Revel in Time
Revel in Time is the third studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive metal project/supergroup Star One, released via Inside Out on 18 February 2022. As with previous Star One albums, here Lucassen focuses on the "metal" side of his main project Ayreon while dispensing with the latter's typical acoustic and folk elements. He saw more hard rock elements on this album. Also, the lyrics are inspired by science fiction movies or TV series, only this time they focus on movies involving time manipulation, such as time loops and time travel. The title is  inspired by a quote from "Blade Runner". Unlike previous albums, however, in which the same quartet of four guest vocalists (Damian Wilson, Dan Swanö, Floor Jansen and Russel Allen) would participate in the main songs, "Revel in Time" features several different vocalists, one for each track, including Roy Khan, Tony Martin, Jeff Scott Soto, Joe Lynn Turner and the four aforementioned ones. This was partly due to the international travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also features guitar and keyboard solos by guest instrumentalists, such as Jens Johansson, Steve Vai, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and Adrian Vandenberg. Release and  promotion. The first song and video to be released was the epic closing track "Lost Children of the Universe". The song appears on the album sung by either Roy Khan (CD 1) or Tony Martin (CD 2), but the video is a special version combining both their performances. It was followed on 17 November by "Fate of Man", featuring Brittney Slayes (Unleash the Archers) and Michael Romeo (Symphony X). The third single and video, "Prescient", features Ross Jennings and Micheal Mills and was released on 17 December 2021. The title-track was released as the last single and video on  19 January 2022, featuring Brandon Yeagley. The album was released as a 2-CD digipak, deluxe 3-CD+Blu-ray artbook, 180 gram gatefold 2-LP. The artbook comes with a Blu-ray with 5.1 mix high-resolution audio version and behind the scenes footage. Reception. "Metal Injection"s Jordan Blum said Lucassen "and his troupe continue to do remarkably enticing and creative things" and commented that "it may take half a dozen deep listens for a few songs to reveal their specialties and set themselves apart from the pack", concluding that the album is "a superb return from progressive metal's  greatest composer, as well as one of the finest genre albums you'll hear this year". In Tuonela Magazine, editor Laureline Tilkin considered "Revel in Time" "the most dynamic" of the three Star One albums, besides saying it overall "has a lighter character". She ultimately called it "an instant prog classic that everyone who is remotely interested in Arjen Lucassen's work should listen to". Writing for "Sonic Perspectives", John Kokel said "for not being an actual Ayreon album, this may be Arjen's best Ayreon album since "The Human Equation". He reasoned that comparing it with Ayreon albums would  be more fair than doing the same with Star One albums since this effort "seems to be the best, most diverse, and best produced of the Star One albums". Personnel. Star One Guest instrumentalists Technical personnel Guest vocalists