{"id":54574,"date":"2017-04-30T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=54574"},"modified":"2017-04-30T20:16:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:16:20","slug":"ayreon-the-source-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/ayreon-the-source-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayreon | The Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

by John Kindred<\/span>
\n– Publisher —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen returns with his project Ayreon and follows up the group\u2019s 2013 release of The Theory of Everything<\/em> with the double CD studio release of The Source<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Moving from InsideOut Records to the Mascot Label Group Lucassen continues his epic musical explorations this time taking listeners 6 billion years into the past relative to earth. \u201cThe story begins on Planet Alpha, a world in the Andromeda system where computer intelligence has far surpassed that of humanity. Alpha is facing a massive global crisis, with ecological and political catastrophes threatening all human life. The Alphans (our human ancestors) try to save their planet by entrusting the global computer mainframe \u2014 The ‘Frame \u2014 to find a solution. Given total control of the planet, the ‘Frame reaches the logical conclusion that its creators are the cause of all the trouble. The only way to solve Alpha’s problems is to exterminate humanity. This leaves the Alphans no other option than to try and escape their horrific fate. But their escape comes at a terrible price.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Source<\/em> is the prequel storyline to the 2008 studio album 01011001<\/em> revisiting the “Forever” saga.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/em> features guest musicians and vocalists from across the Metal community. Lucassen is joined by vocalists James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi K\u00fcrsch (Blind Guardian), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), and Russell Allen (Symphony X). Musicians making an appearance include Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X), Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats, ex-Asia), Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged) and Mark Kelly (Marillion).<\/p>\n

The Source<\/em> offers Progressive music fans an eclectic journey through Ayreon\u2019s musical world that combines elements from Progressive Rock and Metal, a joined to the dynamically different voices that steer the story from song to song. Written and arranged by Lucassen, the storyline of The Source, is thus, built into 17 songs, which spans one hour and 28 minutes of music. Those songs are broken into four chronicles:<\/p>\n

Chronicle 1: The ‘Frame
\nChronicle 2: The Aligning Of The Ten
\nChronicle 3: The Transmigration
\nChronicle 4: The Rebirth<\/p>\n

While there is a lot going with the story vocally and lyrically, the music is held in check by the rhythm section of drummer Ed Warby and Lucassen, who handles bass and guitar duties along with many other instruments on The Source<\/em>. The production, mix, and musical performances are all executed to perfection. <\/p>\n

Obviously, there is a lot to digest when listening to the CD. One pass of the CD is not enough to give you a strong perspective of the album. The Source<\/em> is best listened to with quality headphones, as a way to isolate the experience with limited external distractions. Until you can follow the storyline the overall feel of The Source<\/em>, even though there are plenty of dynamic changes in each song, is that a lot of the songs bleed into one another. Therefore, you really need to purchase the CD so you can reference the booklet as needed when listening to the album and putting it all together for yourself.<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Experimental Rock<\/p>\n

Line-up:<\/p>\n

Vocalists:
\nJames LaBrie (Dream Theater) as The Historian
\nTommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder) as The Opposition Leader
\nTommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) as The Chemist
\nSimone Simons (Epica) as The Counselor
\nNils K. Rue (Pagan’s Mind) as The Prophet
\nTobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia) as The Captain
\nHansi K\u00fcrsch (Blind Guardian) as The Astronomer
\nMike Mills (Toehider) as TH-1
\nRussell Allen (Symphony X) as The President
\nMichael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) as The Diplomat
\nFloor Jansen (Nightwish, ex-After Forever) as The Biologist
\nZaher Zorgati (Myrath) as The Preacher<\/p>\n

Musicians:
\nJoost van den Broek (ex-After Forever) \u2013 grand piano and electric piano
\nMark Kelly (Marillion) \u2013 synthesizer solo on “The Dream Dissolves”
\nMaaike Peterse (Kingfisher Sky) \u2013 cello
\nPaul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) \u2013 guitar solo on “Star of Sirrah”
\nGuthrie Govan (The Aristocrats, ex-Asia) \u2013 guitar solo on “Planet Y Is Alive!”
\nMarcel Coenen (Sun Caged) \u2013 guitar solo on “The Dream Dissolves”
\nEd Warby \u2013 drums
\nBen Mathot \u2013 violin
\nJeroen Goossens (ex-Pater Moeskroen) \u2013 flute, wind instruments
\nArjen Anthony Lucassen \u2013 electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, mandolin, synthesizers, Hammond, Solina Strings, all other instruments<\/p>\n

CD1<\/p>\n

Chronicle 1: The ‘Frame<\/p>\n

01. The Day That The World Breaks Down
\n02. Sea Of Machines
\n03. Everybody Dies<\/p>\n

Chronicle 2: The Aligning Of The Ten<\/p>\n

04. Star Of Sirrah
\n05. All That Was
\n06. Run! Apocalypse! Run!
\n07. Condemned To Live<\/p>\n

CD2<\/p>\n

Chronicle 3: The Transmigration<\/p>\n

08. Aquatic Race
\n09. The Dream Dissolves
\n10. Deathcry Of A Race
\n11. Into The Ocean<\/p>\n

Chronicle 4: The Rebirth<\/p>\n

12. Bay Of Dreams
\n13. Planet Y Is Alive!
\n14. The Source Will Flow
\n15. Journey To Forever
\n16. The Human Compulsion
\n17. March Of The Machines<\/p>\n

Label: Mascot Label Group<\/p>\n

Web: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArjenLucassenOfficial\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 7.5 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John Kindred – Publisher — Multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen returns with his project Ayreon and follows up the group\u2019s 2013 release of The Theory of Everything with the double CD studio release of The […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":54576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[13293,13215,851,13294,10962,314,13295,13296,8733,2368,51,334,3231,8929,13216,9180],"class_list":{"0":"post-54574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-arjen-anthony-lucassen","9":"tag-ayreon","10":"tag-floor-jansen","11":"tag-guthrie-govan","12":"tag-hansi-kursch","13":"tag-james-labrie","14":"tag-marcel-coenen","15":"tag-mark-kelly","16":"tag-mascot-label-group","17":"tag-music","18":"tag-paul-gilbert","19":"tag-review","20":"tag-russell-allen","21":"tag-simone-simons","22":"tag-the-source","23":"tag-tobias-sammet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}