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IXION

Neo-Prog • Netherlands


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Ixion picture
Ixion biography
IXION is a project by Jankees Braam, bass and keyboard player for the band SANGAMO. Braam has also worked with the band KNIGHT AREA, writing the lyrics to closing song on their latest album "Realm of Shadows". For the three IXION albums, Braam wrote all concepts, music and lyrics and gathered together members of ULYSSES, SANGAMO, KNIGHT AREA, ILLUMION and S.O.T.E. as guest vocalists and musicians. All three of the IXION albums are concept albums.

In 2004, IXION released its first album "Cryogenesis". This was followed up in 2006, with the album "Talisman". In 2009, IXION returned with its third album "Garden of Eden". All three albums use a variety of instruments to create an epic scope to the albums and concepts. Braam takes inspiration from such prog luminaries as ARENA, AYREON, SHADOWLAND, MAGENTA, IQ and early MARILLION.

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IXION discography


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IXION top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.38 | 9 ratings
Cryogenesis
2004
3.60 | 12 ratings
Talisman
2006
3.29 | 15 ratings
Garden of Eden
2009

IXION Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

IXION Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

IXION Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

IXION Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

IXION Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Cryogenesis by IXION album cover Studio Album, 2004
3.38 | 9 ratings

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Cryogenesis
Ixion Neo-Prog

Review by mbzr48

4 stars CryoGenesis is the first album by the Ixion project of bassplayer and keyboardist Jankees Braam. With help from six musicians and four singers known from the Dutch music scene to record this concept album, I think it`s one of the best concept releases I have heard so far this year. The concept story are about the psychological and social problems of a woman who was in CryoStasis (frozen) for 500 years. She is brought back to life again and is cured from her fatale disease; That is when the problems begin...

By visiting Ixion`s website you can read the whole story there. The project Cryogenesis started already back in October 1999, when Jankees was watching a program on TV regarding CryoGenics (the freezing of humans or human parts). By this time Jankees played in a Symphonic Rock formation called Sangamo, and the idea was that this band was ment to be a part in the Cryogenesis project. In summer 2000 the band split, and Jankees started to search for a new home for Cryogenesis, and the project Ixion was started. With a couple of friends from Sangamo and all the members from S.O.T.E., the recordings started in November 2000 and was finished in January 2004.

Jankees Braam has really managed to put together a very interesting project with Ixion and the concept album Cryogenesis. It`s always interesting to sit down and listen to projects like this, with four great singers and a bunch of great skilled musicians, Jankees has succeeded in all ways. The music from Ixion can best be described as a mixture between Symphonic rock and Progressive rock with a relaxing and dreamy feel. When I for the first time sat down and listened to Ixion I thought I heard influences from bands like Marillion, Yes, Arena and Xinema.

The album starts with the over ten minute long song The Gamble, and the first 1 minute and twenty seconds is a beautiful part with piano, string arrangements and synths. The song takes another direction when the guitars comes in, but it slows down again before the vocals comes in. The use of the two female vocalists Esther Ladiges and Maaike Breijman is very good and comfortable to listen to and you will get a dreamy feel when listening to songs like The Gamble. All the way through, the album changes much and it will take you some time before you get into the songs,but they are perfectly arranged, composed and performed and I can promise you that you will like this CD if you enjoy listening to Camel, IQ and Ayreon. Song number three is sung by Peter Everts and Gerton Leijdekker, also these two guys are great singers. It is on songs like this I especially think I can hear a bit of the influences from Marillion. My favorites on the CD are the very symphonic oriented Rebirth and the more progressive song Syndrome and the last song The Sleep.

I am very impressed over this CD and I can strongly recommend it for fans of Symphonic Progressive Rock and related. 4 Stars

 Cryogenesis by IXION album cover Studio Album, 2004
3.38 | 9 ratings

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Cryogenesis
Ixion Neo-Prog

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars The interest of creating the Ixion project was born in 1999 for Dutch composer/keyboardist Jankees Braam, when he watched a TV programm about cryogenics, the freezing of humans or human parts and its side-effects.He started writing down material for his own band Sangamo, but as the group split up in 2000 he was forced to finish his work alone.In search for some musicians to perform his music he ended up with an experienced line-up: Almost the whole S.O.T.E. line-up - Gerton Leijdekker on guitars/vocals, Peter Boer on cello/contrabass, Menno De Vries on drums, Martijn Bos on keyboards, Esther Ladiges on vocals - , Gerben Klazinga on keyboards and Jeroen Hogenboom on guitars, both from Knight Area, Peter Everts on vocals (later with Taurus & Pisces) and Maaike Breijman also on vocals.Braam performs on vocals, keyboards and bass.The ''Cryogenesis'' album came out independently in 2004.

The extended line-up of first-class Dutch musicians and singers is not the only impressive thing about this album, because the music is also great with many interesting moments and the album as a whole is perfectly composed, albeit a bit unoriginal, following a type of Neo Prog-ish AYREON-like Rock Opera with narrations, operatic vocals and dreamy lyrical parts.Influences range from MARILLION, DREAM THEATER, MAGELLAN, EXPLORERS CLUB and THE FLOWER KINGS, creating a heavier version of modern Symphonic/Neo Prog with bombastic, orchestral moves, nice melodic textures and shifting climates.Braam prooves to be an excellent composer, achieving to combine orchestral soundscapes with angular guitar attacks and dreamy keyboard-driven passages with comfort.The cast of talented singers provides a fine depth of lyricism and expression in an album that deals with a sensitive, deeply scientific issue.Full of grandieur and majesty, the instrumental work ranges from decent to magnificent with clever breaks from powerful themes to ethereal breathes, while the sound is always rich and dense.Production is absolutely great, helping the concept to flow easily.There are very strong links with the Dutch Neo Prog movement of the age with BRASSE being possibly the closest comparison, as ''Cryogenesis'' holds many symphonic elements and heavy, orchestral lines throughout.

