AYREON

SAIL AWAY TO AVALON is the first EP released by Ayreon. It contains 4 tracks with a total length of 15 min.

1. Sail Away to Avalon is from the debut album 'The Final Experiment' but a bit shorter here. It starts with synth then guitars come in. I like the harpsichord inclusion, it adds to the feel of the song, nice female vocals here and there. The flute in quieter moments is a good touch. Everything ends with a sound of water waves. (7/10)

2. Charm of the Seer is also shorter than the original version. Very theatrical performance on the vocal part. Some interesting guitar motifs and admirable melodic accompaniment by female vocals till the end of the track. (7/10)

3. Nature's Dance is a demo. Starts (and finishes) with the sound of wind, unlike the original, which begins with bird chirping. The song is very relaxing and pleasant due to the acoustic part.(6,5/10)

4. Eyes of Time contains synth melodies full of eastern feel and the most emotional vocal performance on here. An intetesting guitar solo before 3rd minute. A nice way to end the EP. (7,5/10)

This single showcases some moments from Ayreon's first release (a selection of good songs, if you ask me). As I expected, it did not showcase the full concept behind 'The Final Experiment'. Do I consider this essential? Not really... That is why I give it 3 stars (although 3.5 would be more accurate) based on the overall experience.

When I think of greats in the modern day Prog era it is impossible to ignore this album. In fact it sticks out like a sore thumb and I can't stop thinking about it. While Ayreon brings in a lot of talent and great artists that make it difficult not to purchase an album it can also be hit and miss. The Human Equation is a masterpiece!

James Labrie is the perfect leading role for this album. Operatic and theatrical at the same time. Incredible freakish vocal range that can match the rest of the cast on demand. He can really put in emotion in to the feelings that go into the story. He really shows a side of versatility here that he can't show on many Dream Theater albums being a lead singer almost all of the time.

Marcela Bovio is really impressive. I'm really surprised she hasn't gotten the recognition she deserves. And to know she is not only a really good singer but also a really good musician and multi-instrumentalist. She really matches James Labrie really well with her own unique style.

Eric Clayton is fantastic. Think opera and David Bowie rolled into one.

Of course Heather Findlay who is the perfect folk singer and perhaps the best folk singer ever? If Joni Mitchell was a professionally trained phenomenon. That's probably the best way to describe Heather Findlay.

Mikael Åkerfeldt is another great singer. I'm sure the death growls throughout his career have polarized many. I always wondered how much more Opeth I would have listened to or got through had he sang like he does on this album and abandoned the growling entirely. To each his own I guess.

Interesting concept about a man being in a coma after a car accident only to reflect on regrets and wishing he could fix everything and his thoughts of second chances. I think almost every human being could resonate with the lyrics of this album one way or another. We all have regrets, make mistakes, habits we need to break, and things from the past that haunt us we desperately want to put behind us. The lyrics on this album really hit me personally. I don't know just how many Prog albums I can connect to like this one. I was in multiple accidents that should have taken my life so this album becomes that more personal.

Really love the character development throughout the storyline. Childhood to present. I can go on and on with the storyline and concept of this album but than I need to get out how great the music is. The music is fantastic. More Prog than Prog Metal but a great blend of both. Everything from Folk, Celtic, Classical, Rock Opera, etc, and a few different crossovers of different styles of Prog. Much of what you love about Dream Theater and Mostly Autumn. Also much of what you love from the Progressive Rock classics from the 70's. I feel like this album has something for everyone who loves Prog. Very accessible to Prog fans especially.

The quality and musicianship is everything and better you would expect from Ayreon. In this case this is difficult not to list it among the greats. Almost everything you get from this album is top notch and it's as memorable as anything else that made you a Prog fan in the first place. Revered by many and for a great number of reasons.

This album is like a union between two of Arjen Lucassen's inner universes, and personally, it is my favorite album of all those created by my favorite Prog musician.

This album is the fusion between Ayreon and Star One. Ayreon's albums have always been characterized for being great metal operas, with excellent first level singers, and very melodic music. To this, in The Source we have to add a little more powerful music, more heavy metal, which is one of the hallmarks that usually differentiate Star One's albums.

