Arjen Lucassen is a science fiction nerd. Just ask him.

Best known as the mastermind behind the metal opera juggernaut, Ayreon, Lucassen has been marching to the beat of his own drum since 1995 and the Ayreon debut, The Final Experiment. It wasn't until the project's third album, Into The Electric Castle (1998), that his career gained a solid foundation and would eventually allow him to conduct other musical experiments. His first such detour came in the form of Star One's Space Metal album in 2002, a loose concept record based on cult favourite science fiction movies, novels and TV shows including Doctor Who, Star Wars, Alien, Dune, Outland, Star Trek and Blake's 7. Twenty years later, Lucassen is still very much that science fiction-loving geek and has resurrected Star One through the new album, Revel In Time. In keeping with Space Metal and its 2010 follow-up, Victims Of The Modern Age, Revel In Time is a big, stomping metal record that puts Lucassen’s characteristic prog tendencies to the side for the most part. With time travel as his focus, he drew from movies including Back To The Future, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Terminator, The Final Countdown and Frequency for inspiration. This may be one of Lucassen's strongest albums to date – his prog-opera fans can argue the point amongst themselves – and he admits it was the disappointing reception to Ayreon's 2020 record, Transitus, that pushed him to make it.

"With Transitus, it wasn't all positive feedback," Lucassen reveals. "There were some journalists that didn't like it, some fans didn't like it, and it didn't make it onto year-end lists, so a positive reaction is not a given. But, it's good to know that people are honest. When I always get Album Of The Month in Dutch magazines or I'm always in the Top 10, I question it. With this Star One album it seems I've done something right (laughs)."

In the October 2020 BraveWords interview for Transitus, Lucassen revealed he was toying with the idea of returning to Star One for a third go-round, which he confirmed a couple months later.

"In my mind Transitus was perfect because I could see the movie (his own vision for a film) in my head, but it was never made, which was shitty. Transitus was more of a musical than an Ayreon album, so people expected something different. So, I decided, dammit, I need to make some riff-oriented guitar noise (laughs). That's in my blood and it comes easy to me. As I told you last time, Transitus was hell to make. Star One is just plug in and go for it."

"I've noticed that each time I do an album that I think people will like, then I follow it with an album that is challenging," he continues. "With Ayreon, I made The Final Experiment, which I thought people would like. Then I made Actual Fantasy, which was something completely different. Then I made Into The Electric Castle, which was a safe bet, followed by the Universal Migrator albums, which weren't (laughs). So really, this is just the way it works with me."

At the end of the day, Revel In Time is Lucassen's no-nonsense metal record, and it was a long time in coming.

"Yes, I agree with you. The songs 'Prescient' is the most Ayreon-ish track on the record. When I did Transitus, I had a hard time picking even two singles because everything was linked together; if I pulled something out from the album it just didn't work anymore. Here, I just have too many possibilities. At some point we have to stop releasing singles; the label asked for two and I gave them five (laughs)."

Star One was originally conceived as a one-off, but Space Metal was so well received that Lucassen did a short European tour for the record, resulting in the Live On Earth album / DVD. Victims Of The Modern Age turned up eight years later and Star One went silent shortly thereafter, but Lucassen never said never to a return. A third album wasn’t a sure thing, but he says getting back into the science fiction mindset didn't require having to recharge his nerd mojo.

"Revel In Time was very easy to write, both musically and lyrically, because I've always wanted to do time travel. I think Victims Of The Modern Age, which was very dark, time travel wouldn't have fit. I mean, a really dark song about Bill and Ted would have never worked (laughs). I've always wanted to do time travel, and it's also a joy for me to go through my DVD collection and pick out all the movies related to time travel, and watch them again. So this was an easy ride from beginning to end."

Unlike Space Metal and Victims Of The Modern Age, which featured only four core vocalists - Russell Allen (Symphony X), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Damian Wilson (Arena, Threshold) and Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Nightingale) - Revel In Time was assembled using the Ayreon model of drawing from a large wish list of singers and guest musicians.

"I always have a wish list," says Lucassen, "and this time I wanted to make a combination of my all-time favourites, like Joe Lynn Turner and Steve Vai, plus new talent that I think is the best in the world right now, like Brittney (Slayes / Unleash The Archers) and Brandon Yeagley (Crobot). The good thing was that they all said yes (laughs). Usually, I ask 30 people and only 20 say yes because they're too busy; this time there was no excuse (laughs)."

Ayreon and some of Lucassen's other projects including Star One, Stream Of Passion and Guilt Machine have acted as platforms for lesser known metal vocalists as well as established big name singers. Lucassen says he well aware of the potential attention his work brings to other artists, and he considers it a win-win situation for everyone. Particularly for younger talent climbing their way up the ladder.

"I always say it's equally good to give young talent a chance, because it's so hard to get noticed as an artist nowadays. There are so many great artists out there. On the other side I get to work with some of my heroes, so in the end there are only good feelings about doing this."

While it may be unfair to ask Lucassen if he has any favourites amongst the artists appearing on Revel In Time, he does reveal there are some standout performances that simply blew him away.

"It was a no-brainer having Brittney sing on 'Fate Of Man'. She's such an amazing singer and just a wonderful person. And add to that the fact that Brittney is a huge Terminator fan, it worked out perfectly. I had two songs that needed female singers, and it was going to be either Floor or Brittney on 'Fate Of Man'. And having Steve Vai on 'Lost Children Of The Universe', that's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. He's in my Top 3 of guitarists: Gilmour, Blackmore, and Steve Vai. They're the three that influenced my playing. I've asked Steve Vai to play on one of my albums before, but he doesn't just do anything. He only does stuff that he likes, he doesn't have to do it for the money, and he turned me down for Transitus, so Joe Satriani ended up playing that part. This time I had a three-minute part, all atmospheric with lots of space, and I thought it could be for Steve. I sent it to him and he asked me 'Where does the solo go?' and I said 'The whole thing.' I didn't hear anything for a couple months so I wondered if it was going to happen, and one day I got a mail and the subject was 'Ta-Daa!' (laughs)."

"It was a link and I listened to it, and I couldn't believe it. I was just standing there, nervous, and I played it a second time. I just started crying. Lori (Linstruth / manager) was outside walking the dog and she came in and wondered what was wrong. I couldn't even tell her at first except to say it was nothing bad (laughs). I had to bring her upstairs and put her in front of the speakers so she understood. It wasn't just the fact that Steve Vai had played a solo for me; he must have worked on that for days. There are so many harmonies, he really thought about what he was doing. It sounds amazing. Recognition from musicians like that, who you grew up listening to, that's amazing."

Star One has always been a dressed down affair in comparison to Ayreon. Unlike the latter, which is often 20+ tracks of all original material, Star One gets the cut-off after 10 or 11 songs, as is the case with Revel In Time. Lucassen didn't feel the need to make it any bigger even though he easily could have.

"I only stop when I am 100% happy," he says. "I'm my own boss, I license my products to record companies so there's no timeframe and no pressure. I can do whatever I want. At some point I decide it's finished. There are always two sides, though. I have all these great artists and the songs sound amazing, so I'm happy, but I'm also sad it's over. I love getting the tracks from the singers, mixing the songs, but the good thing is I can promote it afterwards on social media for a few months."

And as is tradition with any BraveWords chat with Lucassen, we end with his thoughts on what his next musical outing will be.

"I think about it every day (laughs). I want to dive into the next project, but the more you want it the less it comes. I don't think I want to do another Ayreon album yet, and I'd love to do another solo album, so we'll see what's next."