EMBRACE THE STORM

I think most AYREONAUTS know the story. Arjen Lucassen is always very open minded in seeking new talent and he had placed a kind of a contest on his website. Of course, many tapes and cd's were returned to his address. The winner would win nothing less than a place in his forthcoming rock opera at the time: "The Human Equation"

One of the female vocalists really stood out; it was Mexican singer Marcela Bovio. We know the rest. This is how Marcela ended up on AYREON's "Human Equation" project. But what would happen to all this talent after Arjen had finished his latest AYREON project. There were two things that he really wanted: 1) he wanted to continue working with the very talented Marcela and 2) he wanted to form a band for the first time again in ten years. Arjen also found a talented Dutch drummer through a musician's contest. And an American female guitarist residing in Sweden. Finally he added a Mexican pianist and a Dutch bass player and "Stream Of Passion" was created.

I guess the name "Stream Of Passion" was an easy pick as Marcela sings with so much passion in her voice. So what can we say about SoP? Is it a true band or is it just another AYREON project with now just a female singer to sing all the tracks opposed to many different singers? I personally think it is a bit of both. With "Embrace the Storm" every band member had his or her own inputs. They were all communicating, writing and bringing in idea's for this new project. However: on the SoP double album "Live in the Real World" (also available on DVD) SoP also brings quite a few AYREON songs. I personally like all of Arjen's work, so for me that really works, but I can imagine to others it could feel a bit like a "sell-out".

Back to the album: what can I say more? If you like AYREON, AMBEON and STAR ONE you will most probably love this album by SoP as well! (Like I do).