Star One - "Live On Earth"

Star One - Live On Earth
2003, Inside Out

Disc One:
1. Lift Off
2. Set Your Controls
3. High Moon
4. Dreamtime
5. Eyes of Time
6. Songs of the Ocean
7. Dawn Of a Million Souls
8. The Dream Sequencer
9. Into the Black Hole
10. Actual Fantasy
11. Valley of the Queens

Disc Two:
1. Isis and Osiris
2. Amazing Flight in Space
3. Intergalactic Space Crusaders
4. The Castle Hall
5. The Eye of Ra
6. Starchild
7. The Two Gates

What happens when you get real musicians to play live? Actual music. I say this because I watched a Fall Out Boy concert on DVD and wondered why the heck anyone would go see them live. They were awful. Star One on the other hand is chocked full of talent. As a result Live On Earth sounds almost perfect. Nobody misses notes, nobody screws up the lyrics, the crowd is excited. There's a good mix of Star One material along with a considerable amount of Ayreon stuff as well. A pretty good live album if I do say so myself. Thanks Uvulapie!

Useless Fact: This concert was also filmed for a DVD. Everyone wore shiny space-type clothes to match the theme.

Star One - "Victims of the Modern Age"

Star One - Victims of the Modern Age

2010, InsideOut

Disc One:

1. Down the Rabbit Hole

2. Digital Rain (The Matrix)

3. Earth That Was (Firefly/Serenity)

4. Victim of the Modern Age (A Clockwork Orange)

5. Human See, Human Do (Planet of the Apes)

6. 24 Hours (Escape From New York)

7. Cassandra Complex (12 Monkeys)

8. It's Alive, She's Alive, We're Alive (Children of Men)

9. It All Ends Here (Blade Runner)

Disc Two:

1. As the Crow Dies (The Road)

2. Two Plus Two Equals Five (1984)

3. Last Day (Logan's Run)

4. Closer to the Stars (Gattaca)

5. Knife Edge

I got to open a Christmas present early a few days ago. As you can see, that present was the mediabook edition of Star One's new album Victims of the Modern Age. It hasn't been too long since I listened to the first one and I liked it even if I thought it was a tad samey in parts. However, I can say that Victims is much better than Space Metal. The first thing I noticed, aside from how amazingly heavy it is, is that the hooks are much more apparent here. All of the same vocalists from the first disc return - no complaint there. Dan Swano has a much more prominent role in here and even gets to growl on a couple tracks. Another thing that made me smile was that this doesn't just sound like slightly beefed-up Ayreon tracks either. Despite Arjen's ever present Hammonds and synths, I didn't feel like I was hearing more of the same. I think there's a vitality and excitement here that may have not been present on Ayreon's latest CD. Some parts reminded me of Devin Townsend's Physicist and other parts King's X. I will say that I prefer "Starchild" to "It All Ends Here" in terms of epic closing songs. I'd also like to praise Ed Warby's drumming here. He's always been fantastic, but I actually agree with Arjen that this is one of his best performances.

The theme for Victims is post-apocalyptic movies - I've listed which one go with which songs for your convenience. Finally, if you're going to get this, splurge and get the mediabook edition. It contains an extra disc with five extra songs and a half-hour "making of" documentary. Of the five, four are awesome and I really think that they should have included them on the disc proper. On "Last Day" Arjen takes his downtuned riffs and plays them acoustically, leading to an interesting Days of the New-type sound. I didn't care for "Closer to the Stars" because it sounded like an Ayreon cast-off to me. The documentary is fun to watch - you'll know what to expect if you've seen most of the Ayreon ones.

When I listened to "Digital Rain" for the first time I didn't think I would like this as much as I do. Definitely worth the dough!

Useless Fact: Arjen said that this album was sort of a reaction to his previous Guilt Machine project that was more melodic and atmospheric.

Star One - "Space Metal"

Star One - Space Metal

2002, Inside Out

1. Lift Off

2. Set Your Controls

3. High Moon (Outlander)

4. Songs of the Ocean (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

5. Master of Darkness (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)

6. The Eye of Ra (Stargate)

7. Sandrider (Dune)

8. Perfect Survivor (Alien)

9. Intergalactic Space Crusaders (Blake 7)

10. Starchild (2001: A Space Odyssee and 2010)

Star One is a side project of Arjen Lucassen. After he made his mellow Ambeon album Arjen wanted to make a straight-forward metal album. It's about as straight-forward as Arjen is really capable of. There's still plenty of progressive playing and multipart songs. However, it is heavier than anything Ayreon has done and the songs aren't as long for the most part - except for the 10 minute epic "Starchild". The songs are based off of various sci-fi films (I've provided the titles above). To be honest this sounds like a heavier version of The Universal Migrator II: Flight of the Navigator. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm not sure the hooks are as apparent but it's a really fun listen. It even made me want to rewatch some of these old classic movies. A few of the vocalists have appeared on other Ayreon projects like Damien Wilson and Floor Jansen. Russell Allen is from Symphony X and Ed Warby once again provides the drums. Basically, if you like Ayreon you'll like this too. My only complaint about this disc is that the chorus of "Sandrider" and the chorus of "Intergalactic Space Crusader" sound a little too similar.

Useless Fact: Star One also produced a live album and Arjen is currently working on a new Star One project as I write this.