Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution – Golden Age of Music
Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution – Golden Age of Music
Mascot
Release Date: 19/05/2023
Running Time: 67:46
Review by Chris Galea
9/10
Arjen Lucassen is well known as the driving force behind projects such as Ayreon and Star One, bombastic and musically opulent conceptual Prog where Lucassen hires an array of musicians according to his musical vision. With Supersonic Revolution, however, he takes a different approach – this is in fact a much more stripped down, in-your-face, song-oriented band. But that doesn’t mean that Lucassen is slacking… as I will explain…..
The eye-catching artwork reminds me of Yes and although the music does have Prog-like qualities, it’s certainly more upbeat and heavier than what you’d expect from Yes. Basically “Golden Age of Music” is a love letter to a pivotal era of Rock music… a pre-internet, pre-CD era where fans (including myself) relied on word-of-mouth, tape trading and pirate radio stations and to discover their music idols.
And it’s both the lyrics and the music that reflect this approach. Check out this excerpt from the title-track:
“I saw a rainbow rise
Been to the dark side of the moon and saw
A fire in the sky
JC’s a superstar, school’s out, the boys are back in town”
In these lines we have references to Rainbow, Pink Floyd, Ian Gillan (who played the titular role in the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” back in 1970) Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy. ‘The Glamattack’ seems to be about The Sweet but some of its lyrics might well be references to Kiss or Alice Cooper. ’The Rise Of The Starman’ seems to laud David Bowie. ‘Burn It Down’ is clearly based on Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’. Anyway, you get the idea. But hey we haven’t yet got to the music…
Well, I’m happy to report that the music is amazing. Although driven by 1970’s Rock vibes, the sound production is top notch even by modern standards and the level of musicianship is stellar. The passion reflected in the lyrics is certainly ingrained in the music’s execution. Jaycee Cuipers (also of Praying Mantis) sings in a powerful and dramatic style that reminds me of Ronnie James Dio (more on Dio later). The Hammond sounds from keyboardist Joost van den Broek (Star One, After Forever) are captivating and dominate a lot of the album. It’s also worth highlighting several trade-offs between the keyboards and the guitar shredding of Timo Somers (Delain, Vengeance, Carthagods)
Songs I keep going back to include ‘Came To Mock, Stayed To Rock’ which feels soaked in Van Halen-like grooves and with vocals characterised by power and drama. Its lyrics are about a young Rocker opening his mind to various other music genres and yet deep inside he always remains a Rocker. Then there’s ‘They Took Us By Storm’ which contains an insane keyboard solo… amongst other things.
A handful of covers which wrap up the album are not as interesting as the original songs to be honest but ‘Love Is All’ might raise a few eyebrows. The original version of the song had Ronnie James Dio on vocals and dates back to a time when Dio was a relatively unknown singer.
According to Mascot Records, this album is about five guys just wanting to have fun. And that’s exactly what it is…. pure Hard Rockin’ fun.
‘Golden Age of Music’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. SR Prelude
02. The Glamattack
03. Golden Age Of Music
04. The Rise Of The Starman
05. Burn It Down
06. Odyssey
07. They Took Us By Storm
08. Golden Boy
09. Holy Holy Ground
10. Fight Of The Century
11. Came To Mock, Stayed To Rock
12. Children Of The Revolution (Bonus Track – Marc Bolan cover)
13. Heard It On The X (Bonus Track – ZZ Top cover)
14. Fantasy (Bonus Track – Earth, Wind & Fire cover)
15. Love Is All (Bonus Track – The Butterfly Ball cover)
LINE-UP:
Jaycee Cuijpers – lead vocals
Timo Somers – guitars
Joost van den Broek – keyboards
Arjen Lucassen – bass
Koen Herfst – drums
LINKS:
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