I NEED MORE! // Ayreon - Age Of Shadows / We Are Forever // Composer Reaction & Analysis

[@reindl2610]

You heard it right. The singer was Jonas Renkse, the singer of Katatonia. Ayreon is more of a project, not a band and there are many famous metal/rock singers featuring the songs.

[@maffrocks666]

I loved this reaction, and it makes me happy that Ayreon is now in your life. There's no going back!

[@putsikatsi]

Hey Bryan! So, Ayreon is a lot. Each album is a concept album with a new super group of singers like you mentioned. The man behind it all is Arjen Lucassen who records all of the instruments except drums and sings guide vocals for all parts for the singers aswell as recruiting the singers themselves for each album. 01011001 sticks out with having, even for Ayreon, a huge number of singers (17 in total). The double album is separated into two parts between the cast of singers playing the alien race Forever on the planet Y (01011001 is binary for the letter Y) and the human cast on Earth. The album also fits into the greater Ayreon cosmology where the Forever play a prominent role as an alien race who gave up the ability to feel emotions in exchange for eternal life. They create the human race as a way to vicariously live out the emotions they can no longer feel which plays out during this album. The album for sure has its odd moments but I would definitely recommend it for a full listen. There's another album, Into the Electric Castle, which is simply fantastic that I would love to see a full analysis of.

[@alanrwest]

Second on the Electric Castle analysis. By far my favorite album of his and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it

[@MaidiacNL]

BTW, the first operatic singer was Floor Jansen, the second female singer was Anneke van Giersbergen.

[@hallvaropheim5167]

The Masters of prog rock "opera", all of their albums are brilliant. Complex, but still catchy Please go down this rabbit hole, you will not regret doing it

[@hallvaropheim5167]

My personal favourite is "The Source" album, probably due to my "metal" preferences in music. From what I read, Electric Castle and/or Human Equaton are the fans' favs; folk rock/ electronica/storytelling more elevated in those recordings . Wonderful art there too for sure, but for me as a Metalhead , 01 and Source sticks out

[@normora5857]

Instant sub after watching this. I was at the live show and it blew my mind, absolutely fantastic. The videos for the show are now getting released (the music videos are already out). If you prefer to stick to the studio version, then I recommend you to go to Taycott's channel. This person has done an incredible job in highlighting every vocalist while they are singing. And yes, the album is absolutely worth complete review (as is, in my humble opinion, anything that Arjen Lucassen does). I would also like you to watch the live show of Into the Electric Castle.

[@nickagero]

Yes you found Ayreon, this is one of the best prog rabbit holes, Arjen Lukassen is a humble genius with many great projects. They did a bunch of live shows last year with the entire ensemble playing the full album. It's out on dvd and blu-ray (don't get the bluray tho because it's a faultybatch right now).

[@christopherblue2004]

That whole album is a masterpiece.

[@thewhorocks515]

Arjen Anthony Lucassen is the mastermind behind Ayreon. He's the composer, producer, and lyricist. He also plays many of the instruments and does some vocals too. I forgot about this album. It's the only Ayreon album I've listened to, but I remember enjoying the entire thing, even if there were definitely highs and lows, this first track being one of the highlights I remember for sure.Checked out the track list to jog my memory though and a bunch stood out as positive memories. The whole thing is an epic, dramatic, prog electronic metal opera. Normally I am not into this style of pop/metal as find it uninteresting and uninspired, but this is done so well with the countless vocalists, the amount of effort put into the compositions and production. It's truly a feat.

[@kevinmadden3396]

that last singer ad-libbing all over the place is Jørn Lande, who you got a taste of back in your Ark "Heal the Waters" reaction. Plus you had the singers from Blind Guardian, Pain of Salvation, and Evergrey, amongst others.

