Champion Your Band 8 - Ayreon by Necromagus

assassin_696 · June 15, 2008

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(This was originally going to be on the band Genitorturers, but with the upcoming Ayreon album 01011001 I decided to change my mind. Ill be glad to do Genitorturers at a later time though.)

Although this is called Champion Your Band, this particular episode really should be called Champion Your Project, because thats what Ayreon is: A series of rock operas featuring a wide range of musical styles and an even wider range of guest artists, all brought together by Arjen Anthony Lucassen.

Arjen Lucassens career as a professional musician began in the eighties, first in the hair metal band Bodine and later in the hair metal band Vengeance, playing guitar for both and writing songs for the latter. The bands never fully tapped into his wide range of musical interests and talents, and when Vengeance wanted to follow the grunge trend of the early nineties he decided to pursue a solo career. His solo album Anthony flopped even after three singles with radio exposure were put out.

After his unsuccessful solo album, Lucassen wanted to create an album that would be all him, and would not conform to any one genre or style. He was inspired by the rock operas of the 60's and 70's like Andrew Lloyd Weber's Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, and Pink Floyd's The Wall. He found a small Dutch label called Transmission Records that was interested, and he started recording his next album. The album that would originally simply be called Ayreon: The Final Experiment, but Ayreon ended up being the official artist name at the suggestion of Transmission Records.

Outside of Ayreon, Arjen Lucassen has produced several other musical projects:

Strange Hobby was a cover album which consisted of many of his favourite songs. He performed all of the music and vocals himself.

His second side project, Ambeon, was an attempt to create more ambient music and mainly consisted of vocalist Astrid van der Veen, along with Arjen Lucassen performing most of the instruments. The album also featured many samples of the Ayreon album that had been released up to that point.

His third side project, Star One, focused more on the heavier side of Arjens musical preferences. Like Ayreon it featured many guest musicians, and the projects themes mainly came from science fiction, including songs that focused directly on certain movies (Songs of the Ocean Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; The Eye of Ra Stargate). The album Space Metal was quite successful, which led to a tour and a live album (Live on Earth).

His fourth and most recent side project was Stream of Passion, was started as a more traditional band. The centerpiece of the band would be the vocals of Marcela Bovio, who sang the female lead on the Ayreon album The Human Equation. The album Embrace the Storm was released in 2005, and after a hugely successful international tour the live album Live In The Real World was released.

The Final Experiment (1995)

Track Listings

1. Prologue (3:17)

Act I The Dawning

2. The Awareness (6:36)

3. Eyes Of Time (5:06)

4. The Banishment (11:08)

Act II King Arthur's Court

5. Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy (2:46)

6. Sail Away To Avalon (4:02)

7. Nature's Dance (2:28)

Act III Visual Echoes

8. Computer-reign (game Over) (3:25)

9. Waracle (6:44)

10. Listen To The Waves (4:59)

11. Magic Ride (3:36)

Act IV Merlin's will and Ayreon's fate

12. Merlin's Will (3:20)

13. The Charm Of The Seer (4:12)

14. Swan Song (2:44)

15. Ayreon's Fate (6:56)

Total Time: 71:19

Line-up/Musicians

- Arjen Lucassen / guitars, bass and keys

- Cleem Determeijer (Finch) / on all kinds of keys including mellotron

- Ernst van Ee (Helloise) / drums

- Jolanda Verduijn / bass

- Peter Vink (Finch, Q'65) / bass

- Jan Bijlsma / bass

- Barry Hay / alto flute

Lead singers are:

Edward Reekers (Kayak), Lenny Wolf (Kingdom Come), Robert Soeterbroek, Jan-Chris De Koeijer, Ian Parry (Vengeance), Barry Hay (Golden Earring), Arjen Lucassen (Vengeance), Jan van Feggelen, Leon Goewie, Ruud Houweling, Lucie Hillen, Mirjam van Doorn and Debby Schreuder.

[hide=The Story]The Final Experiment tells the story of a group of scientists in the year 2084. Years of war using unchecked destructive technologies have pushed the human race to the very brink of extinction, and in a last bid to save the species a group of scientists use a technology called time telepathy to send visions of humanitys decline through technology into the past. These visions are received by the blind minstrel Ayreon, who makes a living entertaining King Arthur at Camelot. He doesn't comprehend the visions he receives, and Merlin sees the rambling prophet as a threat to his position. In the end Ayreon gets banished from time and space by Merlin, his message never understood.[/hide]

The Final Experiment laid the groundwork for what you could consider Ayreon's 'style'. It was written along the lines of the classical rock operas, but with obvious metal influences. The guest artists are mostly Dutch, with the most recognizable name being Golden Earring front man Barry Hey. The album has some very clear up (Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy, Nature's Dance) and down (Computer Reign, Waracle) moments. Overall the music is fairly straightforward, but pretty weak compared to later Ayreon releases.

