Star One is the brain child of Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon. The music is progressive and eclectic and is executed with just a touch of evil. The musicianship alone is reason enough to own this record and from my point of view it's very much worth the investment. A lot of genres these days are getting into more progressive styling's and in the metal world is no different with more and more complex songs hitting the mainstream. So if you take a VERY progressive band and make it a little heavier than normal prog bands, the crossover is much more fluid as is the case with Star One.

STAR ONE – Victims Of The Modern Age
(53:09)
1. Down The Rabbit Hole (1:20)
2. Digital Rain (6:23)
3. Earth That Was (6:08)
4. Victim Of The Modern Age (6:27)
5. Human See, Human Do (5:14)
6. 24 Hours (7:20)
7. Cassandra Complex (5:24)
8. It's Alive, She's Alive, We're Alive (5:07)
9. It All Ends Here (9:46)

The album starts off with a track I personally think doesn't need to be on the record at all. "Down the Rabbit Hole" is almost unnecessary because the intro is over quickly, leading into "Digital Rain" which is a pretty fucking good track. In "Digital Rain," the melody, the rhythm, everything just sort of falls into place creating a really solid song. There is a guitar and keyboard solo battle that is pretty cool... maybe "face melting" is a better description of it. Either way, as a fan of prog, I like this song a lot. It's exactly how you should start an album and it should have been track one on this CD.

"Earth That Was" starts of brutally heavy and sits there until the 'epic' rolls in. The song is consistently heavy and never loses track of its obvious goal of making your head bang. Again the guitars / keys rip through solos but this time leading into an almost somber moment. It sits there only for a moment before exploding into a massive epic ending.

"Victim of the Modern Age" starts off more prog than metal. For four minutes the song doesn't really go anywhere. There is a vocal solo at about 4:30 that had me hoping for a change in the song and it never came. I think if you have a 6:27 song it needs to go somewhere. I think the most disappointing thing about this track is that it follows to really awesome songs.

"Human See, Human Do" starts off bluesy as hell and a lot more like the first two tracks. It moves and it makes you want to move. Right off the bat you can tell it's going to be a fun song. You aren't let down. This track moves and moves with a grove that is both jolting and seemingly simple when (if you're a musician who counts) you know it's not. The guitar solo in this song is a lot more simple but still sits perfectly with the feel and once again it is followed by the keyboard solo. I'm not sure if that's a 'thing' for Star One but to this point I don't find it offensive so I'm not worried about it. The song ends more abruptly than it began and it doesn't seem like over five minutes has past, alas it has and we're off to the next track.

"24 Hours" is actually 7:20 and marks the second longest track on the album. It starts off quiet and epic and builds into a heavy pre-chorus. This repeats and finally breaks down into a far more brutal section with no vocals. This quiets down and the vox come in to speak what the feeling of the song is portraying for the story. It all dies out after this into a keyboard ballad of parts. I don't really thing this is to special. I feel like there needs to be guitars here soloing or something to take the lead role. The part builds into something a little more full but the damage has been done for me. Now the guitars come in and we're basically back at the beginning of the song. I don't think it ends all that strong. I thought this song would be far more impressive, but it more drones on and dies out. There's some playing that is worth listening to but not 7:20 worth.

Attempting to recapture the audience "Cassandra Complex" begins with haste and really for me, just in time. It reminds you there is an album on here with some cool riffs and these guys can move the songs. I don't think this song is a single but it has a lot of nice riffs in it and sort of leads you to "It's Alive, She's Alive, We're Alive."

This one starts off with a bit of mystery. It kind of explains the whole story in a nutshell by recapping and if you're an advocate of concept albums, you'll find a lot of clarity here. This song has some nice melodies and you can tell they're building up to the last track without losing sight of the importance of this one.

Finally, "It All Ends Here." 'Nuff said. A 9:46 track action packed and conclusive to the story at hand. It is a little slower and quite brutal. The track does progress as time goes on which keeps the song from losing interest. It goes through a series of emotions and you can't help but get pulled into the feeling of what's happening.

Star One's "Victims of the Modern Age" is a powerful album in general but I would go as far as to say it is a staple in what modern progressive music is becoming. While I found some fault in a couple of tracks, I also feel this album is more than important to own if you're a prog fan. I think it's also a good album for listeners who might not be all that into your typical progressive music. This is far heavier and the vocals aren't as offensive with the vibrato. Arjen Lucassen has composed a really impressive album here and I am looking forward to hearing the bonus tracks on the Special Edition. I'm giving this album 4 out of 5 stars.