AYREON

While this recording does not represent the core nature of Ayreon's music, which is more akin to heavy prog rock, this remains my favorite because of its more atmospheric and melodic content. Exceedingly electronic and even Floydian at times, the menu is way less über-symphonic than on other Ayreon albums , preferring a gloomier and moodier appeal where Arjen Lucassen and Erik Norlander (of Rocket Scientists fame) can weave some scintillating keyboard swirls with Arjen's patented guitar solos as an added feature. The title instrumental track launches this one firmly into outer space sci-fi travelling mode with firstly some usual cold female commands and vocoded protocols evolving gradually into wall of synthesized sound very close to a Floyd/ Tangerine Dream marriage, dense, dreamy and mysterious. Arjen pulls out a solo from his axe that would make Gilmour shudder, swooping analog synthesizers sweeping the corridors on the edge of time, a neat entrance. "Mouse on Mars" is punchier with sequencers aglow, rezoning some distant quadrant of space and featuring both male (Marilyn Manson lookalike Johan Edlund) and female (the pierced Floor Janssen) vocals, combining on a monolithic chorus that espouses the grand fanfare theme, a middle section loaded to the Romulan gills with grandiose workouts on guitar and synths. Drummer Rob Snijders pounds a mean drum in the process. Very good track, this! The nihilistic "2084" strictly stamps the event with a futuristic date where war and destruction seem to thrive in utter connivance; a soft acoustic guitar and forlorn synth solo paint the misery of some nuclear catastrophe giving vocalist Lana Lane the platform to lament some fierce regret. The tortuous axe solo slips around like some gooey eel successfully expressing the oblivion of destiny and the apocalyptic end of civilization. Absolutely creepy! From now on the clock goes backward into past history. In a clever twist, "One Small Step" reverts to a distant childhood memory of Man landing on the Moon in July 1969, ironically the birth of progressive rock in a way, where astronomy beckoned the innocent to look up and beyond the stars and comprehend the humanistic need to travel to space. Singer extraordinaire Edward Reekers provides a masterful performance, oozing bravado and passionate awe while Norlander whips up a shimmering synth solo and Arjen does another incredible job on lead guitar. The Eagle has landed, indeed. The next one is a bizarre electro-medieval concoction inspired by Rembrandt van Rijn and my preferred track here "The Shooting Company of Captain Frans B. Cocq", a gorgeously capricious piece that has an alternative feel with a superb melody, some idiosyncratic singing and some creative sound textures culminating in a shivering choir backdrop. Vocalist "Mouse" does well to hint at anyone from John Foxx, Davis Bowie and Trevor Horn without falling into a cornfield. "Dragon on the Sea" is gurgling synthesized bubble bath, pinging wildly in and out of 16th century focus as Lana Lane takes the microphone and soars accordingly, urging Drake's sailors against the invading armada. This cut doesn't really hit me but its okay, I guess. "Temple of the Cat" beams sonic light on the Mayan pyramid in Tikal and is refreshing little ditty. "Carried by the Wind" is a 6th century inspired affair with Arjen on vocals and a Celtic powered guitar phrasing that is stirring to say the least, another thoroughly enjoyable brief track that hits the melodic mark. "And the Druids Turn to Stone" is the other big winner here , a near 7 minutes of majestic prog with some insistent Hammond organ, purified guitar insertions, dive-bombing synths and a gigantic vocal courtesy of Threshold's genial lead lung Damian Wilson. Yummy! Grandiloquent, perhaps even bombastic at times, this is pure prog bliss. "The First Man on Earth" revives the prehistoric innocence of the dawn of time, a Garden of Eden of sound and substance, almost Beatles-like (pretty cool orchestrations actually) in delivery, a surreal fantasy of a nascent world that will find ways to ruin it all in so many directions. The disc ends its 70 minute + run on a title track reprise that fades backwards into oblivion. Perfect concept, execution and mood. Bravo! 4.5 trance cycles

01011001 came as a bit of a disappointment after following Ayreon around for the last couple of years. There isn't much in the way of sounds and melodies here that you haven't heard from Ayreon before, nor do the songs stick out above anything from earlier albums. Also the concept fails to work. It doesn't improve the individual songs and it doesn't have the coherence from the Human Equation or Electric Castle. Call it lack of inspiration or lack of conviction in the Ayreon formula on Arjen Lucassen's part.

The approach is the same as on the Human equation. Two cd's of rock opera with plenty of heavy metal and symphonic rock influences. The cast is baffling, featuring some of the most remarkable voices in metal of the last ten years.