Actual Fantasy (1996)

Track Listings

1. Actual Fantasy (1:35)

2. Abbey Of Synn (9:34)

3. The Stranger From Within (7:36)

4. Computer Eyes (7:31)

5. Beyond The Last Horizon (7:34)

6. Farside Of The World (6:21)

7. Back On The Planet Earth (7:01)

8. Forevermore (6:10)

Total Time: 53:22

Line-up/Musicians

- Arjen Anthony Lucassen / everything else

- Robert Soeterbeek / vocals

- Edward Reekers / vocals

- Okkie Huysden / vocals

- Cleem Determeijer / synth solo on 3 and 4

- Rene Merkelenbach / hammond, synth solo on 2

Actual Fantasy is pretty much the odd one out in the Ayreon discography. It's the only album that doesn't play a part in the overlying Ayreon storyline. Musically it's a bit of a black sheep as well, as it is probably the most synth-heavy album in the line-up. The album features only a limited number of guest musicians. The long songs with highly complex synthesizer compositions are hard to get into, and the whole project is very much a studio-enhanced effort.

Into the Electric Castle (1998)

Track Listings

CD 1:

1. Welcome to the new dimension (3:05)

2. Isis and Osiris (11:11)

a) Let the journey begin

B) The hall of Isis and Osiris

c) Strange constellations

3. Amazing flight (10:15)

a) Amazing flight in space

B) Stardance

c) Flying colours

4. Time beyond time (6:05)

5. The decision tree (we're alive) (6:24)

6. Tunnel of light (4:05)

7. Across the rainbow bridge (6:20)

CD 2:

1. The garden of emotions (9:40)

a) In the garden of emotions

B) Voices in the sky

c) The aggression factor

2. Valley of the queens (2:25)

3. The castle hall (5:49)

4. Tower of hope (4:54)

5. Cosmic fusion (7:27)

a) I soar on the breeze

B) Death's grunt

c) The passing of an eagle

6. The mirror maze (6:34)

a) Inside the mirror maze

B) Through the mirror

7. Evil devolution (6:31)

8. The two gates (6:28)

9. "Forever" of the stars (2:02)

10. Another time, another space (5:20)

Total Time: 102:35

Line-up/Musicians

- Arjen Lucassen / guitars, mandolin, bass, Minimoog, Mellotron & keyboards

- Roland Bakker / Hammonds

- Jack Pisters / sitar

- Robby Valentine / pianos, synth solos on IIa, IIIa (disc 1) and IV (disc 2), mellotron on VIa (disc 2)

- Ernö Olah / violins

- Clive Nolan / synth solos on Vc (disc one)

- Rene Merkelbach / synth solos on V (disc one) and VII (disc 2), harpsichord on II (disc 2)

- Tom Scherpenzeel / synth solos on Vc (disc 2)

- Ed Warby / drums

- Taco Kooistra / celli

- Thijs van Leer / flute on IIIc, IV (disc 1) and II & III (disc 2)

- Fish, Damien Wilson, Sharon Den Adel, Anneke van Giersbergen, Edwin Balogh, Arjen Lucassen, Jay van Feggelen, and Edward Reeker / vocals

[hide=The Story]In a place beyond time and space, eight souls plucked from eight different periods of mankind's history find themselves running for their lives, driven ever forward by the mysterious being known simply as 'Forever'. As they make their way through the hostile landscape of the strange dimension they find themselves falling in number, until they finally make their way up to the Tower of Hope and come face to face with Forever, who explains the reason they had been brought here; through the wild range of emotions the eight felt on their journey through his world, Forever hoped to catch a glimpse of his own emotions, which he lost long ago to the grinding madness of immortality. He tells them that they won't remember anything, and returns the survivors to their own time lines.[/hide]

After The Final Experiment failed to achieve the expected success, Into The Electric Castle was a radical departure from the more serious tones of the previous album. With characters plucked straight from B-movies the storyline the music becomes more frivolous and playful too. While the album still has its slow and serious moments (Valley of the Queens, The Decision Tree), the international cast of accomplished prog-metal musicians really flex their muscles to provide an album that's more musically varied than The Final Experiment.

The Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)

Track Listings

1. The Dream Sequencer (5:08)

2. My House On Mars (7:49)

3. 2084 (7:42)

4. One Small Step (8:46)

5.The Shooting Company Of Captain Frans B Cocq (7:57)

6. Dragon On The Sea (7:09)

7. Temple Of The Cat (4:11)

8. Carried By The Wind (3:59)

9. And The Druids Turn To Stone (6:36)

10. The First Man On Earth (7:19)

11. The Dream Sequencer Reprise (3:36)

Total Time: 70:14

Line-up/Musicians

- Arjen Lucassen / electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, analogue synthesizers, Hammond, Mellotron and additional keyboards

- Erik Norlander (Ritual Symphony, Rocket Scientists, Lana Lane) / analogue synthesizers, piano, vocoder, Hammond and additional keyboards

- Rob Snijders (Celestion Season) / drums

Synth solos:

- Erik Norlander / (Rocket Scientists, Lana Lane) on 1, 4, 6

- Clive Nolan (Arena, Pendragon) on 3

Singers:

- Johan Edlund (Tiamat) on 2

- Floor Jansen (After Forever) on 2

- Lana Lane - on 3, 6 and voice on 1

- Edward Reekers (Kayak) on 4

- Mouse (Tuesday Child) on 5

- Jacqueline Govaert (Krezip) on 7

- Arjen Lucassen on 8

- Damian Wilson (Threshold, Landmarq and now playing the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar)

- Neal Morse (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic) on 10

Backing vocals:

- Mark McCrite (Rocket Scientists) on 10

- Lana Lane on 4, 5

[hide=The Story]The final experiment has failed, and mankind has virtually destroyed itself. On a desolate colony on the planet Mars, the last human being locks himself in a machine known as The Dream Sequencer to take one last ride into humanity's past. Through the virtual reality machine he experiences himself as a child, waiting for his father to return to the desolate colony on Mars he was born in. He dives further into the history of the human race. He relives another childhood, watching the moon landing with his father. He watches as Queen Elizabeth sends out the English navy against the invincible Spanish armada. He catches the last words of the blind minstrel Ayreon. Finally he reaches back to the time of the first man, where he finds the peace he is looking for.[/hide]

The Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (2000)

Track Listings

1. Choas (5:10)

2. Dawn Of Million Souls (7:45)

3. Journey On The Waves Of Time (5:47)

4. To The Quasar (8:42)

a) The Taurus Pulsar

B) Quasar 3C273

5. Into The Black Hole (10:25)

a) The Eye Of The Universe

B) Halo Of Darkness

c) The Final Hour

6. Through The Wormhole (6:05)

7. Out Of The White Hole (7:11)

a) M31

B) Planet Y

c) The Search Continues

8. To The Solar System (6:11)

a) Planet Of Blue

B) System Alert

9. The New Migrator (8:15)

a) Metamorphosis

B) Sleeper Awake

Total Time: 65:36

Line-up/Musicians

- Arjen Lucassen / electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, analogue synthesizers, Hammond, Mellotron and additional keyboards

- Erik Norlander / analogue synthesizers, piano, vocoder, Hammond and additional keyboards

- Ed Warby (Gorefest, ex-Elegy) / drums

Guitar solos:

- Arjen Lucassen on 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9

- Michael Romeo (Symphony X) on 2

- Oscar Holleman 2nd solo on 4

- Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery) on 6

Keyboard solos :

- Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists, Lana Lane) on 1, 3 (Hammond solo), 4, 5, 7

- Rene Merkelbach last solo on 4

- Clive Nolan (Arena, Pendragon) 2nd synth solo on 5

- Gary Wehrkamp on 6

- Keiko Kumagai (Ars Nova) on 9 (+ Hammond solo)

Singers:

- Russel Allen (Symphony X) on 2

- Ralf Scheepers (ex-Gamma Ray, Primal Fear) on 3

- Andi Deris (Helloween) on 4

- Bruce [bleep]inson (Iron Maiden) on 5

- Fabio Leone (Rhapsody) on 7

- Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius) on 7

- Robert Soeterboek (Ayreon) on 8

- Ian Parry (Vengeance, Elegy) on 9

Backing vocals:

- Damion Wilson on 2

- Lana Lane on 4, 5, 6, 9 and narration on 1

[hide=The Story]Inside the bowels of The Dream Sequencer, the last man alive pushes beyond all limits to attain visions of the very dawn of life in the universe: the flight of the first soul, known as The Universal Migrator. He watches as the entity navigates treacherous astral phenomena to find its way to the solar system and a viable spark of life. As the Migrator reaches him the Dream Sequencer collapses, finally setting him free and allowing his soul to join the Migrator to seek out a new planet where the cycle of life can begin again.[/hide]

The Dream Sequencer and Flight of the Migrator were released at the same time, and while they're two parts of the same story they're very different musically. The Dream Sequencer was written with the help of an encyclopaedia for children, Flight of the Migrator with the works of Stephen Hawking.

