Double album on purple vinyls with gatefold cover, booklet andthe complete album on two cds as bonus. Limited 500 copies

With a career spanning more than three decades, composer andmulti-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen has firmly established himselfworldwide as driving force in progressive rock. While best knownfor his rock opera project Ayreon, the multi-talented Dutchman alsoregularly embarks on musical side projects such as Ambeon, GuiltMachine and Star One. These projects all explore different aspectsof Lucassen’s musical personality, with each new release being acreative reaction to the style of its predecessor. As his previousproject (Guilt Machine’s “On This Perfect Day” 2009) was arelatively relaxed and subtle affair, Lucassen’s muses responded byurging him to record something loud, heavy and anything but subtlefor this new release. Thus it was a perfect opportunity to launchhis musical spacecraft towards the galaxy of bombastic sci-fi rockby revisiting his Star One project. The result is the album“Victims of the Modern Age,” the follow-up to the Star One debutalbum, “Space Metal” (2002). Lucassen strives to keep a consistentcast of vocalists for Star One rather than mixing it up with theever-changing vocal line-up that characterizes Ayreon. For “Victimsof the Modern Age” he reunited the stellar cast of lead vocalistsfrom the first album: Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson(Headspace, Threshold), Floor Jansen (ReVamp, ex-After Forever),and Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Second Sky, ex-Edge Of Sanity). Rangingfrom soaring power vocals to hauntingly melodic passages to brutalgrowls, the contrasting vocal styles of these magnificent vocalistsprovide each song with a stunning variety of vocal textures. Whenit comes to instruments, the tall Dutchman played the rhythmguitars, Hammond organ, Mellotron, Solina strings and analog synthshimself, and invited drummer Ed Warby (Ayreon, Hail of Bullets,Gorefest) and bassist Peter Vink to lay down the powerful rhythmtracks. He also enlisted the intimidating solo skills of formerAfter Forever keyboardist Joost van den Broek and guitarist GaryWehrkamp (Shadow Gallery), each of whom provide their trademarkscorching solos. On top of this formidable cast, Lucassen recruitedthree other singers — Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Full Force,Silent Memorial), Rodney Blaze, and former Black Sabbath front manTony Martin — for some additional tracks to be featured on thealbum’s CD2 (Special Edition only). These tracks are by no meansjust leftover “bonus” tracks; they are, as Lucassen puts it, “songsthat didn’t fit in with the overall sound and concept of ‘Victimsof the Modern Age,’ but were simply too good not to use. Thesesongs also gave me the chance to work with other fantasticvocalists who aren’t part of the actual Star One line-up.” WhileStar One is not technically a rock opera like Ayreon, it is stillvery much a concept album. Rather than following continuousstoryline, each song is based on a different sci-fi film and tellsits own story. Lucassen describes the concept of “Victims Of TheModern Age” as follows: “I based the songs on dystopian andpost-apocalyptic sci-fi movies that have made an impression on methroughout my life. Unlike the first Star One album ‘Space Metal,’where all the songs were set in space, this time most of the songstake place right here on Earth. No, I’m not going to tell you whichmovies inspired the tracks — that would spoil all the fun! And I dohope that the dark subject matter won’t keep people from enjoyingthis journey through time to some of the more grim possibleoutcomes for humanity’s future.” Compared to 2002’s “Space Metal,”the overall sound of “Victims Of The Modern Age” is darker,heavier, more guitar-oriented, and slightly less “spacey.” Arjenhas also raised the bar significantly when it comes to the album’ssound: “I think it’s my best sounding album to date; it’s a hugedifference compared to the first Star One. For the guitars I spentweeks experimenting with different amps and settings in everycombination imaginable — and it was worth it. The drums soundfantastic, and the vocalists all outdid themselves, putting in evenstronger performances than they did the first time around.” Withits stellar musicianship, strong melodies, meticulous productionand compelling concept, Star One “Victims of the Modern Age” is yetanother exciting project from one of rock’s great visionaries. Theline-up for this album is: Vocalists Sir Russell Allen (Symphony X)Damian Wilson (Headspace, Threshold) Dan Swanö (Nightingale, SecondSky, ex-Edge Of Sanity) Floor Jansen (ReVamp, ex-After Forever)Instrumentalists Arjen Anthony Lucassen – guitars, hammond,mellotron, minimoog, solina strings Ed Warby (Ayreon, Hail ofBullets, Gorefest) – drums Peter Vink – bass Joost van den Broek(ex-After Forever) – keyboard solos Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery)– guitar solos Special guest vocalists Tony Martin (ex-BlackSabbath) Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Full Force, Silent Memorial)Rodney Blaze

Track listing:
1. Down The Rabbit Hole
2. Digital Rain
3. Earth That Was
4. Victim Of The Modern Age
5. Human See Human Do
6. 24 Hours
7. Cassandra Complex
8. Its Alive Shes Alive Were Alive
9. It All Ends Here
10. As the Crow Dies
11. Two Plus Two Equals Five
12. Lastday
13. Closer to the Stars
14. Knife Edge

Condition cover: nm

Condition vinyl: nm

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