The combination is simply sublime, and the whole first CD of the album is full of sublime songs. Really impressive. Maybe, to put a little negative note somewhere, the second part of the album is a step below in terms of songs, but nevertheless it is still a 10 work, and possibly an album that Arjen Lucassen is going to have a very hard time surpassing.

I consider the debut album by Ayreon to be something of a breakthrough in the progressive metal category: The level of majesty, classical music inspiration married with tons of modern synths, great cast of vocals and last but not least, ambitious sci-fi concept topics. All this called - metal opera.

The debut album has a surprising name "The final experiment" which should however not be linked to the status of music on it.

The vocalists on this album aren't as top-rated as it would appear on further releases but that doesn't mean that vocal performance isn't one of the top elements to be heard. There is a variety of sounds, motives and moods with some excellent melodies. I don't care about anything beyond music so whatever lyrics or topics are addressed.

You may be blown away when it's your first Ayreon album; however future releases have better instrumental execution and better songwriting. As each modern rock opera, it is fascinating how many different styles can be melted together, we have for example a folky minstrel followed by an anthemic "Sail away to Avalon" where bass synths but also elaborate guitar arrangements with excellent female/male vocals please many fans.

I rate this album with 3.5 stars - it is a really mature debut album and its level of complexity, sound quality is above a common progressive metal album.

If you hate bombastic neo-prog, 80s-esque metal, and cheesy Wakeman-like concept albums, then you should stay far away from Ayreon. But I happen to like all those things. It's almost a guilty pleasure, but this is a very fun album. Unusual for an Ayreon album, this album features multiple singers "playing" the same character. Highlights include "The Banishment", "Sail Away to Avalon", and "Computer Reign". Lucassen sings on three songs, and they are all very good. I like his voice better than some of the people he gets to guest, it's a shame he doesn't sing more often. If you want "serious art" look elsewhere, but this is certainly a fine addition to any prog rock collection.

Review Nº 508

"The Source" is the tenth studio album of Ayreon, the musical project by the Dutch songwriter, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen and was released in 2017. As happened with all Ayreon's albums, this is also a conceptual album with each character is being portrayed by only one singer. However, being released four years after their previous album "The Theory Of Everything", "The Source" marks a return to science fiction and the Ayreon's storyline. It acts, in particular, as a prequel to "01011001", making of it the first album in the storyline's chronology.

The concept of the story in "The Source" is about a race named Alphans, which were the ancestors of the humanity. They were trying to prevent the extinction of their race due to problems such as the greenhouse effect. They were increasingly dependent on machines. To solve the problem, they decided to resort the complex of machines that kept the planet running, ('Frame), to can solve those problems that affected the planet Alpha. But 'Frame determined that the problem lied with humanity itself and they took the control and decided to shut down vital systems to let everyone dies. Inhabitants decided to send a select of few Alphans into space so they could attempt to start anew in a distant world.

And as is usual in almost all Ayreon's albums, Lucassen composed all the music and wrote all the lyrics on the entire album with the exception of one part, the Mike Mills' lyrics and melodies which were wrote by both, Mills and Lucassen.

The line up on "The Source" is divided into vocalists and instrumentalists, as is usual. The vocalists are: James LaBrie as "The Historian", Tommy Karevik as "The Opposition Leader", Tommy Rogers as "The Chemist", Simone Simons as "The Counselor", Nils K. Rue as "The Prophet", Tobias Sammet as "The Captain", Hansi Kürsch as "The Astronomer", Mike Mills as "TH-1", Russel Allen as "The President", Michael Eriksen as "The Diplomat", Floor Jansen as "The Biologist", Zaher Zorgatti as "The Preacher" and Will Shaw, Wilmer Waarbroek, Jan Willem Ketelaars and Lisette Van Den Berg as "The Ship Crew". The instrumentalists are: Arjen Anthony Lucassen (electric and acoustic guitars and all other instruments), Joost Van Den Broek (grand piano and electric piano), Mark Kelly (synthesizer), Paul Gilbert (guitar), Guthrie Govan (guitar), Marcel Coenen (guitar), Maaike Peterse (cello), Ben Mathot (violin), Jeroen Goossens (flute and wind instruments) and as is usual, the great Dutch friend of Lucassen, Ed Warby (drums).