[@liabowden8526]

One day something called Space Metal popped up on my husband's youtube reccomendations. He clicked. It was Star One, one of Arjen's other projects. It's all songs about scifi movies/shows. The Stargate one is one of my favorites. Eventually that led us to this album, and yeah, been an Arjen fan ever since. That dude is awesome, and tbh, kind of adorable, lol. I can't tell if this is yiur first Ayreon exposure, so I'm gonna see if you did The Day That The World Breaks Down.. if not-DO IT!!! It really shows you Arjen's character and the kind of star power he pulls. So happy to see someone do this song, my first Ayreon song. It *does* change you.

[@metalmanny666]

The eye of ra! I love that song. And I also love the Starchild song

[@dac2007]

What a fortunate click lol

[@sunsteels]

I use "metabolize music", because it's not simply digesting the music. It's decomposing and elaborating every single part (molecules) of the song

[@CriticalReactions]

Ooooo I like that.

[@alexandersomers21]

Hi, 74 years old hippie from the Netherlands =Floor, Irene, Simone, Anneke, Dianne, Charlotte, Sharon, Marcella, Joost(LUL) & Arjen(Ayreon) Country= reporting in: Luv your reaction, the album is not only in audio but last year they did this live ... Keep on going into this rabid hole, you'll luv it ... Shine on my friend ...🤘

[@DudokX]

Ayreon is incredible not only because of the music but also because it is all an overarching story told through conceptual albums. It's the only music I can just sit down on my couch, put the headphones on and actively listen through the whole albums like it's a movie or a play.

[@merileopardisaksassa7030]

You're missing out if you don't check out live Ayreon :D Arjen just released the video version of 'The Sixth Extinction' song from the last 2023 concert ewhich was a definitive highlight of that concert! Ayreon played the entire album from which the song you heard here is from. It was absolutely glorious!

[@anonym1066]

yeah I really want you to check out the whole album now, loved watching this reaction! It's all very symphonic-prog-metal-space-opera coded, but it seems like you're into that :D I know I had a lot of fun with this as a kid, hearing all those artists come together to create something truly epic was just amazing. definitely my favourite Ayreon album

[@ToweringToska]

I'm all here for your honorable fanboying, if you please I would very much enjoy listening to the rest of the album with you as well, your comments about this favorite musical story are well appreciated. I'm so glad you didn't start with a stage performance like everyone else does.

[@Hiilihankomies]

Not all of 01011001 is as good as this, but it does have a few that are just as good if not better. You should definitely give it a listen.

[@elbohne5636]

Don't know which track should be worse in the meaning of falling behind on this album.

[@MaidiacNL]

You have to check the official live versions that are out there.

[@Krowsnest]

I remember downloading this album on a whim for a road trip like 15 years ago, and it kinda cracked my teenage brain open

[@evergreen_monster]

Another vote for Into the Electric Castle full album review! Best one from them hands down, though this one is a close second for me, the singers' lineup here is just prog/power metal heaven.

[@omargonzalez4169]

This is a great track, it's heavy and has a catchy chorus, but the real highlight is Anneke van Giersbergen doing the million layered vocals harmonizing with herself. She was the singer of The Gathering from 1995 -2007, not many people knows this band but I'm pretty sure her last album with them (Home 2005) influenced a lot the melodies she chose for the We Are Forever section in this track.

[@stevenmackintosh8160]

Everyone should know The Gathering. Great band.

[@dac2007]

That part is hypnotizing

[@mandje2002]

Buckle up because we are going on a trip into the world of Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One, Supersonic Revolution, Guilt Machine, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion) aka Ayreon Universe. (about 100+ artists thick) ….. Enjoy the music!! The live version is even better Ayreon - Age Of Shadows (01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves (2023)) kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqTNcoefeciBfpYsi=IXLlFJrjZBRNENcD

[@juanplopes]

Nice analysis! Although 01011001 is indeed 89 in decimal, it is more meaningful to the story that is also the letter Y in most single-byte character encodings (and ASCII in particular). Y is the name of the aquatic planet orbiting Alpha Pegasi where the "depressed fish race" (:D) known as Forever lives.

