By Mascot Records

Arjen Anthony Lucassen – Instruments, backing vocals

Jasper Steverlinck – Lead vocals

Chris Maitland – Drums

Lori Linstruth – Lead guitar

Tracks:

1. Twisted coil (11.43)
2. Leland Street (8.03)
3. Green and Cream (10.32)
4. Season of Denial (10.22)
5. Over (6.11)
6. Perfection? (10.46)

Another one wonderful masterpiece from the incredible musician, composer, producer, singer, lyricist who hears the name, ‘Arjen A. Lucassen’ (Ayreon, Stream of Passion, Star One, Ambeon). After the latest Ayreon release (‘01011001’), the phenomenon from the Netherlands, dealt with this new project, Guilt Machine – a progressive band – and therefore he united the unknown to the general public Jasper Steverlinck (Arid) for the vocals part, the excellent Chris Maitland (ex – Porcupine Tree) for the drums, and the unique Lori Linstruth (ex – Stream of Passion) – to whom Arjen has a great respect – for the guitars. As for himself, Arjen, was responsible for the rest of the album necessities, such as, guitars, bass, keyboards, mandolin, second vocals and of course the production. Regarding the lyrics, although Arjen usually writes them himself, in this case, he requested from Lori to prepare him a sample with which he was greatly impressed and so he asked her to take on the lyrics for the whole album. Definitely, the album does not slip away from the style that Lucassen has created through his previous releases, but ‘On This Perfect Day’ surely touches another dimension, where together with the different theme of the deep lyrics, gives to it another distinct character and helps you to distinguish it from others. There are also many other things that played important role to that, like, the amazing vocal abilities of Japser, which together with the great compositions by Arjen, and the magnificent performance of the progressive drummer Maitland and Lori in guitars, have ‘dressed up’ magically the album.

From the very first song, ‘Twisted Coil’, melodies that reminds of Arjen and the Ayreon, comes in mind. Electronic melodies, real noises from factories, sounds from phone call etc and soft melodies transfers you right away into the essence of the album. What I admire most in Arjen, is the way he treat the musical productions and the musical compositions. I appreciate him greatly, only for the fact that he makes me to sink into the melodies and the colorful sounds, just like Pink Floyd did to me in their albums and even if Dream Theater, but always with his personal touch.

In this album, we are dealing with long – in duration – compositions, and each song  consists of very atmospheric intros that continues to a more powerful manner with guitars and keyboards to be dominant and ‘fade out’ with vocal outbursts and strong musical feelings that haunts you entirely. Lori’s solos fill brilliantly the melodies (Leland Street, Green and Cream), and the heavy riffs throughout the whole duration of the album surprise you in a pleasant way. As far the drummer Maitland is concerned, we cannot say anything more or nothing less apart from the fact that we are talking about a highly intelligent prog drummer. Simply unique in percussion, he definitely gives something more to the total. Personally, I believe that the album is to be heard straightly all the way down, rather than each song separately and I honestly can not single out any song.

Dark lyrics with a greater meaning, over issues that refer to soul purification, confrontation of various esoteric fears and guilt, feelings and awareness of them, different perception of things and conditions as always the perception of the concept of perfection is totally subjective, can be found in the album. Link to all the previous seems to be the song ‘Over’, which connects the ‘confused thread’ into a conscious thought on ‘Perfection?’. Of course this is not an album that you can hear as being distracted or for fun, it requires tranquility, peace in the surrounding environment and whatsoever the absolute devotion of the listener. Even if melodies and rhythms stay in mind, they are quite complex, symphonic, operatic and with constant changes and variations in total.

One more observation is the fact that I cannot believe how it is possible for Arjen to always find the perfect people for the perfect projects. Is it fate? Monumental is the performance of Jasper in vocals (Season of Denial, Over). The way he expresses with his tone the feelings during the flow of the lyrics from the first to the last song is memorable as well as the range and capabilities of his voice. In conclusion, I would like to mention that the debut album of Guilt Machine is accompanied by a beautiful artwork and I will provoke by saying that the master from Netherlands, even if he tries, he will never be able to create a bad or even a mediocre album. ‘Am I guilty?’ This time he created another ‘Prog Machine’, that deserves your attention and I will be looking forward for the next step. Definitely one of the albums that will stand out from the rest into 2009. Take a little taste for your appetite in the link

Ν.Μ.