THE HUMAN EQUATION

The first thing to strike someone is the cover. For The Human Equation, that impression was really good. The artwork is amazingly beatiful and wellmade, by Jeff Bertels, and the papercase that held the CD and DVD cases felt like high quality stuff. Also when opening and sweeping through the booklet it felt very thought through. Every page was beautifully covered by artwork, fitting into the song which text was displayed on that page.

The Story:

This was my first work of Arjen Lucassen, so I really didn´t know what to expect. Very soon I understood that The Human Equation was built on some kind of story. Shortly, the story is about a man in a very wierd caraccident. The man (sung by James LaBrie) falls into a coma, and though the doctors cant find and wrong with him he doesnt wake from it. The mans best friend (Arjen Lucassen) and his wife (Marcela Bovio) is sitting by his side at the hospitalbed, wondering why he is not waking up, and thinking about if this really was an accident. Though inside the mans head he is fighting an internal fight with his subconciuns. The different parts of his subconciuns reason (Eric Clayton), love (Heather Findlay), fear (Mikael Åkerfeldt) , pride (Magnus Ekwall), passion (Irene Jansen), agony (Devon Graves) and rage (Devin Townsend) pulls him in different directions, and with time they start to find the reason to the mystical accident... (saince all other characters are named, I though I might aswell mention the mans father, sung by Mike Baker)

The Music:

Now for the most important factor of the album. As I said I had never before heard anything from Arjen Lucassen, so I was really excited the first time I put the first CD into my stereo. Day One: Vigil, so starts with a short beautiful duet between the wife and best friend. Very fast you become thrown into the story, and I took som hours to just listen carefully at the lyrics and read along with them to understand the story. The music itself is in my opinion very good. At many points it is very emotional, and always it follows the mood of the lyrics skillfully. All guitars and basses, and most of the synth and organs are recorded by Lucassen, himself. The drums were recorded by the very skillful drummer Ed Warby. There are also a number of "classical" instruments, such as violin and cellos, but I´ve decided not to take a closer look at them in this review.

Saince The Human Equation is a rock-opera it is very focused at the song. Most songs are built up as duets, or with more characters at once. The songs are often built with two characters singing against eachoether, such as the wife against best friend, or reason against pride. This often gives a very nice effect, and on Day Three: Pain, Devin Townsend makes a powerful entrence as Rage, partly growling. This is not the only growlparts through the album, and I´m not a personal fan of the singing style, but in The Human Equation it works suprisingly good. There are also a number of other character whose singing is worth mentioning. Marcela Bovio as Wife and Heather Findlay as Love sometimes sings together, then and alone these two are the ones who most of all stands for the beautiful singing. They both really gave me goosebumps from time to time! Findlays voice is very soft and kind, and she really fits perfect in the role as Love. Bovio also does a fabilus part as the loving wife. The last I will mention of the singers with a little extra attention is Irene Jansen in the role of Passion. Irene is really one of the most powerful female singers I have ever heard, and you don´t miss any time she enters the song and ads her extra power, and also beauty.

Conclusion:

The Human Equation is a fantastic album, and I never hoped for more from it. The music is great, and from time to time the story and singing really moved me. The DVD in the special edition also added it´s little extra star in the corner, and I really enjoyed watching the 65 minutes of extramaterial of filmed material from the recording, the video clip for Day Eleven: Love, and the teaser video. As a conclision to all this, I really think the album is worth every penny I would have spent on it, as long as it hadn´t been a gift for christmas! It is really one of the best alblums I have, and have ever heard! I would give it a 5 out of 5, no boubt. This album will stay near my heart for a long time.

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