[@MisterJ56]

You need more? Here's a small AYREON (live) list: *_“Everybody Dies”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3KkiaeLmbJqrqc (Michael Mills, Tommy Karevik, Hansi Kürsch, Maggy Luyten, Floor Jansen) *_”Intergalactic Space Crusaders”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3XNoKCraJiLsMU (Damien Wilson & Maggy Luyten) *_”The Eye Of Ra”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZXGgGOJmM6Hi7s (Damien Wilson, John Jaycee Cuijpers, the sisters Floor & Irene Jansen ….. and the whole bunch at the end) *_”Star Of Sirrah”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZWoeYSEdr-mf9E (Michael Mills, Maggie Luyten, Hansi Kürsch & Floor Jansen) *_”Valley Of The Queens”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipPIk4Jrd7-cY6s (Floor Jansen, Anneke van Giersbergen & Marcela Bovio) *_”Amazing Flight In Space”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGfGeIOpepZpbsU (Arjen singing & Jay van Feggelen) *_”Magnetism”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoeWnXqKdp2AptE (Marco Hietala, Tommy Karevik & Anneke van Giersbergen) *_”And The Druids Turned To Stone”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooOQl6J9gNioqZI (Damian Wilson) *_”The Castle Hall”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3yqkpiHbstgmbs&ab_channel=KekkosenSiitt%C3%A4m%C3%A4Pualucca (Michael Mills, Robert Soeterbroek, Damien Wilson) *_”Isis and Osiris”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGe8d5Wdgt-ekLs&ab_channel=ShaylonCarvalho (John de Lancie, Damien Wilson, Simone Simons, Anneke van Giersbergen, Derek William Dick (aka Fish), Edwin Balogh) *_”The Theory Of Everything”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmS3qYKXeL-pZtk (Michael Mills & Marcela Bovio) *_”Abbey Of Synn”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKSlfHiil9FomrM (Robert Soeterboek) *_”River Of Time”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGjdqY2am7ajq68 (Hansi Kürsch & Marco Hietala) *_”Songs Of The Ocean”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXKom3eiepyIkLM (a lot of singers) *_”Garden of Emotions”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWfVc3uXhNKLg9E (John de Lancie, Arjen Lucassen, Anneke van Giersbergen, Edwin Balogh, John Jaycee Cuijpers, Damian Wilson, Simone Simons, Edward Reekers) *_”Day Sixteen Loser”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/emfVmnpvh8iAZtE&ab_channel=Ricamros (Michael Mills) *_”Age Of Shadows”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5TMYWuMhpmWnpY (Marco Hietala, Hansi Kürsch & Floor Jansen) *_”Into The Black Hole”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnrZn6upl51mhNE&ab_channel=Ricamros (Tommy Karevik) *_“Ride the Comet”_* : m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/rX7OlH6Brqhjd8k (Jonas Renkse, Maggy Luyten and The Ayreon Angels - Irene Jansen, Marcela Bovio and Lisette van den Berg) *_”Twisted Coil”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZSrn2OheMygd9U&ab_channel=ArjenAnthonyLucassen (Damien Wilson, Mike Scott) (2020) *_”Hopelessly Slipping Away”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJbIh4tsp8eJg8U&ab_channel=ArjenAnthonyLucassen (Tom Baker, Cammie Gilbert, Tommy Karevik) (2020) *_”This Human Equation”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/onzaknWAoriIptU (Simone Simons) (2020) *_”Daniel’s Descent Into Transitus Medley”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pavQhYueZ6h1jdk (Tommy Karevik & Simone Simons) (2020) *_”Talk of the Town”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5rSpYuXpq9gedU (Tom Baker, Paul Manzi, Tommy Karevik and Cammie Gilbert) Perhaps you are also interested in one of Arjen’s other projects like: STAR ONE (2022) *_”Revel In Time”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5erf2eHmMqcppY (ft. Brandon Yeagley, Adrian Vandenberg) STAR ONE (2022) *_”Fate Of Man”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJ-agWali7Khr9U (ft. Brittney Slayes, Michael Romeo) STAR ONE (2022) *_”Prescient”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJeXlXmwgr2Mqa8 (ft. Micheal Mills, Ross Jennings) STAR ONE (2022) *_”Lost Children Of The Universe”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHKnh2qEjqmZh9U (ft. Roy Khan, Tony Martin, Marcela Bovio, Irene Jansen, Steve Vai) PLAN NINE (2023) -*”Before The Morning Comes (The Long Lost Songs)”*_ : kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJ2TXqx-ltpoh7s (Robert Soeterboek) STAR ONE (2024) *_”Fate of Man (01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves)”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6WccmedZ9ybedE (Brittney Slayes) STAR ONE (2024) *_”The Sixth Extinction (01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves)”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnKtYa2KgrF2orM (a lot of singers) STAR ONE (2024) *_”The Day That The World Breaks Down (01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves)”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5qXgp2Dg5asa8k SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION (2023) *_”Golden Age Of Music”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZ_cnoShj62mZ80 SUPERSONIC REVOLUTION (2023) *_”The Glamattack”_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2SpoGqNqbpnnqs And Arjen's most reacted song on KZbin: *_"The Day That The Workd Breaks Down"_* : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXfYfn6ap9-Dp7c (11 singers)!