"The Source" has four lengthy parts, four chronicles, "The 'Frame", "The Aligning Of The Ten", "The Transmigration" and "The Rebirth". Each part is divided into various segments. Each part has about twenty minutes for a total of almost one hour and a half of music. With the exception of the opening track, "The Day That The World Breaks Down", which goes beyond twelve minutes, the rest of the compositions varies between three and seven minutes, a characteristic that makes the album more dynamic, facilitating the assimilation of the all work. But at no time it aims to be unreachable for uninitiated listeners. The mixing and mastering of the work are also worth mentioning, delivering a current sound, of course, but with timbres that do not hide inspiration in the best moments in the history of prog, a genre that has always excelled for technical excellence in the most varied aspects. Even though all songs are great, the particularly strong opener "The Day That The World Breaks Down" must be pointed as the highlight on the album. The track is more than twelve minutes long which is almost twice as long as the second longest song. The song includes atmospheric sound samples that set the tone right from the start. Eleven of the thirteen guest singers appear in the song and shine in their different parts. Especially James LaBrie's soothing vocals that open the album work very well. After the opening track, the album follow their path with many amazing parts, such as, powerful riffs, upbeat drum passages and distinctive bass guitar lines. The keyboard melodies give to the album an epic science-fiction atmosphere. Numerous short instrumental passages give the listener a welcome break from the vocals. Some middle parts include some majestic choirs. Many passages on the album end in a powerful manner and yet manage to develop a great transition to the next songs that some are much calmer and clearly more focused on inspirations from acoustic, classical and folk music.

Conclusion: As happen with all Ayreon's releases, it will take multiple listens to digest "The Source". But, it worth all the time invested. Overall, "The Source" is a safe variation of the established Ayreon formula, but it's also comforting to see how well said formula is still able to be pulled off. It's epic, it's heavy, it's symphonic, and it's bombastic, all things that I love about Ayreon. The vocals are really outstanding, as usual. Vocalists shine, every last one of them, everyone bringing their style to make this album even more unique. From the instrumental work, the performances, the lyrics, the story line, the production, the design of the cover artwork and the booklet, this album is fully convincing. Overall, this is a strong musical outing, without any weak points. I can only recommend this album to everyone who loves great music.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 491

"The Theory Of Everything" is the ninth studio album of Ayreon, the musical project by the Dutch songwriter, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen and was released in 2013. As happened with all Ayreon's albums, this is also a conceptual album with each character being portrayed by only one singer. However, being released five years after "01011001" which concluded the original Ayreon's concept story, "The Theory Of Everything" is the start of a new storyline for this project. Unlike their previous albums which took place in a sci-fi context, with the notable exception of "The Human Equation", which takes place in a man's mind, this is a story in the real world, indeed.

Unlike in all previous cases, in "The Theory Of Everything" Lucassen composed all the music and co-wrote all the lyrics with his girl friend Lori Linstruth, making of this his first Ayreon's album in which he shares lyrics credits in all songs.

The concept of the story in "The Theory Of Everything" is a drama about "The Prodigy", characterized by Tommy Karevika from Kamelot and Seventh Wonder, a brilliant mathematician with mental disabilities in the style of the film "Rain Man", whose talents other characters want to use for them and in the style of another film "A Beautiful Mind". Arjen pointed out these films as an inspiration to the story of the album. As all we know, the story has always been an essential element on all Ayreon's albums as an important part of the whole piece. If we compare this album with his previous sci- fi stories, this one is more dramatic and brings a higher dose of seriousness in Ayreon's magnum opus.

The line up on "The Theory Of Everything" is divided into vocalists and instrumentalists. The vocalists are: JB as "The Teacher", Sara Squadrani as "The Girl", Michael Mills as "The Father", Cristina Scabbia as "The Mother", Tommy Karevik as "The Prodigy", Marco Hietala as "The Rival", John Wetton as "The Psychiatrist" and Wilmer Waarbroek is on the backing vocals. The instrumentalists are: Arjen Anthony Lucassen (electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, mandolin, analog synthesizers, Hammond and Solina strings), Ed Warby (drums and percussion), Steve Hackett (guitar), Rick Wakeman (synthesizer and piano), Keith Emerson (synthesizer), Jordan Rudess (synthesizer), Troy Donockley (Uilleann pipes and whistles), Ben Mathot (violin), Maaike Peterse (cello), Michael Mills (Irish bouzouki), Jeroen Goossens (bass flute, bamboo flute, contrabass flute and piccolo) and Siddharta Barnhoorn (orchestrations).

