 |
Space Metal Review: STAR ONE audio CD by Cap'n Andy Published 6/5/02 Now choose your fate / And be a Master of Darkness |
Space Metal by STAR ONE - Music CD featuring Russell Allen (Symphony X), Floor Jansen (After Forever), Dan Swano (Nightingale), Damian Wilson (Ex-treshold) and Johansson (Stratovarius).
STAR ONE's Space Metal is several things at once:
rock opera, guessing game, and heavy metal album. What's surprising is how well it manages
to do all three.
The album has a conceit that I find quite entertaining, and STAR ONE lays it out nicely in
the opening two tracks, "Lift-Off" and "Set Your Controls." Basically,
the idea is that you're on a space ship that's going to travel through several realities,
and this album is your musical tour. I don't think anyone's ever really done anything like
that before (if I'm wrong, I know you all will correct me), and I like it.
So that's the rock opera
part, but how is it a guessing game? Well, like I said, each of the songs (apart from the
opening two, which set up the "voyage") is based upon a sci-fi film. However,
nowhere in the liner notes of songs do they actually tell you what film the song is based
upon, no doubt because of copyright issues. So far, I know that one of the songs is based
upon Star Wars (STAR ONE told me so, and if it wasn't, the album wouldn't be being
reviewed here), and I'm sure that Star Trek IV, Stargate, Dune, and 2001 are some of the
others. I'm pretty sure that Alien is another of the films, and I'm guessing that one of
them is based upon Total Recall. One of them, entitled "High Noon," completely
stumped me, but I had a good time listening to the songs and figuring out their
inspirations.
Of course, all the clever concepts and lyrics would be utterly moot if the music sucked.
Luckily, it completely does not. In fact, STAR ONE has a very good metal sound going on.
In "Master of Darkness," they sound quite a bit like early Metallica. That's a
compliment, folks -- I hate Metallica with an undying passion for helping to kill Napster,
but you cannot deny that they were once a very good metal band. Of course, they're
annoying sellouts now. Tangents aside, I liked the songs quite a bit. The vocals are very
strong, managing to emote enough to turn silly sounding lines like "Now choose your
fate / And be a Master of Darkness" into effective lyrics.
Bottom line, if you've got any taste for metal whatsoever, I'd recommend Space Metal. Rock
out to the songs or try to figure out just what the inspiration was, or do both at the
same time. You'll enjoy yourself either way.
[Note: For the same price, the Space Metal Limited Edition containing a bonus CD featuring a medley by Hawkwind vocalist Dave Brock, two Star One original songs "Spaced Out" and "Inseparable Enemies," a cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity," a longer version of "Starchild," and a bonus track not listed on the sleeve.]
The CD's nascent website can be found at http://www.ayreon.com.
Purchase
this CD at Amazon.com
Purchase the limited edition CD at Amazon.com
Discuss this article on our message boards.
(Cap'n Andy has read every NJO book so far. When he's not reading, he's usually playing games, messing around on his computer, or roleplaying. And he's seriously stoked about Galaxies coming out soon.)