Tag: Ayreon

THE SOURCE: Ayreon’s Deeply Moving 9th Album

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock2 Comments

A review of Ayreon, THE SOURCE (Mascot, 2017).  Summation: Arjen Lucassen climbs ever higher in the prog pantheon.

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On April 28, 2017, Arjen Lucassen releases the ninth studio album of his progressive rock space opera project, Ayreon.  Entitled THE SOURCE, Lucassen’s latest–to no one’s surprise–throws everything the great man possesses into it.  From heavy guitar riffs to Queen-inspired vocal melodies to Celtic folk, the album comes in at over 88 minutes long.  Quite an amazing feat, even for Arjen Anthony Lucassen.

After all, what can’t the man do?

If I tried to pretend objectivity, I’d be readily and truly accused of dishonesty.  Since I first listened to Ayreon–well over a decade ago–I was quite taken with it.  Since then, I have collected every thing that Lucassen has done–from Star One to Guilt Machine to The Gentle Storm to Ambeon to Stream of Passion to his solo work.

Continue reading “THE SOURCE: Ayreon’s Deeply Moving 9th Album” →

Ayreon THE SOURCE Earbooks Available for Preorder

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment
Dear Ayreonauts,

Good news! After your many requests for more limited edition Earbooks, I begged the record company to print more because they sold out really fast. After my endless nagging they decided to print more! So here’s your chance to get one after all 🙂

As always, I’ll sign every copy that is sold through the MLG webstore. They will be shipping from May 12.

Arjen
To order, click here.

Aryeon: “Everybody Dies” Video

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ayreon-arjen
Lego Ayreon

When Arjen Lucassen does some thing, he does that some thing perfectly.

The music of this brand new video is a cross between QUEEN and Lucassen’s own STAR ONE, but it’s still pure ARYEON.

As I’ve written before many times and will write again, I’m sure, Lucassen is a master story teller, a science fiction genius, building worlds as well as Frank Herbert and George Lucas.

Just look at the spectacular graphics of this video.  Quite stunning.

New Ayreon Information

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ayreon-source-back-cover
Courtesy of Mascot.

This came this morning from Mascot Records:

Hello Ayreonauts and other prog-lovers!

As many of you requested, here is the track list for the new Ayreon album The Source! Oh, and prepare for a BIG update this Thursday 🙂

Chronicle 1: The ‘Frame
1. The Day That The World Breaks Down
2. Sea Of Machines
3. Everybody Dies

Chronicle 2: The Aligning Of The Ten
4. Star Of Sirrah
5. All That Was
6. Run! Apocalypse! Run!
7. Condemned To Live

Chronicle 3: The Transmigration
8. Aquatic Race
9. The Dream Dissolves
10. Deathcry Of A Race
11. Into The Ocean

Chronicle 4: The Rebirth
12. Bay Of Dreams
13. Planet Y Is Alive!
14. The Source Will Flow
15. Journey To Forever
16. The Human Compulsion
17. March Of The Machines

The New Ayreon Cover

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

This just arrived from Mascot and Arjen:

***

Hi Ayreonauts!

Finally… we present you the front cover and the title of the new AYREON album!

Arjen: “The cover was made by the amazing Yann Souetre, he created all the artwork for the new album. Yann’s art inspired me enormously in the creative process of writing this album. The cool motion effects in the image below were done by David Letelier. Hope you like it as much as I do!”

If the animation doesn’t play in your email program, open the mail in your browser. Please note that the actual album cover won’t feature the animation.

Pretty soon we will let you know about the pre-order of The Source. Keep an eye on your mailbox or your Facebook and Twitter timelines. We’re skipping messaging by carrier pidgeon this time…

All the best,
The Ayreon Team

 

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An Arjen Christmas

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Hi Ayreonauts!

2017 is shaping up to be a very exciting year… three sold out live Ayreon Universe shows and of course a brand new Ayreon album!

It is almost Christmas, and we just wrapped up the Guess The Artist games for the new album. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Thanks so much for your amazing participation and support, I was looking forward to reading your inspiring comments every time.

I have to say I’ve a very good feeling about this album myself, everything is somehow falling into place. Please stay tuned, we’ll have more news for you in January!

Warm Christmas wishes to you all from Lori, Hoshi and me at the Electric Castle!