On paper it sounds like a recipe for success but the whole enterprise doesn't get off the ground. It takes an extreme effort to sit through this tepid album and not press the skip button before each song is halfway through. Just too predictable and deja-entendu.

It's a much better idea to ignore this album altogether and have another go at one of the many excellent albums that preceded it. The Ayreon saga has reached a disappointing end.

— First review of this album —

Ok now, I can be very brief with this review. In fact this semi-official album by Arjen Lucassen is pretty much the same thing as Fish's Songs from the Mirror release. Just a bunch of cover songs and also here only a few prog related and the rest just sixties popsongs. This means the progressive content of this releaser is maybe 10% or something

If you are a fan of those this one could be fun but if your taste is more or less like mine and the average sixties song scores just about two stars or the likes then this album could be a waste of money.

Of course it's always nice to check out what Lucassen's favourite songs from that period were and apparently his roots are in that decade but that's just about the only positive element I can think of. In this case the description "only for completionists" fits very well in my opinion. And that means one star. In conclusion a note about the execution of the songs: it's an Ayreon-like performance of the mentioned sixties songs which means the songs are played in a metal vein. The executional quality is not the problem obviously. Just the concept.

I am somewhat going to dissent with the majority here and assess The Human Equation as my least favourite Ayreon album to date (if we disregard Actual Fantasy). This is not to say that The Human Equation is a bad album - it is not - but here Lucassen was not inspired as much as he was when he did Into the Electric Castle or The Dream Sequencer for instance.

Departing from his traditional science-fiction concepts, Lucassen here develops a more human, psychological storyboard about someone who suffers from coma after a mysterious car accident and who is visited in his hospital room by various emotions. Story-wise, I thought Lucassen pretty much reached the top with his incredible story on the Dream Sequencer, but this divergence on The Human Equation works very well no matter what.

The Human Equation is a lot more heavy and metal than it is mellow. Unlike Into the Electric Castle, which was very versatile, and unlike the two parts of Universal Migrator which were focused respectively on atmospheric moods and bombastic metal, this one lies somewhere in between as it does have some mellow parts to help build the energy bursts, but mostly tends overall to heavy and metal ambiances.

So, over this double CD album, there are of course a number of good moments, such as the almost 9 minutes long Isolation to start off, the finale of Childhood, the keyboards-backed vocal pitch exchanges on Betrayal, the powerful closer Confrontation, or especially my favourite track, Love, at the end of the first CD. Actually, this one has grown into one of my favourite Ayreon songs. Great vocals and perfect musical buildups propping up an inspired melody.

And this is where a too large part of this album finds its weakness. No matter if the musicianship and production is as flawless as on any other Ayreon work, uninspired (and uninspiring) melodies plague The Human Equation too often and for too long segments. I must also say that I never had much esteem for extreme metal stuff such as grunting or growling, and whereas Lucassen did manage to arrange some growling segments on previous albums which I thought were fitting, here there are just too many for my taste and they're annoying, notably on the second CD's opener Trauma, a longer song that never ends quickly enough for me.

All in all, an album showcasing a great array of varied, good prog vocalists and musicians, performing as well as they were asked, but conducted by a composer who did not happen to be at his inspirational best. A nice-to-have perhaps, but there are better prog metal works out there. Happily, this lapse was only temporary as Ayreon's subsequent project, 01011001, happened to be a sublime, undervalued revival.

Story-wise, this is the sequel to the Dream Sequencer. Music-wise, it aint so much. These two albums are completely different. The Dream Sequencer, which I consider a masterpiece of progressive music, was a perfectly composed and orchestrated atmospheric and ambient work, whilst Flight of the Migrator, a very good album on its own, is a symphonic journey into heavy metal prog music.

The compositions and melodies on the Dream Sequencer were so beguiling that they perhaps set the bar too high for Flight of the Migrator. Still, even though the melodical support is not as strong, it is still pretty decent, and of course the energy level now booms to stratospheric heights.

Like The Dream Sequencer, Flight of the Migrator opens with an instrumental track that sets the record straight right from the start. It then moves to one of the best two tracks of this album, Dawn of a Million Souls. An incredibly catchy chorus, fully symphonic as it is backed by chord instruments effects, and overall a near-perfect composition. I can hardly imagine anyone disliking this song.

My favourite track would although be Into the Black Hole, notably featuring Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson on vocals and Arena's Clive Nolan on keyboards. The end result is jaw-dropping. This is the most mellow song of the album, but still has a heavy feeling to it. Slowly builds into an incredible finale. Cunning.

The other tracks are nicely crafted too overall but I feel they lack a strong melodical support, except perhaps for the closer, The New Migrator, another excellent one.