The Dream Sequencer is a very atmospheric prog-rock album, featuring many analogue synthesizers that give the album a strong seventies feel. After a very gloomy start (My House on Mars, 2084) the rest of the songs are more upbeat. The entire album is definitely designed to be a headphones experience, with a constant meandering tempo and guitars that seem to come straight from a lost Pink Floyd recording.

Flight of the Migrator is a journey into the metal side of Ayreon, and to make sure the album was taken seriously as such Arjen Lucassen signed none other than Bruce [bleep]inson as the vocalist for the ten minute centrepiece of the album (Into The Black Hole). With plenty of time to build to a climax, one of metal's most powerful voices delivers an absolutely brilliant performance. The song provides an interesting break in the album's otherwise surprisingly high tempo. With more aggressive guitars, a higher tempo and more powerful vocals, this album definitely is a musical mirror image to The Dream Sequencer.

The Human Equation (2004)

Track Listings

CD 1:

1. Day One: Vigil (1:33)

2. Day Two: Isolation (8:42)

3. Day Three: Pain (4:58)

4. Day Four: Mystery (5:37)

5. Day Five: Voices (7:09)

6. Day Six: Childhood (5:05)

7. Day Seven: Hope (2:47)

8. Day Eight: School (4:22)

9. Day Nine: Playground (2:15)

10. Day Ten: Memories (3:57)

11. Day Eleven: Love (4:18)

CD 2:

12. Day Twelve: Trauma (8:59)

13. Day Thirteen: Sign (4:47)

14. Day Fourteen: Pride (4:42)

15. Day Fifteen: Betrayal (5:24)

16. Day Sixteen: Loser (4:46)

17. Day Seventeen: Accident? (5:42)

18. Day Eighteen: Realization (4:31)

19. Day Nineteen: Disclosure (4:42)

20. Day Twenty: Confrontation (7:03)

Total Time: 102:14

Line-up/Musicians

Musicians:

- Arjen Ayreon Lucassen / electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, analogue synthesizers, Hammond, Mellotron, additional keyboards, mandoline

Vocalists:

- Devon Graves (Dead Soul Tribe) as 'Agony'

- Devin Townsend (SYL) as 'Rage'

- Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine) as 'Reason'

- Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) as 'Fear'

- Magnus Ekwall (The Quill) as 'Pride'

- Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn) as 'Love'

- Irene Jansen (Karma) as 'Passion'

- James LaBrie (Dream Theater) as 'Me'

- Marcela Bovio (Elfonia) as 'Wife'

- Mike Baker (Shadow Gallery) as 'Father'

- Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) as 'Best Friend'

Instrumentalists:

- Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep, Various) / Hammond (16)

- Oliver Wakeman (Nolan & Wakeman) / keyboards (17)

- Martin Orford (IQ, Jadis) / keyboards (15)

- Ed Warby (Gorefest, Various) / drums

- Joost van den Broek (Ayreon) / synthesizer (2), spinet (13)

- John McManus / Low-flute (13,16,18), tin-whistle (18)

- Jeroen Goossens / flute (3,5,9,14,18), alto-flute (2), bass flute (5,14), panpipes (6), descant and treble recorder (13), didgeridoo (16), bassoon (18)

- Robert Baba / violins

- Marieke van der Heyden / cello

[hide=The Story]Alone in his coma, a man struggling to wake up is confronted by his own emotions. As his wife and best friend watch on helplessly on the physical side, he has to face the traumas of past and present with the help of Love, Pride, Fear, Reason, Agony and Passion.

*note: While most reviews applaud this album's storyline for being more serious than the previous Ayreon albums, the ending is kind of a kick in the pants when a spoken sequence reveals that The Human Equation is just another Dream Sequencer program.[/hide]

With four years of production (excluding the time spent touring with Star One), The Human Equation is definitely the most polished of all Ayreon albums. Arjen Lucassen really took his time to carefully select the musical talent, and the end result is a combination of established names and unknown talent from various musical backgrounds that all have one thing in common: A strong passion for music. With Dream Theater's James LaBrie singing the vocals of the lead character. The album's storyline of a man reliving both the most optimistic and depressing moments of life allowed for an incredible range of musical moods, ranging from fearful (Childhood, School) to cheerful (Memories, Love) to downright furious (Loser). Besides the familiar guitars and synthesizers the album also features many other instruments, both traditional and exotic, including extensive use of a didgeredoo in the track Loser, as well as some very well placed non-musical samples.

