I mentioned in the past that I planned to approach all of the Metal/Progressive/Rock Opera thematic concept albums by Arjen Lucassen and cover each one as their own story. It is said they all link together, and together perhaps we can find out if that is true. I am going to skip Actual Fantasy for this project as it is the only album that did not stick to this style.

For those of you that may not have read about my post where I mentioned I wanted to do this project. Ayreon is not a band per say. It is an experience. Dutch songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer Arjen Lucassen created these projects. They can essentially be considered metal, rock, progressive operas. Yet it is really interesting as he brings guest vocalists and musicians from prominent bands to play the rolls of the characters. The result can be quite astonishing. Hopefully, my fellow music enthusiast on steemit will enjoy this as much as I think I will.

Keep in mind this is the FIRST Ayreon album. He seems to be able to attract more and more prominent vocalists and musicians as these albums continue to be released.

Vocal Line Up

Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizer, drums, percussion, timpani, audio mixing, sleeve design & photography

Barry Hay - Vocalist - Dutch vocalist - with Golden Earing, and Flying V Formation. He is also a mult-instrumentalist.

Edward Reekers - Vocalist played the role of Merlin and the role of Ayreon. - He has also performed with the act Kayak.

Ian Parry - Vocalist as Nobleman, and in some places as Merlin.

Jan-Chris de Koeijer - vocalist on the song "The Banishment".

Jay van Feggelen - vocalist as Merlin on two of the songs. Yes a lot of people traded off the Merlin and Ayreon roles.

Lenny Wolf - vocalist on the song "Eyes of Time" - from the bands Stone Fury, Kingdom Come, and Germany.

Leon Goewie - vocalist who ALSO was yet another person that performed the role of Merlin on several songs.

Robert Soeterboek - vocalist as the Villagers on "The Banishment" and as one of the voices of Merlin on "Ayreon's Fate"

Ruud Houweling - vocalist as Ayreon on "The Charm Of The Seer"

Lucy Hillen - vocalist on "The Charm Of The Seer" and as the Chorus on several tracks.

Debby Schreuder - vocalist as Merlin, Women and Villagers on "Ayreon's Fate" and Chorus on several tracks. I'm starting to think Merlin must be quite unusual vocally.

Mirjam van Doorn - vocalist with the same roles as Debby above. This sounds like it might be pretty interesting.

Irene Jansen - bonus vocalist

Marcela Bovio - bonus vocalist

Peter Daltrey - bonus vocalist

John Cuijpers - bonus vocalist

Esther Ladiges - bonus vocalist

Rodney Blaze - bonus vocalist

Astrid van der Veen - bonus vocalist

Valentine - bonus vocalist
Not sure which image to use for Valentine...

Let's Give it a Listen

It begins with Track 1
1: "Prologue"

• "The Time Telepathy Experiment"
• "Overture"
• "Ayreon's Quest"

We then enter the section known as ACT I: The Dawning. It will span three tracks.

2: "The Awareness"

• "The Premonition"
• "Dreamtime (Words Become a Song)"
• "The Awakening"

3: "Eyes of Time"

• "Eyes of Time"
• "Brainwaves"

4: "The Banishment"

• "A New Dawn"
• "The Gathering"
• "The Accusation"
• "The Banishment"
• "Oblivion"

Now we move on to ACT II: King Arthur's Court which spans tracks 5, 6, and 7.

5: "Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy"

6: "Sail Away to Avalon"

7: "Nature's Dance"

The next act is ACT III: Visual Echoes and spans tracks 8, 9, 10, and 11.

8: "Computer-Reign (Game Over)"

9: "Waracle"

10: "Listen to the Waves"

11: "Magic Ride"

This enters the final act ACT IV: Merlin's Will and Ayreon's Fate which spans tracks 12, 13, 14, and 15.

12: "Merlin's Will"

13: "The Charm of the Seer"

14: "Swan Song"

15: "Ayreon's Fate"

• "Ayreon's Fate"
• "Merlin's Prophecy"
• "Epilogue"

Other Line Up

Keyboards:

Cleem Determeijer (tracks 2-6, 14)
Rene Merkelbach (tracks 4, 6, 11, 12)

Drums

Ernst van Ee (tracks 2-4, 6-10, 12, 15)
Davy Mickers

Bass

Peter Vink - acoustic bass (tracks 3-4, 7-8)
Jolanda Verduijn (tracks 4, 6, 15)
Jan Bijlsma (track 11)