"The Theory Of Everything" has four lengthy tracks divided into various segments, with each track longer than twenty minutes for a total of almost one hour and a half of music. Thanks to smooth transitions the division by the segments is imperceptible. On the album there are no classical preludes, intros, chorus, guitar solos or repetition choruses. Each of the segments is one scene in the story and its melody, style and length are determined by the events and characters in the scene. So, "The Theory Of Everything" must be heard from the beginning to the end, without shuffle or repeat options. Not that the individual segments don't sound good out of the musical context, but "The Theory Of Everything" must be heard entirely, as an opera, because each segment heard outside of the context have a lighter weight, really. There's a great instrumental emphasis here than on albums past, and each of the four sides are home to epic segments. Ayreon's traditional fusion of traditional progressive metal, electronic, folk and classical music really shines here, and though the album is almost twice the length of usual albums. The eclectic approach is consistent, fresh and engaging.

Hearing about the new cast of vocalists has always been the most exciting part of a new Ayreon's album, for me. In the past, Arjen Lucassen has had a fantastic taste in the voices he chooses for the characters. This time, despite the unquestionable quality performance of all, the names aren't as famous as before. Although the vocalists may not have been as dazzling as expected, Arjen makes up for it with an incredible cast of guest instrumentalists from across the prog spectrum. Dream Theater's keyboardist Jordan Rudess and prog wizard Keith Emerson both stand out for their respective solos, not forgetting the presence of Yes' keyboardist Rick Wakeman and Genesis' guitarist Steve Hackett.

Conclusion: "The Theory Of Everything" is an excellent album, extremely fluid, a total breath of fresh air in Ayreon's career. Everything is in top form and luckily it leaves the door open for more to happen in Ayreon's universe. Compared with the other Ayreon's albums, "The Theory Of Everything" is, probably, more progressive and more symphonic with the keyboards dominating over the guitars, turning the album less metal. I never ceased to be amazed by the quality, invention and sheer boldness of Arjen's on Ayreon's project. So, don't be fooled by the list of forty-two tracks. There's a cohesion that binds the album into an impressive and digestible whole. Despite we didn't hear anything new, here we have an incredible talented playing and amazing writing. The artwork is consistent, as usual. The album offers a great buffet with dramatic vocal performances telling a complex story in the rock opera format with a brilliant musicianship.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 487

"01011001" is the eighth studio album of Ayreon, the musical project by the Dutch songwriter, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen and was released in 2008. As happened with every Ayreon's albums, this is also a conceptual album with each character being portrayed by only one singer. So, we have seventeen singers in total, including Lucassen himself, who contributed to the album, more than in other Ayreon's albums. Of all, except Lucassen of course, only Anneke van Giersbergen and Floor Jansen had sung on previous Ayreon's albums. Anneke had sung on "Into The Electric Castle" and Floor sung on "The Universal Migrator Part One: The Dream Sequencer".

As happened with "Into The Electric Castle" and "The Human Equation", Lucassen didn't write all the lyrics of the album. So, all the lyrics were written by Lucassen and all the music was also composed by him with the exception of two. Anneke van Giersbergen wrote her own vocal melodies and Jonas Renkse also wrote his own vocal melodies.

The concept of the album is about its title "01011001". Lucassen chose the number "01011001" as the name to the album because it's the binary form of the number "89" which is the ASCII code of the letter "Y". Fans of Ayreon's project know the stories behind "Into The Electric Castle" and "The Universal Migrator", and remember that the story of these concept albums is about the humans and the "Forever" people who live on the planet "Y". A long time ago, those people forgot all their emotions and sent a comet to Earth with their DNA to re-create their race, pure and innocence. As all we know, the reality will be different for humanity, and "01011001", of course, deals with this problem. This new musical project of Ayreon is full of metaphors and questions about the human being conditions and ecology. Through a really and true good sci-fi story, Arjenn asks a lot of questions about our world and our existence in the entire Universe.

