SPACE METAL

The name really does say it all. This one you will either love or hate. It really depends upon whether or not you like Sci-Fi. Being a huge Sci-Fi fan myself i think its fantastic and give it 4 stars! but taking into consideration that others among you might not be such huge fans im forced to warn you to think twice. Musically, it is FAR more accesible than Lucassen's other masterpeices, however the price to pay is that it sacrifices a lot of the technicallity, complexity and depth that his other works are celebrated for. The lyrics are a bit less cheesy (the exception being "intergalactic space crusaders"!), the solos are less bizare, the instruments are more conventional (no more flute solos!) and the result is something far less intrusive, deep & meaningfull than Lucassens fantastic "The Human Equation" but far more power-metal/space-rock. The songs are each based upon major sci-fi movies & im currenly having a great time working out and guessing which movies they are. The obvious ones are "masters of darkness" (star wars), "The eye of Ra" (stargate), "sandrider" (dune), "Perfect survivor" (Aliens) and im guessing that "Starchild" is 'space odyssey 2001' & "songs of the ocean" might be one of the star trek ones. Email me if you can work out the others! Given its space based theme it will naturally get compared to Lucassens other space epic "The Flight of the Migrator". Which is better? Honestly, i have to say after a few listens the more progressive, complex & intricate "Migrator" clearly wins, but only because i am writing this in a prog site, and therefore im assuming that if you are reading this, you all like prog. The vocals, as usual are fantastic, not only is Lucassen himself great but in addition hiring some of the best vocalists the industry has to offer! Sir Russel Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson, Dan Sawno & the fantastic Floor Jansen all deserve mention, especially Dans role in "Starchild", it may be the computerisation and editing or whatever, but it sounds Fantastic! If you like highly complex, progressive, concept albums check out Ayreon's "The Human Equation" or "The Flight of the Migrator" first, but if you're a huge fan of sci-fi & would like to listen to something a bit easier to digest with no bizzare surprises, check out this fun CD!