear". He shows he is a fantastic singer, but fortunately Mr. Lucassen let him show his dark side, for example the unearthly grunt in
'Day twelve: Trauma'. Of course there is lot's to say about the other vocalists, a lot, as they are incredible, but you may find that out yourself!
Besides Ed Warby on drums, Mr. Lucassen himself plays most of the other instruments en we can enjoy those fabulous guitar solos and ethereal synth sounds. But, he did invite some reinforcements: Martin Orford (IQ), Oliver Wakeman (yes, son of…) played synth solos and Joost van den Broek (ex-Sun Caged,
After Forever) played an authentic spinet solo on
'Day thirteen: Sign'! Furthermore all violin, cello and flute parts were played by respectively Robert Baba, Marieke van der Heyden, John McManus (who also blew his part on the Ambeon album) and Jeroen Goossens, who turned out to be extremely versatile, as he brought a huge collection of instruments with him, including a
digdiridoo!
This brings me to a song that has become my favourite one:
'Day sixteen: Loser', where this didgeridoo is heard. This song is stylewise a bit different, very theatrical, but after a few spins, I really love this song: a perfect role, played by Mike Baker (Shadow Gallery), who plays a devilishly evil part as the "Father". Halfway this song you get the absolute meanest Hammond solo, by none other than Uriah Heep's Ken Hensely, and, to really go over the top, Devon Townsend joins in with his screams in the end.
I could write a book on The Human Equation (and by the looks of this review I am already writing the first chapter), but this is a true masterpiece, that you should hear yourself! Arjen Lucassen has surpassed himself (once again) in what most likely is the best release already of 2004! The production and mix are, as we are somewhat used to, of the highest level. The
bonus DVD, that is available with two versions of the album, is packed with a world of entertainment, like a video clip and a making of, with lot's of behind the scenes stuff, such as Arjen's studio, 'The Electric Castle'. The artwork by Jeff Bertels and Mattias Norén (
ProgArt) is simply not of this world and top the package off. This is nothing less then a must-have!
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