Thursday, October 29, 2009

Arjen Lucassen

Arjen Lucassen the dutch born multi instrumentalist is a freaking genius. He is well known for his work under the name of Ayreon and he has used a multitude of guest singers and instrumentalists on his "rock operas" such as:

Barry Hay - Golden Earring
Bruce Dickinson - Iron Maiden
Damian Wilson - Threshold
Devin Townsend - Strapping Young Lad
James LaBrie - Dream Theater
Lenny Wolf - Kingdom Come
Mikael Akerfeldt - Opeth

And so many more too numerous to mention.

Now Arjen has released a side project called Guilt Machine and an album titled "On This Perfect Day" and I gotta tell you that this is one helluva album and unlike other masterpieces, instead of using a multitude of singers he has used just one, a young relatively unknown Belgian guy called Jasper Steverlinck and the result is amazing. At times you can hear shades of Queens Freddy Mercury and at others Ian Astbury (The Cult).

This young guy can really sing and is not your archetypal heavy rock singer, his vocals are soft and exceptionally powerful and perhaps that's why it works so so very well.

Have a listen, go and buy it and all you prog rockers be prepared to be blown away by this latest Arjen Lucassen project.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Alice In Chains


Look up the new fantastic album from Alice In Chains " Black Gives Way to Blue". It's amazing and well worth a listen. It's £7.99 from ITunes.

Warrior Soul


In 2006 I wrote about Warrior Soul, one of the most significant rock bands of the nineties. I said they were no longer on the scene, but imagine my sickening frustration when I learned they actually played a gig near me in July and I was not aware ! Maybe the only remaining original member is Kory Klarke their enigmatic front man but still . . . bum, damn and blast !!