Arjen Lucassen

So you think you know Arjen Lucassen, huh? Towering Dutch prog rock polymath? The man behind the super successful prog rock conceptualists Ayreon? Not to mention his prog metal offshoots Star One and Guilt Machine? Enormous overarching concept albums about space and time, packed to the hilt with special guests that read like a who’s who of modern day progressive rock? Records that take as long to conceive as they do to record? That Arjen Lucassen? Well, think again…
"Golden Age Of Music", the latest album to feature Lucassen’s not inconsiderable talents, may also feature stellar musicianship and killer tunes, but there is no storyline that takes place far into the future in the far flung depths of space. Nor do the album’s 11 tracks come courtesy of an unending list of guest artists…

Guilt Machine is a project by Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon among many other projects and bands. On this album he departs from the over the top complexity of Ayreon in favor of the simplicity of a relatively small line-up. Rather than putting together an ensemble cast of vocalists, Arjen recruited Jasper Steverlinck, singer of the Belgian alternative rock band Arid, as the sole vocalist of Guilt Machine. The talents of Chris Maitland (ex-Porcupine Tree) were enlisted for the drum parts. Arjen's partner and manager Lori Linstruth supplied the guitar solos. The rest of the instruments were played by Arjen himself, who also sings backing vocals. Musically, this album is a more mellow affair and may not be metal in the traditional sense. Instead it takes on an alternative prog direction that sounds a lot like a combination of bands such as Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Opeth's "Damnation," and Muse…

With a career spanning more than three decades, composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen has firmly established himself worldwide as driving force in progressive rock. While best known for his rock opera project Ayreon, the multi-talented Dutchman also regularly embarks on musical side projects such as Ambeon, Guilt Machine and Star One. Arjen’s side projects all explore different aspects of his musical personality, with each new release being a creative reaction to the style of its predecessor. Star One is no exception.
The first Star One album, Space Metal (2002) was Arjen’s reaction to his previous project, the relatively soft Ambeon. After releasing the first few Ayreon albums, Arjen had noticed that many others were following in his footsteps and releasing their own rock operas…

With a career spanning more than three decades, composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen has firmly established himself worldwide as driving force in progressive rock. While best known for his rock opera project Ayreon, the multi-talented Dutchman also regularly embarks on musical side projects such as Ambeon, Guilt Machine and Star One. These projects all explore different aspects of Lucassen's musical personality. Lucassen strives to keep a consistent cast of vocalists for Star One rather than mixing it up with the ever-changing vocal line-up that characterizes Ayreon. For "Victims of the Modern Age" he reunited the stellar cast of lead vocalists from the first album, “Space Metal” (2002): Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson (Headspace, Threshold), Floor Jansen (ReVamp, ex-After Forever), and Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Second Sky, ex-Edge Of Sanity)…

17th May will see the release of Lucassen & Soeterboek's Plan Nine album 'The Long-Lost Songs' via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group. It was the early nineties, and musical polymath Arjen Lucassen had begun working on several projects: a solo album, a progressive-rock opera and a rock album. Around this time, he watched singer Robert Soeterboek perform live with Bodine, his former early-eighties heavy metal band. "His vocals truly impressed me, a rarity!" Lucassen recalls. "He had the charisma and power of singers like David Coverdale and Robert Plant. Discovering that we really got along personally, we decided to collaborate on some songs, just for fun."

17th May will see the release of Lucassen & Soeterboek's Plan Nine album 'The Long-Lost Songs' via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group. It was the early nineties, and musical polymath Arjen Lucassen had begun working on several projects: a solo album, a progressive-rock opera and a rock album. Around this time, he watched singer Robert Soeterboek perform live with Bodine, his former early-eighties heavy metal band. "His vocals truly impressed me, a rarity!" Lucassen recalls. "He had the charisma and power of singers like David Coverdale and Robert Plant. Discovering that we really got along personally, we decided to collaborate on some songs, just for fun."