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Arjen Lucassen has firmly established himself as one of the best in the business when it comes to writing progressive metal concept albums and bringing the right artists together to give them life.  His magnum opus (and my album of the year for 2004) was Ayreon’s The Human Equation double-disc project.  Among the dozen vocalists involved on that album was Marcela Bovio (Elfonia).

It was no small news then when Lucassen announced that he and Bovio were forming a new band, Stream of Passion.  After months of anticipation, their first album, Embrace the Storm was released.

Bovio’s voice is smooth and sensual, somewhere in between Leigh Nash and Sarah MacLachlan.  With each song, she evokes passion and intense feeling about a broken relationship to which she is trying to hold on.  Lori Linstruth’s (Warbride) guitar work is likewise tip-top and includes a couple of memorable solos.

The songs themselves are each ambitious, perhaps overly so—-the album is like putting a bunch of A-type personalities in a room together.  In “Haunted,” Bovio sings in English over piano, cries “Haunted” over mainly instrumental metal choruses, and whispers in Spanish and English over gothic bridges.  Apart from the whispering, that’s pretty much the same formula for every song.  They’re all enjoyable and well-executed, but the album would have benefited from more soft songs like “Nostalgia” and perhaps some occasional backing vocals to break up the pace.

by Dan Singleton
November 13, 2005