ON THIS PERFECT DAY

Guilt Machine is the latest venture from Dutch composer and guitarist Arjen Lucassen, who following his tenure in hair metal act Vengeance back in the 80's made a name for himself with prog metal concept Ayreon in the 90's, releasing a score of commercially successfull albums under that moniker as well as several highly respected spin-offs and side projects to this endeavour.

This latest venture is very close to Ayreon in overall sound, where dramatic build-ups and soundscapes is the name of the game. The compositions all start off relatively mellow and melodic, and gradually builds up tensions and evolves the soundscapes in the 1 till 3 major parts each compositions is divided into. Rich, dramatic synths and heavy guitar riffs make up the bombastic climaxes in the appropriate parts of most songs, and the usual heavy, chumping riff passages are included as well as the folk-tinged embellishments one kind of expects Arjen to include in his productions these days.

Synths and keyboards does dominate a bit more here than on most Ayreon albums though, and while he opts for a powerful vocalist with a dramatic voice for this disc as well, he limits himself to one vocalist this time around.

As usual this is a strong production. Many themes and elements of the previous Ayreon CD are recycled though, and the level of actual new content may slightly disappoint existing fans somewhat. Still, the first two tracks on this CD ranks among the best tunes penned by Mr. Lucassen, and with two more strong efforts to boot this is a release worth having, even if it does contain a couple of songs that doesn't convince.