So I had an epiphany a few
days weeks ago. I was at work and I was listening through my mp3s when I started to listen to
Ayreon. This a band that was introduced to me by my good friend Ace. The very first track that I heard from this band was "Computer Eyes". Interestingly enough, it's about video games and a virtual reality in a dark and abstract way. Coolness. This was back in 2001 and that was all back then.
Not until several years later I stumbled upon the album "
The Human Equation"... and I was blown away by the range in lyrics, music and concept. As I was listening it reminded me of something, then I remembered that song I had heard years back! So, as my interest grew in this album and band, I dove into who and what was behind it.
Ayreon is a
progressive rock/metal Dutch project of
Arjen A. Lucassen. He invokes and gathers musicians from other bands for his projects. To name some:
Michael Romeo,
Damian Wilson,
Daniel Gildenlöw,
Floor Jansen,
Neal Morse,
James LaBrie,
Lori Linstruth, the great
Erik Norlander and many
more. I listed mainly vocalists, guitar players and a keyboard player, but the repertoire is much broader, from flutes to even the Didgeridoo.
Anyways, my path on the Ayreon track went to listening to "
Into The Electric Castle", a great scifi rock opera which I think is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Then I got to "The Universal Migrator". This project consisted of two albums,
Part 1: The Dream Sequencer geared towards a progressive feel and the other one
Part 2: Flight of the Migrator was towards a more metal feel. Both great, but I identify more with metal one. The next album was "
01011001", a culmination that ties all the previous albums and portrays how humans came to being. Only until lately have I really gotten into the other albums "
The Final Experiment", "
Actual Fantasy" and "
Ayreonauts Only", which the first one is really good, but in the words of Ace: 'I had to train myself for it' and it's about this ministrel who receives a message from the future through a technolgy called "Time Telepathy" about how humanity comes to an end by destroying itself... How is that for a mouthful? Continuing, "
Actual Fantasy" is not a concept album and the songs are independent of each other and very loosely tied, I have a special connection with this one because it has the song "Computer Eyes". Finally "
Ayreonauts Only" is a compilation of alternate versions of songs released from "
The Final Experiment" to "The Universal Migrator".
I need to make a special mention to the most recent album released: "
Timeline". Which is a second compilation of select songs and a previously unreleased track.
I cannot choose a favorite album nor a favorite song, because each is different and depending on my mood I may like one or some over another. The following however, I keep coming back to and are in constant rotation in my ipod:
- Merlin's Will
- The Charm Of The Seer (and the alternate home demo version)
- Abbey Of Synn
- Computer Eyes
- Back On Planet Earth
- Isis and Osiris
- Time Beyond Time
- The Garden of Emotions
- Evil Devolution
- The Two Gates
- My House On Mars
- 2084
- Carried By The Wind
- And The Druids Turn To Stone
- Chaos
- Dawn Of A Million Souls
- Through The Wormhole (and the alternate version)
- Out Of The White Hole (and the alternate version)
- Carpe Diem
- Into the Black Hole (alternate version)
- Eyes of Time (alternate version)
- Day Two: Isolation
- Day Three: Pain
- Day Seven: Hope
- Day Eleven: Love
- Day Eighteen: Realization
- Day Twenty: Confrontation
- Age of Shadows
- Liquid Eternity
- Beneath The Waves
- Ride The Comet
- The Earth Extinction
- Unnatural Selection
- River Of Time
- E=MC2
Yeah, that's about it. :D Ayreon. Right on.