Very good debut by an excellent composer.Cinematic Neo Prog with occasional blinks to heavier territories is the best description that comes to my mind for ''Cryogenesis''.Strongly recommended, among the projects that need some attention...3.5 stars.

 Garden of Eden by IXION album cover Studio Album, 2009
3.29 | 15 ratings

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Garden of Eden
Ixion Neo-Prog

Review by b_olariu
Prog Reviewer

3 stars 3.5 for sure

Ixion's lates album to date from 2009 named Garden of Eden is another worthy album and is another concept album after the excellent Talisman few years before, a thing that must be congratulated, because to make concept albums are not an easy task and specialy when we talk about progressive rock concept albums. So, the concept as far I get it is about how peoples from new generation from year 2019 reach to conclusion that they have nothing left to eat becaue all small farmers and lands are gone , and replaced with factory and large industry all is steril that's why the continent Europe become "The Union". Again Braam is the main man he compose all the music, make the concept and even the art work of the album, so a complex and gifted musicis who is also involved in bands like Knight Area, S.O.T.E or Ulysses, he manage to gather on this release a great line up again formed by impressive list of twelve guest musicians from Knight Area, Ulysses, S.O.T.E, etc. The music here offered is not far from previous album, but little diffrent in places, the sound is fat, the hammonf played by Knight Area keybordist Gerben Klazinga is ecellent, some great parts very well interluded with guitar ones made by Ulysses guitar player Sylvester Vogelenzang de Jong. The sound and music in general here is towards neo meets some more harder edge but without being metal or something alike some symphonic arrangements are melted with the rest giving a very epic feel overall. The music also includes plenty of symphonic textures that will surely delight progressive lovers, with no more then 3 guitar players involved here making hte sound and all realy moody and great. Soaring guitar and noodling synth lines are all over here with grandious choruses like on Golden Cage the opening track, no more then 13 min of high class prog music. Again some cello is included to give a certain atmosphere like on Edge Of Insanity with symphonic touch make a real treat to listen. Throughout I like this album, maybe not as solid and powerfull like Talisman but almost there, the vocal parts are to me the less enjoyble parts, but not bad at all, only less great as before, becaus ethe instrumental passages are top notch. Fans of Ayreon, IQ, Arena combined with epic attitude must give this band a try because they worth it big time, very under rated and unnotic band, realy a shame. 3 - 3.5 stars for this one.

 Talisman by IXION album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.60 | 12 ratings

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Talisman
Ixion Neo-Prog

Review by b_olariu
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Ixion is a dutch project more then a band built around great keybordist and bass player Jankees Braam from Sagamo and Knight Area fame. Ixion release 3 albums so far, this one named Talisman is the second one and the best from the three. Released in 2006 , this album is real solid one, is a concept album about mysterious object Talisman and how he travels through centuries. The story begun in A.D: 33 when Judas betrays Jesus because of this object and goes on and on , the inquisition period, until 2006 when is the present period and album was release. Great concept who realy drag me in, with caracters and very diverse music. Now the music is something of a combination of diffrent subgenres, is in parts neo , some even prog metal elements but without being metal, some symphonic parts, very much like Ayreon meets Magents meets Arena or IQ. On this album are many guest musicians, like Michael Hos on vocals from Ulysses (dutch prog metal, not to be confused with german neo prog), Gerben Klazinga on keybords from Knight Area, Gerton Leijdekker on guitar from S.O.T.E. and other few ones who I never heared before. A solid line up and solid music, the pieces flows from one to another very well, for example The Crimson Puppeteer is excelent opener showing from the star how great and inventive band it is Ixion followed by othe rlenghty pieces like Sea of Cortez with spanish guitar very well performed, maybe the best from here. The album overall sounds very eclectic and very epic, also there is some cello and other instruments that gives a moody atmosphere, this not the neo prog and album in general you listnen every day for sure, is lenghty very demanding, musicaly speaking, and very well written and performed, it took me some spins to fully appreciated to the max. I like it, so I will give 4 stars, the best from them for sure and one of the best albums I've listen lately from this genre.
 Talisman by IXION album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.60 | 12 ratings

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Talisman
Ixion Neo-Prog

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars IXION are actually a project-band found at the dawn of the 00's by Dutch computer programmer/multi-instrumentalist Jankes Braam.After a good debut entitled ''Cryogenesis'' in 2004,IXION released a more ambitious effort in 2006 under the name of ''Talisman''.Built around the concept theme of a talisman we follow throughout the ages,the album is sounding like a Rock Opera filled with strong Neo Prog melodies,symphonic piano work,alternating melodic and aggresive guitars and a spacey synthresizer atmosphere.Vocals are split between male,female and a choir and the whole work sounds really obscure,atmospheric and attractive.Nice discovery for those who are searching for a crossover style of KNIGHT AREA,PINK FLOYD and AYREON!
Thanks to the doctor for the artist addition.

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