ARJEN LUCASSEN'S STAR ONE - Reveal in time review

The third ARJEN LUCASSEN'S STAR ONE album, "Revel in Time," is a reaction to Arjen Lucassen's previous album, the Ayreon album "Transitus," as well as a stark contrast. "Transitus" is cinematic and the music is primarily focused on the vocals and supports the plot well. There aren't many long instrumental sections, and the music isn't heavily reliant on guitar riffs. In contrast, "Revel in Time," like other Star One albums, is largely riff-based, with a greater emphasis on virtuoso playing. In comparison to "Transitus," it turned out to be a really hefty album.

While the Star One albums are not strictly rock operas with a storyline like Ayreon, they are still concept albums. All of the songs on Star One's first album, "Space Metal," were inspired by films set fully in space, such as "Alien." All of the songs on Star One's second album, "Victims of the Modern Age," are based on apocalyptic, dystopian films like "A Clockwork Orange." The tracks on "'Revel in Time" are all inspired by films that deal with time manipulation in some way. The album's title is a mash-up of "Travel in Time" sans the first "T" and "revel in your time," which some of you fellow sci-fi movie buffs will recognise as a quotation from "Blade Runner."

When compared to previous Star One albums, there is one thing that stands out this time. Floor Jansen, Russell Allen, Damian Wilson, and Dan Swano were the same four singers in the first two. They sang parts in all of the songs and interacted with one another. This time, though, Lucassen chose a different singer for each song. One reason for this was that he was unable to fly the vocalists to The Netherlands and record them in his own studio because of international travel limitations imposed by the pandemic. Normally, the different singers on a song would interact with one another, but Arjen decided to have mostly one singer per track, with a new singer for each track.

This is notably evident on CD 2, dubbed "Same Songs, Different Singers" by Arjen. The recorded guide voices were far too good to be only guide vocals. Arjen thought it would be a pity if no one else heard them, therefore he decided to release the guide voice versions on CD2. Then, at some point, he began to invite other vocalists to perform some of these recordings on the spur of the moment, because he was curious to hear how the songs would sound with other voices. As a result, CD2 features nine different singers, all of whom are equally as good as those on CD1.

Very prog oriented is the beginning of the album with the opener Fate of man: power metal chorus and a great performance by Brittney Slayes and Micheal Romeo, in the solo section. Another important guest star of the album is Sir Russell Allen in the slower - but powerful - second track called 28 Days (Till the End of Time). Very recognizable is the voice of Jeff Scott Soto in track number 4, Back from the Past, with his fellow from Sons of Apollo on lead guitar, Ron Bumblefoot Thal. 

Incredible performance for Joe Lynn Turner in The year of 41 and Dan Swanö for Today is Yesterday, with very peculiar vocals and a great guitar solo by Marcel Singor. Great tune, one of my favourites for sure of the album! Lost Children of the Universe is the closing and longest track of Reveal in time (but released as a first single!) with its 10 minutes and with Roy Khan on vocals and thy majesty Steve Vai, in a superb and long solo section.

Reveal in time is the usual great quality music by Arjen Lucassen with lots of quality guests and very different tunes. If you are a fan, you will like this album for sure.

Rating 70/100

Top tracks: Fate of man, Back from the Past, Today is yesterday. 

Arjen Lucassen: guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals
Ed Warby: drums
Erik van Ittersum: Solina Strings
Marcela Bovio: backing vocals
Irene Jansen: backing vocals

Guests:
CD I:
1) Fate of Man:
lead and backing vocals: Brittney Slayes
guitar solo: Michael Romeo

2) 28 Days (Till the End of Time):
lead vocal: Sir Russell Allen
guitar solos: Timo Somers

3) Prescient:
lead and backing vocals:
Micheal Mills and Ross Jennings

4) Back from the Past:
lead vocal: Jeff Scott Soto
guitar solo: Ron Bumblefoot Thal

5) Revel in Time:
lead vocal: Brandon Yeagley
guitar solos: Adrian Vandenberg

6) The Year of ’41:
lead vocal: Joe Lynn Turner
vocalization: Will Shaw
guitar solo: Joel Hoekstra
synthesizer solo: Jens Johansson

7) Bridge of Life:
lead vocal: Damian Wilson

8) Today is Yesterday:
lead vocal: Dan Swanö
Moog synthesizers: Lisa Bella Donna
guitar solo: Marcel Singor

9) A Hand on the Clock:
lead and backing vocals: Floor Jansen
Hammond solo: Joost van den Broek

10) Beyond the Edge of it All:
lead vocal: John Jaycee Cuijpers_
guitar solo: Arjen Lucassen

11) Lost Children of the Universe:
lead vocals: Roy Khan
choir: Hellscore Choir
guitar solo: Steve Vai

CD II - Same songs, different singers:

1) Fate of Man:
lead and backing vocals: Marcela Bovio

2) 28 Days (Till the End of Time):
lead vocal: John Jaycee Cuijpers

3) Prescient:
lead and backing vocals: Will Shaw

4) Back from the Past:
lead vocal: John Jaycee Cuijpers

5) Revel in Time:
lead vocal: John Jaycee Cuijpers

6) The Year of ’41:
lead vocal and synth solo: Alessandro Del Vecchio

7) Bridge of Life:
lead vocals: Wilmer Waarbroek

8) Today is Yesterday:
lead vocals: Arjen Lucassen

9) A Hand on the Clock:
lead and backing vocals: Marcela Bovio and Irene Jansen (verses)

10) Beyond the Edge of it All:
lead vocals: Mike Andersson

11) Lost Children of the Universe:
lead vocals: Tony Martin