[@ThatDreamAgain]

You can also check Into the Electric Castle, also by Ayreon. I think that CD might be of your liking. BTW: I was happy to see you are reacting to Ayreon, I searched in your channel looking for any analysis of this project and finally got something. And glad you like it.

[@blackomega34]

Into the Electric Castle is a 10/10 record, no question.

[@stevenmackintosh8160]

Yeah, its probably Arjens best work overall. This album has very some strong highlights like this song imo but it can drag a bit at times IMO. Human equation is another standout.

[@RevanOrion]

Absolutely check out more from Ayreon. Whole album listens are so satisfying.

[@metalmanny666]

Retweet!

[@metalmanny666]

They just released the bluray of this album. They played it live in its entirety. Check it out. It’s magnificent

[@Skarn73]

First of all, welcome to the Ayreon universe. Ayreon is a musical project created by the Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen in 1995. In every Ayreon album, Arjen composes a greater 95% of music and texts average and plays electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric bass, synth and keyboards, and invites several guest vocalists to join him to play a part in his own metal operas. The Ayreon's album sequence is the following one: 1) in 1995 Arjen created the first Ayreon album "The Final Experiment", talking about the story of a blind ministrel of the 6th century britain, named Ayreon, who receives from the future visions of humanity decline and tries to sing about these visions to save the world from its own downfall. The prologue of this album is that in the year 2084 a.d. (chosen by adding 100 years to 1984 referring to George Orwell's most famous novel) mankind has virtually destroyed itself, it's survival depends on the final experiment. 2) Ayreon's second album "Actual Fantasy" (1996) is the only Ayreon album not being a concept album, but it is a group of song each of them narrating story related to science-fiction themes or fantasy themes 3) in 1998, "Into the Electric Castle" talked about eight different characters each of them taken by a different historical age of the earth, that are brought to another dimension and are given a quest by a mysterious alien presence, to go through this unknown land to find the electric castle and try to survive it to go back home. It is the first album to talk about the alien race named "forever", but this seems to be a completely different story from the first two albums 4) in 2000 "Universal Migrator" an album split in two different parts, each of the released as a unique album [pt1: the Dream Sequencer] and [pt2: flight of the migrator]. This is the first album to make clear that all the stories told by "The Final Experiment" and "Into the Electric Castle" are connected to create a bigger picture, a real "Ayreon Universe" 5) in 2004 "The Human Equation", that seems to be disconnected by the "Ayreon Universe" big picture, until the last 30 seconds of the last song, in which it is revealed that the story developed all through the album is a program run by the Forever race to try to solve "The Human Equation" in order to save us and them from the final catastrophe. 6) in 2008 there are two events: --> a) the album 01011001 (binary code for the letter "Y") is declared by Arjen to be the final chapter of the "Forever race saga" and reveals that the Forever alien race is the human race ancestor arrived from another planet after a global catastrophe and they are guiding our evolution from the dawn of human race until now to make us save them from their destiny --> b) the best of "Timeline" contains a poster describing how all the album related to the "Forever Saga" are connected and their own part in the "Ayreon Universe big picture", and contains also a new song "Epilogue: The Memory Remains" that is the final epilogue of