The vocalists are divided into the characters of "Forever" and the characters of "Mankind". Each song features one specific race but the songs are placed amongst each other. The line up on the album is divided into vocalists and instrumentalists. The "Forever" vocalists are: Hansi Kursch, Tom S. Englund, Jorn Lande, Steve Lee, Floor Jansen, Daniel Gildenlow, Jonas Renkse, Anneke van Giersbergen, Bob Catley and Magali Luyten. The "Mankind" vocalists are: Simone Simons, Wudstik, Liselotte Hegt, Ty Tabor, Phideaux Xavier, Marjan Welman and Arjen Anthony Lucassen. The instrumentalists are: Arjen Anthony Lucassen (electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, keyboards, synthesizers, Hammond and Solina strings), Michael Romeo (guitar), Lori Linstruth (guitar), Tomas Bodin (synthesizer), Joost van den Broek (synthesizer and piano), Derek Sherinian (synthesizer), Jeroen Goossens (flute, soprano and tenor recorder, bass flute and tin whistle), Ben Mathot (violins), David Faber (cellos), and Ed Warby (drums and percussion).

The music of "01011001" is back to the futuristic mode. Sure, you'll always find some good heavy metal riffs with folk elements but the "spatial" sounds are back and the keyboards and electronic sounds are really present on this release. All songs are catchy and with great melodies, and I like to hear a lot of different influences on them. All in all, the music of this Ayreon's album isn't basically too fast. It's purely deep atmospheric and progressive metal. The melodies are touching, the choruses are catchy. You just have here everything you need to enjoy a good moment. But, of course you must love Lucassen's prog style to enter into the music of this Ayreon's work. "01011001" isn't an easy album to digest. Sometimes it sounds a bit commercial, sometimes it's dark and sometimes it's even sad. But, for my taste, the music on this release is beautiful and totally unconventional. Basically, this album is a fusion of the best parts of Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One and Stream Of Passion. So, what you can get here is awesome as you would think. The best part in some context is like a mountain peak, a true release of emotions that stands out. Everything here is excellently made and produced to the maximum. That's all good here since Lucassen produced this release with the best means of production, as usual. Even the artwork is superb as usual, and it can describe perfectly well the spatial world of Ayreon.

Conclusion: "01011001" is another amazing album of Ayreon. Arjen is back into the cosmos and it's nice to follow this space odyssey once more. "01011001" is a masterpiece. I hope that people will remember all these songs for many years to come. I can see why some people dislike Arjen's works but they just have to remember that it's just a matter of taste. Ayreon is unique and is in a league of its own in which nothing can compete with it. The style of this album isn't surprising. Even more than on "The Human Equation" the songs sound in the familiar Ayreon's style. Sometimes, parts of melodies seem to be a copy of tunes of other Ayreon's albums. But, this doesn't mean this album is predictable or just not interesting for people who already have all other Ayreon's albums. He just has taken the music moulted it into perfection. So, Arjen has done it again and was able to create an album also similar in quality to "The Human Equation".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 483

"The Human Equation" is the sixth studio album of Ayreon, the musical project by Dutch songwriter, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen and it was released in 2004. As happened with all Ayreon's albums, this is a conceptual album with each character being portrayed by one singer. However and unlike the previous albums, "The Human Equation" isn't a sci-fi story but it takes place almost entirely in the mind of a character called "Me".

"The Human Equation", is together with "Into The Electric Castle", the only Ayreon's album in which Lucassen didn't write all the lyrics. Devin Townsend wrote all the lyrics of his character "Rage", while Heather Findlay of Mostly Autumn and Devon Graves of Deadsoul Tribe also wrote some of the lyrics of their characters, which are "Love" and "Agony".

The concept is about a man who had a car accident. He crashed into a tree. It was broad daylight with no other car in sight. The road was empty. This man slips into a coma after his accident. The story is set in two different locations. One is at the hospital where his best friend and his wife are sitting next to his bed. The doctors are wondering why he doesn't wake up. Why he is still in coma, because physically he should be okay. The other location is inside the man's head. The man has discovered some strange realm within his head, where he's being confronted by his personal emotions. These emotions are being portrayed by the singers. So, there's "Fear", "Pride", "Love", "Rage", "Passion", "Reason" and "Agony". There's also the character of the man, "Me", his wife, his best friend and there's his father too.

