ALBUM REVIEW: Golden Age Of Music – Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution
Arjen Lucassen is a legendary name within the rock scene. This Dutch musician, known for projects like AYREON, STAR ONE and GUILT MACHINE, is back with his latest outing, ARJEN LUCASSEN’S SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION, and their debut album Golden Age Of Music. The group consists of keyboardist Joost van den Broek, guitarist Timo Somers, drummer Koen Herfst and singer Jaycee, with Lucassen on bass, and was formed in last minute circumstances when Lucassen was approached with a week deadline to cover ZZ TOP’s I Heard It On The X.
The group had so much fun recording the track that they decided to write and record their own material, composed entirely in the style of 70s rock. Lucassen has stated that he wanted a positive project, and you can genuinely feel that enthusiasm throughout the record. From start to finish it’s hard not to have a smile on your face. As the album opens with its intro track SR Prelude listeners are greeted by funky electronic synths, composed in the style of fanfare, that build in intensity. It gets listeners hooked immediately and has them eagerly awaiting what’s next.
What’s next is The Glamattack, which opens with electric guitar riffs, and the track is simply so camp and fabulous yet it sounds damn cool. You’ll find yourself involuntarily bouncing along and you can tell that the band were having so much fun in the studio.
As the album moves onto the title track, which is a fun, catchy song that you want to dance along to, it’s here that it becomes more evident that this record is a love letter to 70s rock with many of the lyrics offering homage to different songs and artists throughout that era. Examples include, but are not limited to, The Rise Of The Starman which appears to be an obvious tribute to DAVID BOWIE, and Golden Boy that has the theatrical feel and style of ELO. We could sit here for ages talking about what each song pays homage to but we don’t have time for that, also it is probably best for you to enter this record almost blindly to hear it for yourself and to have fun on that first listen.
Furthermore, along with easily picturing the songs being played in a montage of 70s rock artists, it’s also fun to imagine this as part of a rock opera with each moment being more powerful and dramatic than others. Seriously, listen to They Took Us By Storm and Holy Holy Ground, and try to tell us we’re wrong. And to conclude it all we have four covers: T-REX’s Children Of The Revolution, EARTH WIND AND FIRE’s Fantasy, ROGER GLOVER’s Love Is All, and ZZ TOP‘s Heard It On The X – the track that started it all.
Ultimately, whether it’s an original track or one of the album’s closing set of covers, it is hard not to have a smile on your face throughout the entirety of this love letter to the 70s; we could not recommend Golden Age Of Music more.
Rating: 8/10
Golden Age Of Music is set for release on May 19th via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group.
Like ARJEN LUCASSEN on Facebook.