the "Forever Saga" 7) in 2013 the album "The Theory of Everything" is the first Ayreon concept album completely disconnected by the "Forever Saga" telling about the research of a father and his son of the theory of everything 8) in 2017 with the album "The Source" Arjen returns to his beloved "Forever race" characters, telling us the prequel of the Forever Saga, explaining us where they lived, what was the extinguishing event they have to face, what caused that event, and how the Forever race faced it. 9) in 2020 with the title "Transitus" Arjen created a complete different story, set on earth in the 19th century, and being a tragic love story with dark and gothic vibe. This album was conceived to be a musical, so there are more songs each of them being shorter than an average Ayreon's song. In 29 years of Ayreon, they released only four live albums: The Theater Equation (a live performance of the album "The Human Equation"); Ayreon Universe (a live performance with a best of the songs created by Arjen for Ayreon and Star-One projects); Electric Castle Live and Other Tales (a live performance of the album "Into the Electric Castle" and a selection of 1 song for every Arjen's side project + the Marillion song "Kayleigh" performed by Fish, the original Marillion singer, that has played the "Highlander" part in the Arjen's metal opera); 01011001 Live Beneath the Waves (a live performance of the entire 01011001 album). Each one of these live performances deserves to be considered a masterpiece in the music history. Fun fact: in "Live Beneath the Waves" the last encore was the "The Day That the World Breaks Down"! (Yes, the binary code part has been re-created live from Michael Mills himself) Arjen also released a lot of other music throughout the years, with many side-projects as "Ambeon", "Star One", "Guilt Machine", "Stream of Passion" , "The Gentle Storm", "Supersonic Revolution", "Plan Nine" and his own solo albums. When he creates new music, he creates music, words, story and everything else and when he feels the real mood of what he's creating, he decides if the following creation will be an Ayreon album, another of his own existing side-projects, or a complete new side-project. Fun fact is that Floor Jansen has been a guest vocalist for Arjen since 2000 when she appeared on Universal Migrator. Since then she was a guest in Arjen's project in both the project Star One's albums and in the "01011001" Ayreon album. I hope this post will help you to go through the wonderful world of Arjen Anthony Lucassen's music p.s. if you'd like to listen to more Ayreon music, i strongly recommend to listen to his 4 live albums and then the following selection of songs: 1) From "The Final Experiment" react to the first 3 tracks (Prologue, The Awareness, Eyes of Time) and the last track (Ayreon's Fate) 2) From "Actual Fantasy" react to "Abbey of Synn" [based on Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose"] 3) From "Into the Electric Castle" react to "Valley of the Queens", "Across the Rainbow Bridge" and one song chosen between "Isis and Osiris", "Amazing Flight", "The Two Gates" 4) From "Universal Migrator" react to "2084", "And the Druids Turn to Stone", "Chaos", "Dawn of a Million Souls" and "Into The Black Hole" (song sang by Bruce Dickinson) 5) From "01011001" react to "Age of Shadows (includes "We Are Forever")", "Ride the Comet", "The Fifth Extinction" and "The Sixth Extinction" 6) From "The Theory of Everything" react to the whole first suite "Phase I: Singularity" that goes from track 1 to track 11 of the first CD of the album 7) From "The Source" react to "Star of Sirrah", "Condemned To Live", "Acquatic Race" and "Journey to Forever" 8) From "Transitus" you can react to "Hopelessly Slipping Away" and "Get Out! Now!", "Condemned Without a Trial" and "Message From Beyond" Enjoy yourself in the Arjen's rabbit hole :)