I although have no doubt that this is an excellent album, nicely blending metal with symphonic elements and melodical support. Recommended. Just do not expect a lyrical support as strong as the story told on the Dream Sequencer though.

A masterstroke.

As an introductory warning, I should point out that while Ayreon is categorized as prog metal, The Dream Sequencer is not a prog metal album. This is rather a major breakthrough in the genre of ambient / zen progressive rock music.

First, if you give yourself the incredible chance to listen to this magnificent album, I suggest you read first the great sci-fi story that The Dream Sequencer is about to tell you. Then, "focus on the music, as I take you back to your childhood... and beyond..." You will be rewarded for this extra step as the atmospheric music wil only embrace you further, as you follow the last survivor of a desperate colony on Mars going back in time, using the colony's recreation machine called the Dream Sequencer, which he intends to use to sweeten his final days.

After a gazing guitar opener, My House on Mars greets you with winds that immerse you in the Martian desert. A hauting guitar riff and gloomy keyboards slowly take on, followed by Edlund's low and dreary vocals. The journey has begun, and from the Earth's demise in 2084 to Apollo 11, to the Spanish Armada and then to Stonehenge, it wont release its grasp until the very end, after you have met with The First Man on Earth and lived the melancholy-filled experience of this last colonist as Arjen Lucassen imagined it.

Save perhaps for Temple of the Cat which I find below the average, this is an album with virtually no weakness, unless you're addicted to heavy. Bewitching melodies intertwined with amazing guitars and keyboards compositions, all held together with the most fascinating and gripping storytelling there is out there in music.

This is an album that I cannot get tired of listening to, be it alone with the volume maxed or as a background, during dinner for instance. Since its release, it has me hoping that more works of this kind would see the light of day. Five stars for several reasons, among them creativity and melodic achievement.

Electrifying !

Into the Electric Castle marks the point where the Ayreon project (orchestrated by the multi- talented dutch guitarist Arjen A. Luccassen) became a worldclass act. After the promising but uneven debut The Final Experiment and the disparate Actual Fantasy, Ayreon finally gathered an all-star cast, and they put up quite a show.

It seems pointless to repeat the storyline of this grandiose and eccentric space opera here, as others have already given the details.

This double CD album, to me, feels like a successful big studio party which was attended by an array of inspired musicians and signers, among them the fabled Fish, where they were all given a free ride to let go their talent, whilst being all conducted by Lucassen's compositions as they came out of his creative genius. The result is an unstoppable series of coherent but disparate prog melodies mostly in the symphonic metal genre, intertwined with pleasurable voice segments. Some parts are even simply jaw-dropping, such as that guitar solo at the end of Amazing Flight, that elevated chorus repeat in Time Beyond Time, or that finale in canon to The Mirror Maze.

In some regards, and notably with regard to Lucassen's compositions, Into the Electric Castle was uncharted territory. Overall it sounds both symphonic and metal, with touches here and there of folk, heavy, grunt, and even classic rock, and still remain very melodic all the way. Even Forever of the Stars, which consists of a voice reciting its story over some spacey/computer sounds, gets somewhat catchy!

Had it not been such a good album, it could have been the end for me with regard to Ayreon. Instead, it convinced me to keep buying his albums, and I've been more than satisfied with every one of them since. It was also good enough, obviously, to steadily attract several excellent artists into the further Ayreon albums.

Essential. Into the Electric Castle fully deserves 5 stars, among other reasons for its creativeness, its steadily engaging melodies through the full 2 CDs, and for its contribution to the addition of a very appreciated symphonic dimension to metal prog.

Lucassen was here with his most limited cast. By ruling a one star rating, I do not mean that this album is worthless; it's not an utterly bad work, but most probably an album that even Ayreon fans could live without. Clearly the low point of the Ayreon project.

1. Actual Fantasy (1:35) - Nice short intro with flutes and soft sounds. Not much to say as this song only lasts for a minute and a half.

2. Abbey Of Synn (9:34) - In my opinion the album's second best track. Atmospheric and slow opening, leading to a nicely done pitch of metal guitars driving the song into an heavier and catchy melodic body. Balanced vocals. A bit simplistic on the instrumental side though.

3. The Stranger From Within (7:36) - I simply dislike the vocals on this song. Yet, the verses are still ok, but the choruses and the transitions to them are, well, a complete failure. The song's simple structure (soft verses to heavy choruses) produces here a very taxing song, and the instrumental solo is uninspired. The very final notes get better, and they never come soon enough.

