Ayreon

Ayreon is a Dutch music project by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon has an original musical style which derives mostly from heavy metal and progressive rock, but combines them with different genres to form what some call a completely new style of music.

Ayreon's music is characterized by the combination of mellow rock and metal, often within the same songs. Use of rare instruments to support the more conventional rock instruments is common for Ayreon.

History

The first Ayreon CD, released in 1995, is The Final Experiment, a story of a man in 6th century Britain who begins to receive messages from scientists in the year 2084 when humankind has almost destroyed itself in a final great war. The album features thirteen singers and seven instrumentalists, most of them Dutch. The Final Experiment is often mentioned as one of the first metal operas and a reviver of the rock opera genre.

Ayreon albums are written by Arjen Lucassen who also sings and plays instruments on each album. All albums feature many guest musicians.

Actual Fantasy from 1996 is the only Ayreon album without a continuous story. With its individual fantasy stories, it can still be considered a concept album though. There are "only" three singers and three instrumentalists on Actual Fantasy.

Into the Electric Castle - A Space Opera (1998) is considered by many as the best Ayreon album. The double album is a story of eight people from different eras of humankind, locked together in a weird "place of no-time and no-space". There, a mysterious voice talks to them, guiding them on their quest to find a way home through the Electric Castle. This story full of science-fiction clichés is told in psychedelic rock by eight singers (along with a few supporters), each playing a role of a single character, and eleven instrumentalists.

The twin album The Universal Migrator (2000) features a science fiction story of the last human alive, living in the Mars colony. In the story of the first CD, Universal Migrator, Pt. 1: The Dream Sequencer, he begins a trip back in time to flashbacks of different peoples' memories during human history, using a device called Dream Sequencer. This first album consists of soft, atmospheric progressive rock. Later, he "pre-incarnates" further back, all the way to the big bang in the heavy second album, Universal Migrator, Pt. 2: Flight of the Migrator. Again, both of these albums have about ten singers supported by many instrumentalists. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) made an appearance on Flight of the Migrator, being probably the best-known musician to appear on an Ayreon album.

The latest Ayreon release is The Human Equation, released in 2004. As on Into the Electric Castle, there are several singers, each playing their own role. With The Human Equation, Ayreon turned away from the usual science fiction and fantasy themes with a story taking place inside the head of a man lying comatose in a hospital bed after a bizarre car accident in broad daylight, with no other cars in sight.

Starting in 2004, Arjen began rereleasing his Ayreon catalog, with enhancements ranging from basic (The Universal Migrator, issued as a two-disc set instead of two separate albums) to drastic (Actual Fantasy, "Revisited" with completely re-recorded drums, bass, synth and flute). In 2005, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Ayreon, The Final Experiment was reissued with a bonus semi-acoustic disc; this reissue is not yet available in the United States.

Discography

• The Final Experiment (1995)
• Actual Fantasy (1996)
• Into the Electric Castle (1998)
• Universal Migrator, Pt. 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)
• Universal Migrator, Pt. 2: Flight of the Migrator (2000)
• Ayreonauts Only (2001)
• The Human Equation (2004)