Space Metal - MetalStorm.ee

Arjen Lucassen is mainly known for his band Ayreon, which makes it quite a surprise that so few people are aware of his another project called Star One. The style of Star One is not as similar to Ayreon as you would think. Progressive elements remain in this music, but not as strongly as they can be heard when listening to Ayreon. Star One’s music could be called space-themed progressive heavy metal. Here Arjen has clearly taken some influences from one of the fathers of the space rock-genre, Hawkwind.

Excluding the second track, songs on the album are all based on some science fiction series/movie. ``Master of Darkness´´ on Star Wars, ``Songs of The Ocean´´ on Star Trek series and so on. The songs have short storylines of the plot of the series/movie as lyrics. Containing many speeches, there are also four other vocalists besides Arjen: Dan Swanö, a well-known growler; Damian Wilson; Robert Soeterboerk; and Floor Jansen doing some female vocals.

Going on to the sound of the album, it all begins with an interesting intro called ``Lift Off´´ that leads directly to an amazing track ``Set Your Controls,´´ the only song on the album that Arjen has composed without taking the lyrical theme from some series/movie. Drums and keyboards support each other greatly and Arjen’s vocals are incredible. Continuing on the album, the songs contain everything that can be required from an album. There are several parts that have really strong and interesting progressive elements. The last track, Starchild, is a long slow song to end the album; this balances out the many fast songs on the album.

There is also a bonus disc on the limited edition of this album. It contains two new songs, a David Bowie Cover “Space Oddity,” and alternative versions for “Starchild” and “Spaced Out.” The opener, however, is the song ``Hawkwind Medley´´ done with the co-operation of Hawkwind; Dave Brock on main vocals. There is also a hidden track ``Intergalactic Laxative´´ (Donovan Cover) which seriously can quickly make you fall back on earth especially if you read the lyrics while listening to it. There is not much to say about this side of the album, David Bowie cover was a brave attempt and Arjen managed to create quite a good cover of it, which is hard for such a classic song. The song with Hawkwind also created a masterpiece musically. The alternative versions of ``Starchild´´ and ``Spaced Out´´ do not, unfortunately, bring anything new.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s project has created a masterpiece of the space rock-genre in a heavier form; Space Metal is a perfect definition for this album!