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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

(Star One)- "Victims of the Modern Age"- (Phil)

Reviewed by:

"Philip Wooldridge"- (Ravenheart Music)

Genre:
{Rock/Symphonic-Metal}-(Music)
Country:
Netherlands
Length:
(CD-1) - (53:09) & (CD-2)-(55:00)
Release Date:
October 25, 2010
Band Members: Russell Allen/Damian Wilson/Floor Jansen/Dan Swanö- Vocals Arjen Lucassen - Guitars, keyboards
  Ed Warby - Drums Peter Vink - bass
  Joost van den Broek - keyboard solos Gary Wehrkamp - guitar solos
     
Track Listing: 1.)-Down the Rabbit Hole (1:20)
9.)-It All Ends Here (9:46)
  2.)-Digital Rain (6:23)
CD-2 (Enhanced Multi-media CD with LIMITED EDITION 2-CD MEDIABOOK):
  3.)-Earth that Was (6:08) 1.)-As the Crow Dies (4:42)
  4.)- Victim of the Modern Age (6:27) 2.)-Two Plus Two Equals Five (5:04)
  5.)-Human See, Human Do (5:14) 3.)- Lastday (4:46)
  6.)-24 Hours (7:20) 4.)-Closer to the Stars ( 5:11)
  7.)-Cassandra Complex (5:24) 5.)-Knife Edge (ELP cover) ( 4:25)
  8.)-It's Alive, She's Alive, We're Alive (5:07) 6.)- The Making of Victims of the Modern Age (Video) (35:00)

Review:

Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon fame is back with a relative rarity, a second instalment of one of his side projects. They normally last only one album, or in the case of Stream of Passion, carry on without him. The original Star One was a metal reaction to the gentle Ambeon album, perhaps this is a response to last years Guilt Machine alt-rock album. The name Star One comes from an episode in the cheesy but highly enjoyable and very deeply meaningful cult British 1970’s Sci Fi show Blake’s 7 written by Terry Nation, the man who gave the world Daleks. Blake and half the crew were soon dead or missing giving the minor characters a chance to shine, a bit like Stream Of Passion, it should have been renamed ‘The Blakeless Four’. The intro lulls you into thinking that this is Ayreon, but the mighty metal of ‘Digital Rain’ soon photon torpedoes that theory with Damian Wilson bellowing like a wild lava beast. Some of the Ayreon prog and Arjen’s signature sound remain, but this is the dark side of the moon, all raging riffage, thundering rhythms and roaring synths. Floor Jansen crops up a few times, but this barely qualifies as female fronted, this is very much Damian’s show. The exception is the more melodic ‘Cassandra Complex’ where Floors duets with him, and is the standout track for me. The lyrics are equally heavy, dealing with man’s destruction of the planet. If you like the heavy side of Ayreon or highly sophisticated heavy space metal then beam down and buy it, this has Arjen’s stamp of high quality. However I like the mix of light and heavy that is Ayreon, I personally found this far too biased towards the heavy, I know that is the purpose, but it is remorselessly, mercilessly, intensively heavy, my poor ears were battered and bruised towards the end, so a pulverising 8.75 out of 10.

 

 

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