AYREON „01011001”

Music: Progressive Rock
Country: Netherlands
Web site: www.myspace.com/ayreonauts
Cool Songs: Age of Shadows, River of Time, The Fifth Extinction

Multi-faceted musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen has once again returned to his beloved progressive rock group, AYREON. Lucassen handles enough duties to be his own one-man group, but with his new album, just as with past efforts, he acquired a wide array of major names throughout the metal and prog rock scenes. With the binary-code-titled “01011001,” Lucassen gathered some of the foremost names in today’s metal scene—from various styles—to help him complete his progressive rock masterpiece.

Some of these names include Hansi Kursch (BLIND GUARDIAN), Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-THE GATHERING, AGUA DE ANNIQUE), Floor Jansen (AFTER FOREVER), Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA), Simone Simons (EPICA) and Derek Sherinian (ex-DREAM THEATER, PLANET X). Lucassen’s star-studded, epic space odyssey is of such depth, many of the songs contain several parts, that he could not release it as just a single disc, so it comes with two discs.

Staying in line with the conventions of prog rock, “01011001” focuses heavily on the use of keyboards. Lucassen produces numerous keyboard and synth sounds, as well as merging with Derek Sherinian, Thomas Bodin and Joost van den Broek in creation of an electronic symphony. Most of the keyboard noises help bring to life the album’s Sci-Fi themes. Some of the highlights include the spiraling, cosmic sounds of “Age of Shadows,” which also has robotic voice effects. “Comatose” fits well with the experimental trappings of Anneke van Giersbergen’s former group THE GATHERING.

Like any well-crafted progressive rock effort, “01011001” contains many parts. The multitude of musical talent enclosed within the album helps bring a variety of moods and instrumentation including violin, flute, cello, tin whistle, and clean and electric guitars (check out the futuristic Irish jig on “River of Time). These all work in AYREON’s favor, but the utilization of numerous vocal styles serves to create a sort of cosmic space opera. Bringing together Hansi Kursch, Anneke van Giersbergen and Jonas Renske on “Age of Shadows” produces a strong narration for each part each singer tackles. During the Radioactive Grave portion of “The Sixth Extinction,” Hansi Kursch, Daniel Gildenlow, Steve Lee and others sing each line, instilling a unique flavor to each part. Jonas Renske even adds a rare death growl.

“01011001” is massive effort. Kudos go out to any man who can put together such a long list of musicians, schedule all their parts, arrange, produce, record and play on an album of such depth. At first glance, an album of this magnitude featuring such a high caliber of musicians should be phenomenal. While it grew on me over time, it fails to live up to the hype. There should be more guitars and while most tracks fit the album’s theme, “Connect the Dots” is a terrible track and does not fit into the album’s profound concepts. Talking about KFC with a voice modulator just does not work!

note: 7.5/10

Tracklist

1. Age of Shadows
2. Comatose
3. Liquid Eternity
4. Connect the Dots
5. Beneath the Waves (Beneath the Waves – Face the Facts – But a Memory… – World Without Walls – Reality Bleeds)
6. Newborn Race (The Incentive – The Vision – The Procedure – Another Life – Newborn Race – The Conclusion)
7. Ride the Comet
8. Web of Lies
Disc 2
1. The Fifth Extinction (Glimmer of Hope – World of Tomorrow Dreams – Collision Course – From the Ashes – Glimmer of Hope (Reprise))
2. Waking Dreams
3. The Truth is in Here
4. Unnatural Selection
5. River of Time
6. E=MC2
7. The Sixth Extinction (Echoes on the Wind – Radioactive Grave – 2085 – To the Planet of Red – Spirit on the Wind – Complete the Circle)
Total playing time 01:42:59

Line-up

Vocals – Forever:
Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian)
Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation)
Thomas Englund (Evergrey)
Jonas Renkse (Katatonia)
Jorn Lande (ex-Masterplan, Ark)
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, Agua de Annique)
Steve Lee (Gotthard)
Bob Catley (Magnum)
Floor Jansen (After Forever)
Magali Luyten (Virus IV)

Vocals – Man:
Simone Simons (Epica)
Phideaux Xavier
Wudstik
Marjan Welman (Elister)
Liselotte Hegt (Dial)
Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Ty Tabor (King's X)

All instruments by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, plus guests:

Guitar:
Lori Linstruth (Stream of Passion)
Michael Romeo (Symphony X)

Keyboards:
Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater, Planet X)
Thomas Bodin (The Flower Kings)
Joost van den Broek (After Forever, ex-Sun Caged)

Drums:
Ed Warby (Gorefest)

Other instruments:
Flutes – Jeroen Goossens (Flairck)
Violin – Ben Mathot (Dis)
Cello – David Faber