Stream of Passion – The Flame Within

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The biggest pressure on Stream of Passion around their sophomore album was always going to be getting out from under the shadow of Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen, the band’s founder. Lucassen left the band to their own devices after their second European tour, and guitarist Lori Lindstruth (now reunited with Lucassen in Guilt Machine), drummer Davy Mickers and keyboard player Alejandro Milián all departed as well, leaving vocalist Maria Bovio and bassist Johan van Stratum with a rebuilding job on their hands. They quickly recruited drummer Martijn Peters from Backwater, Snakes & Sirens keyboard player Jeffrey Revet and guitarists Eric Hazebroek (The Saturnine) and Stephan Schultz (Third Half) and have completed an album superior in many ways to their debut and comfortably lifting the burden of continuing without Lucassen. The record’s stand-out is the magnificently haunting When You Hurt Me The Most, but tracks like The Art of Loss, In The End and Burn My Pain exhibit a new heavier sound with a guitar tone which sounds much less like other Lucassen projects, giving them a much stronger identity than before. With Lucassen’s pulling power international touring may prove difficult until this album takes hold, but on the strength of this material, and of course Bovio’s voice, they should be taken very seriously on their own merits.

Written by Andy Lye
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