He recruited second guitarist Lori Linstruth (his future girlfriend), keyboardist Alejandro Millán (Bovio's then-boyfriend), bassist Johan van Stratum (Bovio's future husband), and drummer Davy Mickers, and started the band. As with Astrid van der Veen for Ambeon, Lucassen was in charge of composing the music, while letting Bovio write the lyrics. They released the album "Embrace the Storm" in 2005. Like Lucassen had done with Star One, Stream of Passion toured and released a live album, "Live in the Real World", in 2006. Also like Star One, the tour featured many Ayreon songs, as well as songs from the album. He finally left the band in 2007, as he had planned beforehand. The band continued successfully without him: They subsequently released three studio albums, "The Flame Within", "Darker Days" and "A War of Our Own", before amicably disbanding in 2016.