[@Andi_Wand666]

Anneke!!! Oh man how much I love the build and the duett of two of metals most unique vocalists....

[@TheoByTheSeao]

Ayreon's music is CHOCK FULL of poppy vocal collabs like this. After you get done with this album, you'll want to look next at the Ayreon album, The Source, and in particular the work of Mike Mills on that album. Also, unrelated, but.....peep that new Leprous single. ^_^

[@CriticalReactions]

I have a super packed schedule this month but I'll see what I can do about some new Leprous

[@erickvermeulen9734]

If you watch and listen to Ayreon - Valley of the Queens recorded live in Tilburg in 2017, you will see Floor, Anneke van Giersbergen and Marcela Bovio singing together.

[@stevenmackintosh8160]

Devin townsend made a bunch of pop metal with the second female singer (Anneke) who did the binary bit. Some of the best pop metal ever IMO, with rediculous top 40 choruses. Check out the song Supercrush!

[@sequentialscott]

Daniel Gildenlow (sp) is from Pain of Salvation. I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I think you’d enjoy a lot of Ayreon. Arjen does have singers playing characters, yes. Many reactors do The Day that the World Breaks Down from The Source. Its video may distract you because it has pop-up notes w/ behind-the-scenes info going through the whole song. Cool, but maybe a lot for your brain to handle at once. You could do the recently released live version. My other suggestion is the last track from same album as Age of Shadows: The Sixth Extinction, also recently released live. Finally, Arjen has been known to help reactors resolve blocks, and he sometimes comments on the videos as well. I suspect he’d enjoy your breakdown if he finds it.

[@peterkeijsers489]

Fun facts: 1) Arjen Lucassen (the genius behind the Ayreon project) doesn't first write the lyrics, but first he finds a vocalist and only then he writes lyrics particularly for that vocalist! 2) Arjen and Tuomas Holopainen are both mentioned as the two geniuses of rock and metal! 3) Ayreon ONLY plays live once every 2 years, and ONLY in Tilburg, Netherlands. With so many contributing artists, touring would be HELL at best! And Arjen is virtually a recluse. 4) Ayreon started out after Arjen and the management of none other than BRUCE DICKINSON got into an argument while Arjen and Bruce were still working on the project. The Dickinson management was far from pleased when Arjen already released some sneak peaks while still on the editing table. So Arjen started his Ayreon project, WITHOUT Bruce contributing. Much later, in 2022 or 2023, Bruce did record a few Ayreon songs once again together with Arjen anyway. So Bruce and Arjen are friends once again. 5) By now, Ayreon is so well-known in the scene, that when Arjen calls you as a musician, you DAMN WELL pick up the phone! THAT is how eager musicians are to work with Arjen.

[@DejVidBF3]

OMG! This album is so good.

[@randomstuffzofdoom]

Glad you liked it, Ayreon have some fantastic stuff to explore.

[@nebulamask81]

01011001 and The Source are fantastic albums.

