Freedom to Music
Posts tagged Lori Linstruth
Guilt Machine – On This Perfect Day (2009) (@256)
03 Aug 2010
(Review from roadrunnerrecords.com, wikipedia)
In February 2009, Arjen announced in his website that he would be working on his new side project Guilt Machine.
Rather than putting together an ensemble cast of vocalists from the prog, rock and metal scene, Arjen has enlisted the talents of a single alternative rock vocalist, Jasper Steverlinck. His voice, besides its beautiful clear timbre, has the emotion and credibility he puts into his performance and his enormous range. Because this project features just one singer, he alone pulls of the versatility enough to portray all of the different moods.
This time around, we have a different drummer, ex-Porcupine Tree Chris Maitland. He has both the power for the heavy sections and the subtle touch needed in the more atmospheric parts,
Instead of the explicit storyline you would expect in an Ayreon release, the songs of Guilt Machine revolve around a central theme. Instead of looking outward into a world of fantasy or science fiction, the songs look inward, exploring the destructive psychology of guilt, regret and the darkest form of secret — the secrets people hide from themselves. Lori Linstruth definitely gives the songs an extra dimension with her lyrics, exorcising the demons she and Arjen both had faced in the past few years. She also plays all the guitar solos on this album with her melodic guitar style.
Despite these differences, Guilt Machine still has much in common with Ayreon. The songs are mainly long, “epic” tracks that feature dynamic contrasts between softer, dreamy sections and powerful, heavy passages. There are intricate harmonies, complex rhythms, soaring melodies, and an eclectic selection of instruments — all what you’d expect from an Ayreon release.
Regarding a future album of the project, Arjen stated that “we definitely want to make another Guilt Machine album”.
Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / back vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, mandolin
- Jasper Steverlinck / vocals
- Lori Linstruth / lead guitar, lyrics
- Chris Maitland / drums
Track List:
01. Twisted Coil – 11:43
02. Leland Street – 8:03
03. Green And Cream – 10:32
04. Season Of Denial – 10:22
05. Over – 6:11
06. Perfection – 10:46
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Ayreon – 01011001 (2008) (@256)
02 Aug 2010
(Review from metal-archives.com, progarchives.com, amazon)
Arjen Lucassen sure has evolved big time since his days as a guitarist in Dutch hair metal band Vengeance. 01011001 is the seventh regular release from his Ayreon project.
Ambient and electronic music has a clear influence on the sound here, folk music influences are used quite extensively too; and the songs come across as well structured, planned and executed.
Less dramatics and less metal than in the previous releases; and not as pretentious as previous releases either.
Those who missed the instrumental section on “The Human Equation” will be glad to see their return with “0101101″. The production values are closer to “The Human Equation” than anything else, but the songs are written more in the style of “Electric Castle” and “Universal Migrator”, with longer vocal parts and long instrumentals. Thanks to the aid of many top-gun progressive musicians, Symphony X’s Michael Romeo and ex-Dream Theater’s Derek Sherinian among them, “0101101″ should not be a disappointment to the progressive fans who were hooked with “Electric Castle” or “Universal Migrator”.
The structure of the concept, it is divided into two different disc: “Y” and “Earth”, each one including the planet where its own part of the story develops. Between both albums, a total of 17 different vocalists are featured, divided in two categories: Forever and Men.
The first disc “Y”, can be considered as the very beginning of the whole Ayreon story. Its name refers to the planet “Y”, an imaginary planet located in the Andromeda constelation and supposed to be home for the Forevers, intelligent beings (just like mankind, and this happens because, further on the story, it is said that mankind was actually created by the Forevers) that now try to stay alive by artificial ways because machines have destroyed their planet and their sun, forcing them to live in the darkness and lose their emotions. They moan for an undefined period of time in the shadows until they discover a way to survive in another planet, by sending their DNA to a distant galaxy on a comet to find the perfect planet while they look after them in every moment.
Due to the fact that about 3 or 4 of the 8 songs of the disc are connected with the sadness, darkness, memories and lack of emotions of the Forevers, “Y” is incredibly melancholic (in contrast with the “happiness” found in the other disc), ethereal and, of course, very slow. These elements create a very delicate harmony based on tragedy, loss, grief, greed and a little arrogance.