Cello

Marieke van der Heyden
Dewi Kerstens

Artwork

Ruud Houweling
Richèle Nijst
Jacoby Peters

Designs

Richele Nijst - additional
Jacoby Peeters - additional
Ruud Houweling - sleeve

Flute

Ewa Albering

Electric lead guitar solos

Lori Linstruth

Assorted wind instruments

Jeroen Goossens

Piano and bonus vocals

Valentine

Miscellaneous

Oscar Holleman – engineering
Sjoerd Kops - photography
Peter Brussee - mastering
Oscar Holleman - production, mixing & engineering

Lyrics are from the website DarkLyrics.Com

Conclusion and Impression

I have had this for awhile but I always include it in a mix so this is the first time I've listened to it the way it is supposed to be listened to.

Prologue - Narrator introduction and nice synthetics and sounds set an interesting atmosphere. It opens up quite bright and brilliantly musically speaking after the narrator says "His name is Ayreon". I always wondered where the name of the band came from. Wonder no more. Other than the narrator there are no vocals on this track and it just sets the mood.

The Awareness - "Let us go back to the dark ages..." so begins the narrator. The musical arrangements at the beginning are quite interesting and very atmospheric. It has some high end floating haunting like synthetic melodies I've heard in other Ayreon albums. The vocals back in with a clean guitar sound with some chorus that sounds quite good. It has a bit of that 70s Styx, Foreigner, etc type feel. That is a compliment by the way. That was a great sound back then, but here it is mixed with better production, and sounds that were unavailable during that time. Excellent vocal work.

Eyes of Time - Beginning with a synthetic Gregorian chant like verse that then mixes in some chunky metal rhythms which have a familiar Ayreon flavor. It is almost an Arabian type melody applied to a metal rhythm. A lot of interwoven vocals make this an interesting song. It is very exciting to see that even the first Ayreon album was at top notch production value. It also has some of that news broadcaster talking in the background type of vibe. Perhaps this will explain why so many vocalists seemed to share some of the same roles. There seems to be less role overlap in Ayreon albums after this one. It has some nice guitar solos too dancing along the artificial/pinch harmonics.

The Banishment - This one starts out with a large epic sounding track that I'd expect to hear as part of a fantasy movie or show from the 90s. A good one. It has a big expansive sound. Then it goes into some synthetic horn sections repeating what we'd expect from medieval style passages which fade into a more modern progressive rock feeling style. Then the guitar takes over what the horns were doing and it no longer feels as synthetic. The guitar has a few fluid moments that are reminiscent of like a Joe Satriani style from say the Surfing With An Alien era. Then it makes another Styx or even Billy Joel type transition. It is definitely a Progressive production. Those who have been following me will know I am very fond of Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal. This song has a ton of dynamics and variation. It is quite excellent. There are some great instrumental breakout sections in here including some shredding guitar, and wicked bass movements. It also has some dark metal like vocals that are deep and gutteral but understandable. They remind me of some deep moments in some Iced Earth songs, but this came out before those particular songs.

Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy - definitely a mellow entry after the end of "The Banishment" above. It feels like a scene change, which is very appropriate since this begins the next act. Jolly little medieval sounding flute riffs with some strings, and harpsichord like sounds with the occasional synthetic horn fanfare which is backed by vocals that are almost reminiscent of Ronnie James Dio.

Sail Away to Avalon - with thumping drums and powerful opening riffs this brings the energy back up a notch or two from the previous song. The overall thematic feel has persisted throughout all of the songs, but there are different deliveries. This one feels like a rock/metal opera. It is big and has a lot of bravado.

Nature's Dance - I really enjoy some of the strange sounds mixed with the acoustic guitar in this one. Then this too reminds me of something vocally I might expect to hear from the 60s or 70s. I was raised on such things so it has a nostalgic feeling for me though it is very different. This is another mellower track so this act so far is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. That works though as this is an outro for this act.

Computer-Reign (Game Over) - bam... theme shift. Now we're in the sci-fi zone. Gone are the medieval themes and now it is very digital and inspiring of a much more modern setting. It has a bit of a feel of a song I am familiar with from a movie. It sounds kind of like the "I need a hero" chorus in part of it but, sung by a male. Interesting.

Waracle - more digital mixed with a little of that war gunfire sound in the background opens this and then it proceeds with some droning long held pedal tone type sequences. Spoken voices with some reverb and other effects make for an interesting atmosphere. Then with some guitar scratch it explodes into some good metal and great vocals. Nice transition it is quite dramatic. To only descend back to the vocals and the pedal tone. This has some really cool and interesting interactions. The vocals are actually quite awesome too. This may be one of my favorites so far. I love the interplay. Then it makes a very different transition with the chorus entering with "Set me Free" and a very blues/soul like rendition by the male singer. Quite good. Quite skilled. Only to descend back to the droning pedal tone and the very interesting narration/singing. Yeah, I really like this song. It's pretty bad ass.