[@TAYLOR22211]

I've been watching your channel for years and I cannot believe that we haven't gotten you onto Ayreon before this! Ayreon is what introduced me to prog music and it has been such a phenomenal journey to enjoy all of Arjen's work. I have created some lyric videos for Ayreon on my channel which help a lot in digesting all of these overlapping vocalists :)

[@ikkeschopkont]

Great reaction! Check out the live version from last year. It is also amazing, that they even could do this live ❤ (ps I was there🎉)

[@CatharinaMargarina]

Oooh, instant follow! Loved your reaction, thanks for doing it! It would be super fun if you got the chance to see the version they did on their last tour. There's no official release online yet of that one so audio is usually not ideal, but the one from the Ayreon Universe tour (from 2017) is definitely worthy too, some cool different musical choices to contrast with this one, and it's easier to tell the guest singers apart that way haha! but yes, I agree with the other comments, anything by ayreon is super cool, either live or album versions! Most of the stuff you can't tell if its keys or guitars is usually both, they like to double up! To get some background info you can check their mv of The Day that the World Breaks Down, the mastermind of this project, Arjen Lucassen, throws in some cool trivia in there. It's from The Source album, prequel to the story on this one you did. It's not exactly merging with AI, but it's a very neat story!

[@CatharinaMargarina]

Aha! they just released Age of Shadows (and March of the Machines, woohoo!) from last year's tour! you should definitely check it out if you have some spare time, it's on Arjen Anthony Lucassen's official youtube channel

[@copperqwaser2468]

Great reaction. Welcome to the Ayreon universe. Once you hear more, nothing will sound as good

[@tropiq]

the newer ayreon stuff is a bit hit and miss with me, but human equation, 01 and electric castle are absolute wall to wall bangers and i cannot recommend it enough, if you liked this then you are in for a wild ride checking out more p.s both human equation and 01 had bonus dvd behind the scenes about the writing and recording process, choosing the singers etc really cool stuff

[@alexlanning8330]

I hope you do an album listen of The Human Equation by Ayreon, incredible album

[@metalmanny666]

Is that the one with Mikael Aekerfelg from Opeth doing growls?

[@GFormat]

Damn. This knocked my socks off.

[@darkchaser25]

You need to listen to the whole album, pronto!

[@CriticalReactions]

That's the best thing I could have heard after checking this track out!

[@metalmanny666]

@@CriticalReactionsor the full Blu-ray concert of this album played live in its entirety

[@stevenmackintosh8160]

​@@metalmanny666yeah, and the live version only came out about 1 month ago, is excellent quality with an enormous production.

[@CriticalReactions]

There's a LIVE VERSION!?!?! Yeahhh that's a must watch at this point

[@metalmanny666]

@@CriticalReactions yes sir there is. It was filmed in September 2023. And released on Blu-Ray a month ago

[@1Vurgas1]

this song so satisfyng, you are so right. no wonder i never payed attention to the rest of the album.

[@OlliLeino_sportstuff]

This album belongs to my most loved ones. Great mixture of metal, industrial and proggy sides. And it all serves the storytelling so well. You should definitely check out the rest of the album. I too tend to like longer tracks, so I recommend you should react to Beneath the Waves from this album.

[@CountRocklin]

Altbough all Ayreon albums are great one of the best for me are "Theory of Everything" and "The Human Equation". I belive Arjen breaks up a little bit with metal there and that they feel so great. Also Ayreon is one of those concepts when hearing it again and again makes you appriciete it more and more

[@Plorkyeran]

Great, now I need to go relisten to all of Ayreon again. This song is pretty representative of what Ayreon sounds like, so I'm pretty sure you need to go listen to a few albums even if it's not in reaction format.

[@ShadowhispersBand]

Is the rest of the album like this? Yes. But can it get any better? Yes. There's the live version. Ayreon is putting out the songs one by one on youtube. Different singers for some parts, buts they are definitely not less good.

[@Skarn73]

By the way: 01011001 is one of my "perfect albums" where every single song make me want to listen to them on a loop mode.

[@ohlookakitty911]

Hi! Love Ayreon so much. And while i know it's clearer for analysis when you listen to the studio album I highly recommend the live concert version of any of their songs including this:) Also, the song The Day the World Breaks Down has kind of an MV where Arjen who is the mastermind of this project explains all the elements as they get added to the song in a very fun way:) You should really check it out!