The second disc, “Earth” continues the concept that was told in “Ride The Comet”, with the discovering by the Forevers of a planet perfect to breed a new race and live again throght them. That planet was the Earth, back then inhabited by the dinosaurs. The Forevers, sensing danger from those giant reptiles, killed them and placed their seeds on Earth, resulting in the birth of the human race. Next, according to the story, Forevers gave men and women emotions and feelings but, fearing that the humans’ evolution moved far too slow, they started giving manking more knowledge than what they could control, leading to overpopulation, massive pollution, nuclear bombs, global warming and misuse of liberty and expression. Wanting to prevent mankind from their eventual destruction, the Forevers started sending them signals, but all efforts were useless: nothing could be done, and mankind was destroyed during a nuclear World War in 2084 (as told before on “Flight of The Migrator Pt. I: The Dream Sequencer”), and forcing the survivors to escpae to Mars: They eventually die until there’s only one man alive and, knowing he won’t survive, the Forevers send him their last hope in the shape of the artifact called the Dream Sequencer, not before pleading to the Universal Migrator to restore their lives.
“Earth” includes more lively songs than “Y”, faster tempos and “brighter” atmospheres, giving the sensation of being surrounded by life every time. It’s clearly more aggressive, including even death grunts. This time, the atmosphere is not as important as before, losing the leadership of the songs and giving it to the guitars, keyboards and strings, which are more widely used this time.
Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, synths and programming
with
- Anneke Van Giersbergen / vocals
- Bob Catley / vocals
- Daniel Gildenlow / vocals
- Floor Jansen / vocals
- Hansi Kursch / vocals
- Jonas Renkse / vocals
- Jorn Lande / vocals
- Liselotte Hegt / vocals
- Magali Luyten / vocals
- Marjan Welman / vocals
- Phideaux Xavier / vocals
- Simone Simons / vocals
- Steve Lee / vocals
- Tom S. Englund / vocals
- Ty Tabor / vocals
- Wudstik / vocals
- Lori Linstruth / guitars
- Michael Romeo / guitars
- Ben Mathot / Violin
- David Faber / Violoncello
- Jeroen Goossens / Flute
- Derek Sherinian / keyboards
- Joost van den Broek / keyboards
- Tomas Bodin / keyboards
- Ed Warby / drum
Track List:
CD1
01. Age of Shadows – 10:47
02. Comatose – 4:26
03. Liquid Eternity – 8:09
04. Connect the Dots – 4:12
05. Beneath the Waves – 8:26
06. Newborn Race – 7:49
07. Ride the Comet – 3:29
08. Web of Lies – 2:50
CD2
01. The Fifth Extinction – 10:29
02. Waking Dreams – 6:31
03. The Truth is in Here – 5:12
04. Unnatural Selection – 7:15
05. River of Time – 4:24
06. E=mc² – 5:50
07. The Sixth Extinction – 12:18
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Stream Of Passion – Live in the Real World (2006) (@320)
01 Aug 2010
(Review from blogcritics.org)
Some people thought that the band was suspect as a live band because the first studio release “Embrace The Storm” came together by exchanging files over the internet. This live album finds the band touring out in the real world.
In the set list, their debut album is represented with 7 songs, 10 tracks from various Arjen projects with an Elfonia (Bovio’s band) song and a “When the Levee Breaks” cover as a topping.
Marcela Bovio is magnetic on stage and she has her equally beautiful sister Diana by her side to provide the outstanding backup vocals necessary for all of the tracks the band runs through on the album. Damian Wilson (Threshold, Rick Wakeman) steps up and steers the ship for the Ayreon classics “The Castle Hall” and “Into the Black Hole”. Alejandro Milan creates a wall of sound with his piano and strings, and then adds some surprisingly good vocals in as well. Lori Linstruth has razor sharp guitar lines. She does a nice job answering Arjen’s guitar lines blow for blow and at times leads the way.
Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / guitar & vocals
- Marcela Bovio / lead vocals & violin
- Alejandro Millan / piano, strings & vocals
- Lori Linstruth / guitar
- Johan van Stratum / bass guitar
- Davy Mickers / drums
with
- Diana Bovio / back vocals
- Damian Wilson / vocals
Track List:
CD1
01. Intro – 1:28
02. Spellbound – 4:16
03. Passion – 5:40
04. Waracle – 6:15
05. Wherever You Are – 5:33
06. Computer Eyes – 6:18
07. Calliopeia – 5:20
08. Valley Of The Queens – 4:17
09. Haunted – 4:58
10. The Charm Of The Seer – 3:11
11. Deceiver / Songs Of The Ocean – 6:10
CD2
01. Day One: Vigil – 2:01
02. Day Three: Pain – 5:56
03. Nostalgia – 3:44
04. Out In The Real World – 6:31
05. The Castle Hall – 6:28
06. Into The Black Hole – 8:31
07. When The Levee Breaks – 6:07
08. Day Eleven: Love – 6:18
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Stream Of Passion – Embrace The Storm (2005) (@256)
29 Jul 2010
(Review from streamofpassion.com, progarchives.com)
Stream of Passion is another one of Arjen Lucassen’s side projects and features musicians from many different countries. The music is build around Mexican female vocalist Marcela Bovio’s beautiful voice. Arjen discovered her and she guested on Ayreon’s “Human Equation” album from 2004.
To form the band, Lucassen used the Internet to tap into the numerous talents that reside all across the globe. A year ago, Dutch drummer Davy Mickers downloaded a special track from Lucassen’s website to enter a musicians contest, and used it to showcase his incredible drumming skills. And just recently Lucassen discovered Lori Linstruth, an amazingly skilled American female guitarist residing in Sweden, among the members of the online Ayreon Yahoo group. Completing the band are Mexican pianist Alejandro Millan and Dutch bass player Johan van Stratum from the Rock Academy in Tilburg.
The band’s creative juices are flowing to and from between computers stationed in all corners of the world – recording, writing and matching up musical ideas to form songs. The end result is as diverse and driven as each individual band member.
Blending mysterious gothic vocals, metal guitars and atmospheric trip-hop, with haunting pianos and live celli- and violin quartets; the band’s “Embrace the Storm” album was released in 2005.
The songs on the album have chugging heavy metal riffs and lots of melodic elements both in the guitar playing and the omnipresent piano motifs but it’s Marcela Bovio’s melodic melody lines and emotional vocal performance that everything evolves around. The music is not as symphonic as the usual projects from Arjen, but there’s still an unmistakable flavour to many of the songs.
Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / guitars, music
- Marcela Bovio / vocals, lyrics, violin
- Johan van Stratum / bass guitar
- Davy Mickers / drums
- Lori Linstruth / lead guitars
- Alejandro Millan / piano
Track List:
01. Spellbound – 3:34
02. Passion – 5:20
03. Deceiver – 5:09
04. I’ll Keep On Dreaming – 3:45
05. Haunted – 4:31
06. Wherever You Are – 5:08
07. Open Your Eyes – 5:14
08. Embrace The Storm – 4:12
09. Breathing Again – 3:38
10. Out In The Real World – 4:32
11. Nostalgia – 3:08
12. Calliopeia – 5:39
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Ayreon – Final Experiment (1995) (@256)
05 Jul 2008
(Review from wikipedia, progarchives.com)
In the early 90s, Arjen Lucassen had to visit many record labels to get his music on an album: again and again he was rejected. In the end the new Dutch label Transmission gave him a chance, in 1995 he released his debut album entitled Final Experiment, naming the band Ayreon.
Ayreon’s musical style derives mostly from heavy metal and progressive rock, but combines them with genres like folk, classical and electronica to form what some call a completely new style of music. The majority of Ayreon’s albums are dubbed “rock operas” because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, each represented by a unique vocalist.
Ayreon’s music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music (guitars, bass guitar, drums, synthesizers, electric organs) mixed with instruments more native to folk and classical music (i.e. mandolins, violins, violas, celli, flutes, sitars and didgeridoo).