The line up is divided into vocalists and instrumentalists. Vocalists are: James LaBrie as "Me", Mikael Akerfeldt as "Fear", Eric Clayton as "Reason" Heather Findlay as "Love", Irene Jansen as "Passion", Magnus Ekwall as "Pride", Devon Graves as "Agony", Marcela Bovio as "Wife", Mike Baker as "Father", Arjen Lucassen as "Best Friend", Davin Townsend as "Rage" and Peter Daltrey as "Forever". Instrumentalists are: Arjen Lucassen (electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, lap steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers and Hammond organ), Joost van den Broek (synthesizers and spinet), Martin Orford (synthesizer), Ken Hensley (Hammond organ), Oliver Wakeman (synthesizer), Ed Warby (drums and percussion), Marieke van den Broek (cellos), John McManus (flute and whistle) Jeroen Goossens (flute, alto flute, bass flute, panpipes, descant and treble recorder, didgeridoo and bassoon) and Robert Baba (violins).

Musically, this new Ayreon's album is in the vein of the music of Lucassen, a lot of beautiful melodies, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, but always well written. It's versatile as any Ayreon's album has been, and in this case is even more. For the ones who know Lucassen's music there is again a lot of keyboards, flute, violins etc., and it sound is again very atmospheric, very progressive and also very heavy in some parts, in its style. But, the great stuff that shows that Arjen is certainly one of the best musical compositors on Earth is this easiness that the master has to write his music for us, for him, but also for his guest musicians. Personally, I think it's very hard for me to find any musician who can do that like him. All songs are killers, the stories are superb, so are the lyrics, and the singers line up can't be better, really.

The choice of singers for the parts has been very thorough. After listening to the album many times it's hard to imagine other singers in these roles. LaBrie manages to carry a lot of feelings suitable to the moments. Akerfeldt singing more than grunting is simply amazing. Heather and Marcela with their sweet and emotional voices are lovely. Irene with her powerful voice is incredible. Townsend gets really raging in his own manner. Graves delivers a versatile performance.

But, not only the singers and the story make this album so good. The music and the musicians are both of the first class. The album blends elements from classic, folk, electronic, rock and psychedelic to hard rock, prog and metal at its best. There are violins, cellos, flutes and pipes, there are amazing keyboard solos by some amazing keyboardists, there are guitars by Arjen in his distinctive style and there are drums by Warby. You can't help notice Ed's fine performance.

Conclusion: As is usual on any Ayreon's album, there's a great collection of artists, musicians and singers. It's a real pleasure to see so many great artists on a single album. And as usual, we are in presence of another conceptual album. But, there's a small surprise here that firmly ties this album to all other Ayreon's albums. No sci-fi story here, which is a real surprise for the fans, I guess. But, this is one of the best, if not the best story written by him. So, what more can I say about this wonderful album? Undoubtedly, this is the best work, so far, of this great Dutch artist. He knows perfectly well how to involve so many people without losing his musical identity. This is a perfect mix, full of quality, with a lot of musical styles, new and incredible voices, amazing collaborations and mainly with great music. Again, Mr. Lucassen does that and was able to create amazing music on a wonderful album. It deserves again the maximum rating from me. Definitely, when in the future we look for Rock Operas, we can't forget the name of Arjen Anthony Lucassen.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Rather odd CD in the repertoire of Ayreon. Whereas usually firmly rooted in progressive metal, this album is more a cross-over between "musical" and '80's hard rock. And it's a big disappointment. The story-telling by Tom Baker takes up way too much space, often destroying the pace of the album. Also, the songs are short and there is hardly any song development, which you typically would find in the progressive genre; this time, no epics. There are some nice parts here and there but each time when you think: now we're getting somewhere - whoosh, next track. The vocals have the typical, theatric presentation that one associates with musicals; this is probably just me, but it I found it hard to relate with the characters, which is difficult to begin with, in view of the, I have to say it, extremely boring story. Speaking of the vocals (which are are quite in front of the mix, by the way) - no Anneke van Giersbergen this time. This is SO wrong. Also wrong: super-drummer Ad Warby is sadly missing. Arjen: what happened? I'm a big fan of Arjen and his last concert in Tilburg (Into the Electric Castle) was nothing short of fantastic, but I really hope they skip this album in the next show. I really wanted to like this album, but for me, it doesn't work. Sadly.