UNIVERSAL MIGRATOR, PART 2: FLIGHT OF THE MIGRATOR

In the early days of my Ayreon endeavors The Dream Sequencer was by far my favourite album of the Universal Migrator duo, while I could not really get into Flight of the Migrator. It may have been too much non-stop heavy riffs thrown at me at once, a compact sound matt impossible to take in and sort out on a few listens. It took a while but after putting the disc on every once in a while for several years, progressively (in several meanings, obviously) it grew and eventually the melodies started to fall into place in my head, and my head accordingly started to dig. These days I regard Flight of the Migrator as one of Arjen's prime compositions. My experience is that this album may require time, patience and extended faith (numerous listens despite it does not makes sense, that is) before substantial appreciation develops.

The music can be described as majestic progressive space-themed metal with very few quiet moments. Melodies are driven by endless catchy guitar riffs, but the keyboard and deep bass layers essentially contribute to the rich, saturated collective sound that I relish so much. The very varied vocals throughout are not standing out, but are still outstanding (if you can recognize that difference) and are very well chosen to suite the bumpy musical landscapes. The cosmic lyrics eminently crown the associations obtained from the music.

All tracks are compelling without exceptions, with Chaos as an especially noteworthy moment. For me progressive metal does not get much better than this. This album is very similar to the progressive space metal side project called Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Star One, which is also highly recommended.