4. Computer Eyes (7:31) - The album's best moment. Successfully melodic, gloomy and spacey introduction, slowly building up and lasting for about three minutes. Vocals also get a lot better from where they left on the third track. Some metal guitars then join in, but not too agressively, and the overall result is enjoyable. Keyboards are well done too. Still, the instrumental passage during the sixth minute is average, whilst it does a good job at leading to the final, more powerful segment.

5. Beyond The Last Horizon (7:34) - Some acoustic guitars overlapping spacey keyboards to open the song, transitionning to metal after a short while. The riffs dont get very good, and the vocals once again get irritating, notably during the verses. Melodically acceptable, but nothing special there either. And the mid-section instrumental passage is annoying.

6. Farside Of The World (6:21) - Interesting first 80 seconds, but turns into a total disaster. Bad vocals along with hopelessly bad melody and composition. Skip at all costs. A six minutes that feels like 16. One of the worst songs I've ever found on a prog album.

7. Back On The Planet Earth (7:01) - Another promising intro, with suspenseful keyboards and a nice metal guitar riff. Disappointing vocals quickly tarnish our hopes once again, although they get better in the chorus. Not the album's worst part overeall, but never gets really great nor very original. Sci-fi ambience and a notch above most of the other tracks with regard to composition.

8. Forevermore (6:10) - Good balladesque ending, with a variety of sounds, to an album made of some ups but also of too many downs to be recommended to the average fan or collector.

Again, not a total failure, but quite below the average. Reluctantly but fairly, 1 star.

Basically, Arjen tried to make Human Equation part II buth with a different lyric concept ... and failed. Lets start with the lyrics, i'm someone who likes cheese very much but this is just over the top and plainly bad, just check this out: "I checked the web and left it on over night Downloading all the latest files Peer to peer, the torrent flows into my life And I disconnect" ... how on earth did Arjen thought this was a good lyric? In some parts the lyrics just seem badly placed and way forced over the music. Musicwise, this album has good and bad moments, mostly good but about 1\4 not up to the standards set by Human Equation ... and thats the main problem with this release, musically is way too close to that album and it gets ruined by some not so inspired sections, this sense of deja-vu leaves you bored after some listenings. The third problem with this album is the overkill of vocal talent, having 15-something top-rate singers in an album sounds like vocal heaven but what happens here is pure overkill of different voices meshed together, there isnt enough space for each singer to properly leave their individuality mark throughout the album, and even someone who is familiar with most of the singers will struggle to figure out who is who on the first few listens in certain parts; was that coverdale? ... oh it was jorn lande, or was it bob catley? or russel allen (he isnt in the album is he?)? or Hansi Kürsch? dont get me wrong, all these singers are great and have distinctive voices (except for the ubber-mega-coverdale clone in the form of Jorn Lande) but they do have the same type of vocal characteristics and it seems rather pointless to use them together, it gets very anoying after awile and is a pure waste, the singers that really do stand out are Magali, Jonas and Anneke precisely because they have very different vocal characteristics than all the others in this album ... human equation was dham near perfect in the way all those different kinds of vocals meshed together, 101010010101001110101010 110100001111 goes over the top and spoils it, this is a pure example of more != better.

As a hole(or even whole), this album has its moments but some severe weaknesses, and the main problem of this album is that The Human Equation is a near-impossible album to top, and making a second part of that with more of everything isnt the recipe for a good album. Arjen, listen dear, i love your music, but next time get some decent lyrics, half the singers you used in this album, and reinvent yourself a little bit ... and you will be fine. ;)

OK, double CD. That's fine and with Ayreon's energy, also inevitable. His contribution to prog metal is great. Enough crap talking,let's go to Human Equation.

This is concept album, that means story in Ayreon's case. He has a big experience with fantasy theme, maybe sci-fi ones, it's difficult to say. This one is different, it's more mundane, earthling story. Something which can happen to any of us, but (obviously), there are things which are little bit out of normal, it's so called paranormal.

Day 1, Vigil - Little bit beeping which first does not make much sense. Nice intro, I like woman vocals here. Then we hear riding car and sound of brakes. But, what is strange, no crash. Brakes are just about to end their effort of saving, but there's no final, stereotype sound. That's nice.

Day 2, Isolation - Greets us with (for me) well known voice. Great work Arjeen, having so many vocalists here at once. I'll not talk about lyrics, they're clearly to hear. And we all know that we listen to story about man in coma state of mind, after he (did he?) had a crash accident. Which is mystery, maybe he were abducted by aliens and tests were done on him. But accident sounds more real. But voices in his head seems less, don't they ? 5:31-6:40, typical Ayreon. My brother even told that it sounds like "On the Run" by PF. Quite a, yes.

To be c.