Guilt Machine
On This Perfect Day

Release Date: 2009 | Tracklist

As with the Ambeon project, Guilt Machine is a Dutch progressive metal act, a project of the multi-instrumentalist and composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen, the mastermind of Ayreon, and their debut and only album, until now, is called “On This Perfect Day” and was released in 2009. Mr. Lucassen shouldn't need much introduction apart from the names of his bands and a part of his solo musical career with his own name. Star One, Stream Of Passion, Ambeon and Ayreon, can definitely speak for themselves. Guilt Machine is the most recent member of the family of Arjen’s projects.

For his new project Guilt Machine, Arjen gathered new musicians around him like the singer Jasper Steverlinck from a band called Arid, his current partner and manager Lori Linstruth ex-Stream Of Passion on lead guitar, Chris Maitland ex-Porcupine Tree and ex-Kino on drums and still, Ben Mathot on violin and David Faber on cello.

Normally Arjen uses many singers but, as Arjen explained, he wanted Guilt Machine to be more manageable and a small scale project. He just wanted for the album only one vocalist and few musicians. So, he had to find a singer that could cover the entire spectrum of emotions and who was also versatile enough to keep the listener’s interest until the last track. After listening to several singers, Arjen selected Jasper of the Belgian alternative rock band Arid. He thought he had perfect pronunciation, an incredible broad range and his delivery was full of emotions. Finding a drummer also created another change to him. Compared to most of his previous works, where Ed Warby was almost always his choice, the music “On This Perfect Day” is more introspective and quiet. So, he had to find a drummer who could hit hard when needed, but who would also be able to shine in the subtle passages. So, he chose Maitland because he thought that during the years with Porcupine Tree, he had proved to be the kind and versatile drummer that he needed.

From all of his side projects, this is probably the one closest to Ayreon. Still, those expecting the bombastic and theatrical music of Ayreon or Star One projects, might be a little bit surprised at the more atmospheric sounds here. However, don’t despair. There are still plenty of progressive moments and heavy parts on it. But this is easily Lucasson’s darkest and most tranquil release to date, which for some might be a good change of pace. Fans of Ayreon, especially of the last two albums, before this one, and of dark progressive music too, should enjoy this release a lot.

Lyrically, the album is fairly interesting and departs from Ayreon’s standard usual style. Lori, despite playing guitar on the album, wrote all the lyrics “On This Perfect Day”. They’re nowhere near as cheesy as on those previous efforts. Inspired by Lucassen’s bouts of depression and perhaps taking a cue from “The Human Equation”, the lyrics here deal with psychological themes and mental well being, dealing with the destructive psychology of guilt, regret and the darkest form of our secrets, the deepest secrets we hide from ourselves. The album features several audio messages sent by fans throughout the songs, of the entire world. They’re nicely placed and add to the album’s nice atmosphere.

Musically, this album is a mellower affair and may not be metal in the traditional sense. Instead it takes on an alternative progressive direction that sounds a lot like a combination of bands such as Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and the Opeth’s “Damnation”. The song lengths are long, the pacing is slow to mid tempo, and the instrumentation seems to rely more on atmosphere than overt technicality. The instrumentation is just the usual, with Arjen’s trademark sound. At the same time, this album is easily the darkest and most melancholic that the Dutchman has ever released. Haunting symphonic melodies, acoustic passages, instrumental desperation, emotional vocal work, Jasper sings like a young and reborn James Labrie or Damian Wilson, builds up intensity as it goes. This release is the incarnation of the dark parts in Ayreon albums. At the same time this is what sets it aside from Arjen’s main project. Instead of varying moods, fusing many different styles of music and bringing a lot of completely different vocalists together, Guilt Machine's style stays the same throughout its duration, making its culmination in the last track “Perfection?” the most powerful of all.


Conclusion: I find Guilt Machine a very strong project, one of the best things associated with all of Lucassen’s projects. All in all, this is not an easy record, as it must be understood through patience. If you’re more into speed, power and heavy progressive like Dream Theater or Fates Warning, digging up this record could be a very difficult task. If you like Pink Floyd and psychedelic rock in general, you may actually find it very interesting and promising. There are lots of layers of atmospheric keyboards, acoustic parts and the vocalist sounds pretty depressing according to the concept of the album. It’s melodic, atmospheric and succeeds in capturing your attention without never being boring. You might give this record a chance if you have patience to listen to it. It's highly recommended, I think.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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3.9 excellent

Rank: #0 for 2009