Reviewed By: Nicholas R. Andreas
Artist: Guilt Machine
Album: On This Perfect Day
Genre: Progressive Rock
Year of Release: 2009
On Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/This-Perfect-Day-Guilt-Machine/dp/B002LMOCHW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255310242&sr=8-2 Guilt Machine is yet another side project of Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen. Unlike Ayreon, which is famous for a myriad of guest vocalists and instrumentalists, the album On This Perfect Day has only four members. Lori Linstruth, guitarist on Arjen’s Stream of Passion project handles the lead guitars and lyrics, while unknown talent Jasper Steverlinck takes on vocal duty, and ex-Porcupine Tree drummer Chris Maitland is behind the kit. Arjen of course handles all other instruments, aside from a violinist and a cellist.
Although the six songs on the record are each quite strong in their own rite, I cannot help but feel that at times we are hearing slightly sub-par b-sides from the last Ayreon release, 01011001. While I normally think Arjen does a fantastic job on turning out something very new between different Ayreon or side project releases, when you get to 0:30 or 6:55 of “Green and Cream” or 0:56 of “Over” you see quite clearly that perhaps not enough time has passed since the completion of the last Ayreon album. Another theory behind these similarities could be the theme of the album, which is depression and the resulting emotions. Arjen has said he can only write when he is happy, and this album comes on the tail of great personal hardship and depression, so perhaps some ideas carrying over was inevitable.
Despite this carryover there is a lot of great new material on the album, and the lack of a billion guests seems to give it a nice concise unified punch. It is a somewhat dark album, made to give a look into depression, guilt, and all that goes along with those things and it accomplishes that emotionally. In addition the final two tracks, “Over” and “Perfection?” stand out as being phenomenal.
With only four members in this project, each one will undoubtedly come under a microscope a great deal more than on a typical Ayreon project. Perhaps the most scrutinized will be Jasper, who was selected because of his ability to convey a wide range of emotions that Arjen would normally select a diverse group of vocalists for. He does a fine job with the vocals on the album, but I can’t really say that he was a perfect choice for the project. I would have much preferred Jasper have taken Daniel Gildenlow’s small role on 01011001 so that Daniel could have come in on this and given the album a truly dynamic one man show. Everyone else was on top of their game, especially Chris Maitland who was able to nail the function he was brought in to do, to play both heavier parts, and especially more subdued and subtle parts. Also, I think it is worth noting what a fantastic job Arjen does in providing some of the backing vocals for the record. Normally he is one voice of many, bouncing off other voices and separating for its own unique punch, but on this album he does an amazing job complimenting Jasper’s voice.
Finally some mention needs to be made for the effort Arjen and Lori made to get the fans involved with this project. While the album was being made they asked fans to send in messages relating to guilt and similar emotions, and twenty of those lucky fans had their messages interwoven into the music of the album. This little touch really adds an extra degree to the album, and drives its central theme home.
Composition: 8/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Musicianship: 8/10
Final Presentation: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.25/10 or 83%
The special and deluxe editions of the album come with a bonus DVD containing a 40 minute interview with 3/4ths of the band, several radio edits, an additional original track, and a special track made to accommodate additional fan messages. I am fortunate enough to say I appear on this track, and even in this small capacity it is a real treat to be able to say I appear on an album with Arjen, who I consider to be my favorite composer. So thank you Arjen and Lori for the idea to include the fans on this album and handling all the submissions that came your way!
Topic: [Music] Guilt Machine - On This Perfect Day (Read 5065 times)