The story of this concept albums starts in the year 2084 AD when scientists try to avoid total destruction of the Earth. With a new computer programm called Time Telepathy they succeeded in contacting a blind minstrel from the sixth century called Ayreon. He has to warn people for the impending downfall by singing his vision. He even meets Merlin but the famous magician vows that Ayreon’s word will be spread in the twentieth century. And so the moralistic epilogue says “The outcome of the final experiment has now been placed in your hands”.
The album shows a tight band, scouting the borders between hardrock and symphonic rock. Most of the 15 tracks are strong and varied. Especially the use of many different singers (an Ayreon trademark) adds an extra dimension to the music. Arjen Lucassen delivers many biting soli with hints from Satriani (and also with echoes from his hero Ritchie Blackmore) but there is no overkill. Cleem Determeijer has a remarkable part in the music: sumptuous sounding synthesizers (juno/oberheim/moog), a beautiful flute and harpsichord duet (“Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy”), nice interplay between mellotron and acoustic guitar (“Listen To The Waves”) and piano and mellotron (“Swan Song”) and delicate harmony between different keyboards, flute and biting guitar, like a desperate cry of the future in “Charm Of The Seer”. There is chemistry between the musicians and between the music and lyrics, making “Final Experiment” one of the best Dutch progressive rock debut albums!
This edition also comes with a bonus CD with semi-acoustic versions of many songs from the album. These songs have been re-arranged extensively from the originals, and in many cases the vocalists approach their songs with entirely different techniques. Sometimes female vocalists sing in the place of males. Fans of Marcela Bovio from “Human Equation” album and Lucassen’s side project, “Streams of Passion”, will be pleased to note that she appears on “Waracle”. Irene Jansen, also from “Human Equation”, sings on “Merlin’s Will”. Finally, some progressive fans will recognize Peter Daltrey, the singer who did the spoken-word parts on “Into the Electric Castle”, singing on “Nature’s Dance”.
“Final Experiment” can be a difficult, emotionally-draining listen, with its oppressively brooding atmosphere of tragedy helped along by the synths. The acoustic songs on this bonus CD have a somewhat warmer, brighter atmosphere, and it’s easier to ignore the lyrics if you so choose and just concentrate on the melodies.
Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals
- Cleem Determeijer (Finch) / on all kinds of keys including mellotron
- Ernst van Ee (Helloise) / drums
- Jolanda Verduijn / bass
- Peter Vink (Finch, Q’65) / bass
- Jan Bijlsma / bass
- Barry Hay / alto flute, vocals
with
- Edward Reekers (Kayak) / vocals
- Lenny Wolf (Kingdom Come) / vocals
- Robert Soeterbroek / vocals
- Jan-Chris De Koeijer / vocals
- Ian Parry (Vengeance) / vocals
- Jan van Feggelen / vocals
- Leon Goewie / vocals
- Ruud Houweling / vocals
- Lucie Hillen / vocals
- Mirjam van Doorn / vocals
- Debby Schreuder / vocals
Track List:
CD1
01. Prologue – 3:16
Act I : The Dawning
02. The Awareness – 6:36
03. Eyes Of Time – 5:05
04. The Banishment – 11:08
Act II : King Arthur’s Court
05. Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy – 2:45
06. Sail Away To Avalon – 4:02
07. Nature’s Dance – 2:27
Act III : Visual Echoes
08. Computer-Reign (Game Over) – 3:24
09. Waracle – 6:44
10. Listen To The Waves – 4:58
11. Magic Ride – 3:35
Act IV : Merlin’s Will and Ayreon’s Fate
12. Merlin’s Will – 3:20
13. The Charm Of The Seer – 4:11
14. Swan Song – 2:44
15. Ayreon’s Fate – 6:55
CD2 (Semi-acoustic Bonus)
01. Dreamtime – 4:19
02. Eyes Of Time – 3:25
03. The Accusation – 3:49
04. Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy – 2:50
05. Sail Away To Avalon – 3:26
06. Nature’s Dance – 2:03
07. Waracle – 5:16
08. Merlin’s Will – 3:29
09. The Charm Of The Seer – 9:01
Links in comments.