[@misterlobsterman]

More Ayreon is always more better. Yeah the album is fantastic. The whole Ayreon discography is great.

[@phreeck988]

Surprised you hadn't found Ayreon before. They're awesome. I recommend the video he did for The Day That The World Breaks Down for The Source album. It kind of breaks down a lot of stuff that Arjen does for the band and who all the singers are and the characters they all play for the story. Then it also has a lot of behind the scenes info too. I'm sure you'd enjoy the song on top of all the neat info he puts in the vid. I think it'd be a neat reaction too since you're getting the behind the scenes info straight from the video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXfYfn6ap9-Dp7csi=pMcDxCYbyoLCeUhp

[@phreeck988]

Also, he's recently done some live sets that are pretty awesome as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWfVc3uXhNKLg9Esi=pHbP67macK5LirY5 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnKtYa2KgrF2orMsi=NPG_Lzh-KG_bkYAv

[@sunsteels]

Still have to listen to your analysis, but I can ensure you the album worh a listen. The part 1 is all like the first song, every song has its unique sound, but AI related. The part 2 is just an elevation of all of the first part, less easy to listen, more complicated, proggy, but a pure gem. Ayreon just played the whole album 01011001 live the last September, you could react to the last song of this masterpiece, live (The Sixth Extinction)!

[@margusgrenzmann3977]

Really would like more Ayreon!

[@ohacade408]

So great to see you enjoying Ayreon. I can attest to the quality of the rest of the album. It's so good and quite varied. I can also recommend The Source album.

[@CriticalReactions]

I'll definitely check them out then since we tend to have similar tastes in music.

[@sk-me5cr]

You've been listening to a lot of bands I love and since I've never seen you listen to Ayreon I thought you just knew about them before the channel. You can check out anything from Ayreon and I'm sure there will be (at least) large parts of it you will love. If you want a classic from them, check out the song "amazing flight", but Ayreon work better as albums. And hey, Arjen likes to drop comments on youtube sometimes, maybe you'll luck into him!

[@christopherblue2004]

most of the singers he gets are from well known prog and symphonic metal bands.

[@dac2007]

Yeah, Ayreon is this good, their best material is both sophisticated and immediately captivating In my opinion this is the best song of the album but the rest is up there as well I like that you came to this completely blind so you didn't even know what the project is about lol

[@CriticalReactions]

Sometimes that total lack of information hurts the reaction but here it was like opening a surprise gift.

Best Ayreon album and an awesome track (no, but it was my first, so, special... and the first song I ever heard was actually Ride the Comet!). This would truly be great for an album review! ;) It's absolutely a bombastic start but the flow is so good, there are many, many amazing songs throughout the record, and it absolutely explodes by the end again. It's also a story (and an interconnected one between most of the project's albums as you suspected)! And yes, an Avengers assemble of some really cool metal scene voices (different for the albums with returning people and instrumentalists). Ayreon is a whole world, it's so good, so inspiring, and Arjen the mastermind (composer, organizer, plays many instruments too) is just the loveliest guy. Oh yeah, another vote for an Electric Castle listen-through, if not this album. That one is also genius. And The Human Equation. That album is like a whole metal-rock-opera in my head, a full theatre performance (and they actually did it live as well like that!)

[@SarahAParis]

Great video! Can you do a reaction for my favorite band Sinister Ghost please? The "Stolen at Birth" video.

[@mauroulivi]

Please do it!!

[@franshinlopen2166]

Why not a live version?

[@CriticalReactions]

I didn't know about a live version to even consider it but usually I'll opt for a studio since it's easier to analyze. Though I will add that I'm not a fan of live versions of anything usually so that also plays a little bit into why I generally choose studio versions.

[@petegrusky2715]

Ayreon Maiden😂

[@dac2007]

Well Bruce Dickinson himself sang for it lol