01011001 (2008)

Track Listings

Disc 1 (Y):

1. Age of Shadows incl. We Are Forever (10:47)

2. Comatose (4:26)

3. Liquid Eternity (8:10)

4. Connect the Dots (4:13)

5. Beneath the Waves (8:26)

(a) Beneath the Waves

(B) Face the Facts

(d) World Without Walls

(e) Reality Bleeds

6. Newborn Race (7:49)

(a) The Incentive

(B) The Vision

(d) Another Life

(e) Newborn Race

(f) The Conclusion

7. Ride the Comet (3:29)

8. Web of Lies (2:50)

Disc 2 (Earth):

1. The Fifth Extinction (10:29)

(a) Glimmer of Hope

(B) World of Tomorrow Dreams

(d) From the Ashes

(e) Glimmer of Hope (reprise)

2. Waking Dreams (6:31)

3. The Truth Is In Here (5:12)

4. Unnatural Selection (7:15)

5. River of Time (4:24)

6. E=MC2 (5:50)

7. The Sixth Extinction (12:18)

(a) Echoes on the Wind

(B) Radioactive Grave

(d) To the Planet of Red

(e) Spirit on the Wind

(f) Complete the Circle

Line-up/Musicians

Vocals:

- ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN / vocals

- Anneke Van Giersbergen (Agua De Annique, ex-The Gathering) / vocals

- Bob Catley (Magnum) / vocals

- Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain Of Salvation, Genius) / vocals

- Floor Jansen (After Forever, Star One) / vocals

- Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian, Demons & Wizards) / vocals

- Jonas Renkse (Katatonia, Bloodbath, ex-October Tide) / vocals

- Jorn Lande (solo, ex-Masterplan, ARK, Beyond Twilight, Millenium, ...) / vocals

- Liselotte Hegt (Dial) / vocals

- Magali Luyten (Virus IV, Beautiful Sin) / vocals

- Marjan Welman (Elister) / vocals

- Phideaux Xavier (solo) / vocals

- Simone Simons (Epica) / vocals

- Steve Lee (Gotthard) / vocals

- Tom S. Englund (Evergrey) / vocals

- Ty Tabor (solo, King's X, Platypus, Jelly Jam, Xenuphobe,...) / vocals

- Wudstik (solo) / vocals

Instruments:

- ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN / guitars, bass, keyboards, synths and programming

- Lori Linstruth (ex-Stream Of Passion) / guitars

- Michael Romeo (Symphony X) / guitars

- Ben Mathot (Dis) / Violin

- David Faber / Violoncello

- Jeroen Goossens (Flairck) / Flute

- Derek Sherinian (solo, Planet X, ex-Dream Theater, Yngwie Mamlsteen, ...) / keyboards

- Joost van den Broek (After Forever, Star One) / keyboards

- Tomas Bodin (Flower Kings, Karmakanic, Circus Brimstone) / keyboards

- Ed Warby (Gorefest, Elegy, Star One, Orphanage, Thanatos) / drum

[hide=The story[/hide]In the dark corners of the universe, the surviving members of the race known as Forever have become immortal. As they grow ever more weary of where their emotionless life of cold machines has taken them, they make a radical decision. They seek out a planet suitable for life, and find Earth. Despite objections from some members they redirect a meteorite, wiping out the primitive reptilian lifeforms and planting their own DNA. With Forever's guidance the human race thrives, and through humanity's experiences they relive their lost emotions. However, not content with their current rate of growth Forever begins to meddle more and more in humanity's technology, until they reach a point where they can no longer responsibly handle the knowledge they've been given. As an apocalyptic war rages they make one last attempt to save their creation. They give a scientist visions of a machine that would allow them to send messages back in time. The final experiment fails however, and humanity falls. In a final act of defiance Forever disable the machines that have been keeping them alive, and they join humanity in death.[/hide]

After another four years, with again a hiatus for a side project (Stream of Passion), 01011001 hit the shelves. While writing the album Arjen was dealing with stress from the Stream of Passion tour and several medical issues, and as a result the album became the darkest Ayreon production yet. The entire album is far more straightforward than previous releases. The entire album features a very dark ambience, and even some of the more upbeat songs (Connect the Dots) seem to be there only to illustrate the futility of the human condition. There moments of tongue-in-cheek musical humour that dotted previous Ayreon releases are gone. It's a very dark and moody album, and definitely not for everybody.

Extras

Day 11: Love (The Human Equation credits)

Day 16: Loser

Beneath the Waves

Across the Rainbow Bridge

Carried by the Wind

Dawn of a Million Souls

My House on Mars

One Small Step

Stream of Passion - Passion

Stream of Passion - Haunted