Listen To The Waves - with a waves crashing into the shore line intro, this is a different transition from the last song, but that last song was quite a nice build up. This actually goes pretty nicely with Waracle. It has a different flavor, but it fits. It seems like it may be working a winding path back to being able to revisit the medieval theme. We shall see. There is a nice little guitar solo at the end of this and the ending sound makes me think it is leading into something.

Magic Ride - okay, that was not quite the sound I expected with the sound we left off from Listen to the Waves, but there is some interesting tremolo (volume variety) effects going on at the beginning of this. It has almost a bit of a melotron type feel to it. With the title of this song, the feel, and the fact this is the last song in this act I suspect there may be an interesting transition after this.

Merlin's Will - Powerful entry into a new act and it is some nice overlaid sounds. I recognize this song. This is one I've heard quite a few times before and enjoyed quite a bit. It has some nice dual guitar melodies where they are playing in slightly different intervals. This song is pretty cool, and it is a memorable tune. It also does begin to reintroduce some medieval style music that I'd commonly expect to hear played on a harpsichord or something similar.

The Charm of the Seer - opening with a medieval synthetic melody, and some pulsating chords with very clear vocals, followed by some little trills of sounds, and almost singing from a canyon type effect on the vocals. They lyrics are pretty interesting. Those little trills of notes that occur right before the singing from a canyon effect are pretty cool too. After two passes of that it opens up to something bigger sounding and a vocalist change occurs. It's a good song. It has some tasteful guitar solo moments too. I like a lot of the two stepping up the scales dual guitar sections. It has a haunting operatic female subtle like sound in the background a little later. I like how this song keeps layering more things into it as it progresses. It is the little subtle things that interest me the most in this one. The end vocals make me think of something Tarja Tuurnen might do.

Swan Song transitioning to straight piano, with some synthetic sounding wood wind/flute sounds is different for this album so far. This sound is different from what we've heard so far, but it too has that layering effect where it gradually adds more things to the song, and strangely it reminds me of playing Final Fantasy or Chronotrigger when some of the synthetic moments kick in on this one. This song would fit well in one of those games. Then it picks up pace and the pianist begins to really jam and do some things that feel very freestylish and it is pretty cool.

Ayreon's Fate - this song will close out this album. I like the vocals at the beginning. He really works some texture and feeling into what he is singing there. Then it opens up into a big prog sounding section with quite a bit going on. It is building, and building. It has a little bit of that fugue like feel to it. Then it changes and I like the little guitar riff rhythm quite a bit with the more metal vocalist overlaid over it. I like that riff quite a bit. I was paying too much attention to it and almost missed some nice interwoven female vocalists. This has some fun parts to it. This is one I could likely pick up and learn the guitar parts as it has a bit of the feel of things I tend to crank out when I'm noodling. It definitely has a very fugue feel to it. As I know I am waiting to see if it builds up to a large ending or if it transitions down. Then just as I was thinking that it changes... a subtle drone in the background and barely perceptible voices with effects. A few digital sounds mixed in. The subtle almost imperceptible sounds mixed in with the low drone are quite interesting. Then it ends with the narrator and a ticking clock.

Okay as far as impressions go. The album is quite cool. I am more drawn to a lot of the newer albums, but this one has some great stuff and it is great to see where it started. I really got into Waracle for some reason. I started off not thinking it was anything great, but the switching up the styles and that pseudo-rollercoaster sonic type thing sometimes appeals to me. There were also some great very bluesy and soul filled vocals that mixed at just the right moment. I really like that song. Out of all of these songs the only one I do recall when it would hit my large playlist by sound was "Merlin's Will" but this time around I can honestly say that "Waracle" did it for me and I enjoyed this.

I will move onto the next album, but will skip Actual Fantasy as it is the only one that wasn't a huge concept album. I'll do the next one when the feeling strikes me.

I'd like to see Arjen and Ayreon get some support so if you liked this you might consider purchasing it. I am going to hunt down some of the places he has it for sale and link them here. I am not an affiliate and I do not personally benefit in any way from any of these purchases. I just feel with how much I exposed and how deep I went into this album that it is the right thing to do.

If you like this... buy this and other Ayreon albums so he will keep making them!!!