UNIVERSAL MIGRATOR, PART 2: FLIGHT OF THE MIGRATOR

The 2nd CD of 2000 and the 2nd part of the "Dream Sequencer", the first CD was not progressive metal - more of an electronic pink-floyd effort - however this CD is far more into prog-metal territory - with heavy riffs and technical hammer-on guitar solo's all over the shop. There are also plenty of keyboards, some hammond organ (that didn't feature much on the other CD) and lots of neat and tidy moog solos. The opening track is speedy and technical whizzer with a nice technical guitar solo with keyboards darting in and out - a good start. The last track,"Sleeper awake" is also a winner with me and a good end to a muscial trip through space and time. In parts this reminds me a bit of Saga especially track 6 and Genesis is to be heard in track 4. Plenty of bombastic chords and nice singing keep my interest through the whole of the CD, nothing here to bore or get too weird - so very listenable like all the Ayreon I have lent an ear to so far ! Is this an essential CD to have in your collection ? In prog-metal terms, perhaps not but for another CD you can play and lose yourself into the black-hole- most definately YES - so for me 5 stars....