Arjen.
Copyright © 2016 Ayreon, All rights reserved.

Ayreon Specials

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All 9000 tickets for the Ayreon Universe shows have sold out within 48H!

Here’s a special message from a very thankful Arjen.
And now for another shameless commercial plug: Mascot is having their annual holiday sale right now!

20% discount on all Ayreon items (except bundles), including the Deluxe Vinyl Editions** of The Final Experiment and Actual Fantasy Revisited, and… pre-orders for the new CD re-issues (to be released in 2017)!

Use code MASCOT2016 in the EU/WWW shop: www.mascotlabelgroup.com/ayreon/holiday-sale
Use code USMASCOT2016 in the US/CAN shop: usa.mascotlabelgroup.com/ayreon/holiday-sale

** Disclaimer: The Deluxe vinyl is only available in the EU/WWW shop.

Ayreon Live, September 15-16, 2017

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AYREON LIVE ON STAGE FOR TWO EXCLUSIVE SHOWS
Ayreon Universe is happening September 15 & 16 at the 013 venue in Tilburg featuring a special appearance by Arjen Lucassen
Ayreonauts take notice and mark September 15 and 16 of 2017 in your calendars! These are the days that you can experience AYREON LIVE for the first time ever! Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen has chosen the best songs from the Ayreon albums and Star One to create an exclusive live Ayreon show: AYREON UNIVERSE. The show will be performed at the 013 venue in Tilburg by the very best original Ayreon stars. You can expect Floor Jansen and Marco Hietala from Nightwish, Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson (Treshold), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gentle Storm), and many other original Ayreon singers on stage, as well as an appearance by Arjen Lucassen himself.Regular ticket sales start on Thursday, November 24th at 10.00 am CET via www.ayreon.com/universe.

You, the Ayreon mailing list member, will get the chance to buy your TICKETS in our exclusive pre-sale. We will send you an email with a special link on Wednesday, November 23 at 07:00 AM CET to order your tickets 24 hours in advance of the general ticket sales. This exclusive pre-sale will start at 10:00 AM CET and will end at 23.59 PM CET on November 23.
Watch Arjen tell you all about the Ayreon Universe
There will be no less than 16 original Ayreon singers: Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson (Threshold), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Mike Mills (Toehider), Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gentle Storm), Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion), Irene Jansen, Robert Soeterboek (Star One), Edward Reekers (Kayak), Jan van Feggelen, Magali Luyten (Nightmare) and Lisette Marije (Scarlet Stories). The hand-picked band of 8 of Arjen’s favorite Ayreon instrumentalists includes Ed Warby (drums), Johan van Stratum (bass), Marcel Coenen (lead guitar), Ferry Duijsens (guitar), Joost van den Broek (keyboards), Ben Mathot (violin), Jeroen Goossens (flutes, woodwinds) and Maaike Peterse (cello).*

The Ayreon Universe live shows will feature songs from all Ayreon albums (incl. from the upcoming release on Mascot Label Group), as well as a selection of fan favorites from Star One.

Ayreonauts, brace yourselves for the ultimate Ayreon concert experience starring the very best of the Ayreon Universe!

AYREON UNIVERSE
Dates:                     Friday 15 September and Saturday 16 September, 2017
Location:                 Poppodium 013 – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Doors:                     7:00 pm CET
Start show:              8:30 pm CET
VIP tickets:             € 85,- (ex. additional fees)
The VIP tickets include an early entrance and a goodie bag with exclusive
Ayreon Universe merchandise.
Regular tickets:       € 55,- (ex. additional fees)
The regular ticket sales for both shows will start on Thursday, November 24 at 10:00 AM CET via the websites of Arjen Lucassen, the 013 venue {click here for 15 september, and click here for September 16} and Ticketmaster {click here for September 15, and click herefor September 16}.
For more information about Ayreon Universe and Arjen Lucassen, please visit Arjen’s website, Facebook and/or Twitter.

The latest updates on the upcoming Ayreon album (Spring 2017) and order information on special vinyl boxes and Arjen’s catalog on CD and MP3 can be found on www.mascotlabelgroup.com/ayreon.

*Please note that all artist performances are subject to change. Visit www.ayreon.com/universefor the current line-up of Ayreon Universe.