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Progressive rock
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Dragon1893
Member
The news caught me by surprise and I also felt frustrated by yet another line-up change but seeing that Johan will be returning kind of alleviated that feeling. It's good to have him back, I'd much rather have someone familiar than yet another new face, he's great so it's all good.
Ragnar's shoes will be tough to fill though because of the vocals.
Reading his post I can't say I'm surprised, that part about the 1000 euros is a bit hard to believe though. If that's true then wow.
Only made it through disc 1 and I'm not impressed so far tbh. Maybe it'll grow on me.
Ragnar's shoes will be tough to fill though because of the vocals.
Reading his post I can't say I'm surprised, that part about the 1000 euros is a bit hard to believe though. If that's true then wow.
Only made it through disc 1 and I'm not impressed so far tbh. Maybe it'll grow on me.
Didn't click with me at first but now it is. Definitely the best Ayreon since THE. Probably won't dethrone THE, but it's good stuff.
Dictator93
Member
Going to see Riverside in Berlin this Friday. I am VERY VERY excited. Anyone else from GAF here seeing their tour? Or perhaps already saw some of the polish shows?
The new Ayreon is like tribute to his past work, more than anything new.
Old fans should find nostalgia in all of the songs.
Disc 1
The Day That The World Breaks Down - Straight out of 01011001. A little exhausting to listen to, too much going on. The keyboards and rifts are on point. Tobias from Edguy is good. That rhythm around 8:20, I expected to hear the Barbarian right after.
Sea Of Machines - More 01011001, One of the better mellow songs.
Everybody Dies - Definitely the most interesting new take on Disc 1. Those guitars are heavy. Probably too upbeat for it's own good, there's just no breaks, it's all 10 all the way.
Star of Sirrah - The Age of Shadows has begun. Classic live song, with that solo in the middle, reminisce of Star One's first album ("Set your controls"). My favorite in the first disc. Got those space opera vibes.
All That Was - kind of forgettable.
Run! Apocalypse! Run! - The Queen vibes are haunting. Across The Rainbow Bridge and Universal Migrator pt.2. Honestly, I just want to listen to UMpt2 right after this song.
Condemned To Live - This song fits at the end of any of Ayreon's last 4 albums. He definitely wanted to make a guitar album.
Disc 2
Aquatic Race - This song could be on Actual Fantasy or The Final Experiment easily. I enjoy that chorus quite a lot, even if it's so cheesy.
...
The Source Will Flow - Probably my favorite in the entire album. Those lyrics just stick.
...
Not as solid as 01011001, but overall I put this on the like side so far, for all the little references.
Old fans should find nostalgia in all of the songs.
Disc 1
The Day That The World Breaks Down - Straight out of 01011001. A little exhausting to listen to, too much going on. The keyboards and rifts are on point. Tobias from Edguy is good. That rhythm around 8:20, I expected to hear the Barbarian right after.
Sea Of Machines - More 01011001, One of the better mellow songs.
Everybody Dies - Definitely the most interesting new take on Disc 1. Those guitars are heavy. Probably too upbeat for it's own good, there's just no breaks, it's all 10 all the way.
Star of Sirrah - The Age of Shadows has begun. Classic live song, with that solo in the middle, reminisce of Star One's first album ("Set your controls"). My favorite in the first disc. Got those space opera vibes.
All That Was - kind of forgettable.
Run! Apocalypse! Run! - The Queen vibes are haunting. Across The Rainbow Bridge and Universal Migrator pt.2. Honestly, I just want to listen to UMpt2 right after this song.
Condemned To Live - This song fits at the end of any of Ayreon's last 4 albums. He definitely wanted to make a guitar album.
Disc 2
Aquatic Race - This song could be on Actual Fantasy or The Final Experiment easily. I enjoy that chorus quite a lot, even if it's so cheesy.
...
The Source Will Flow - Probably my favorite in the entire album. Those lyrics just stick.
...
Not as solid as 01011001, but overall I put this on the like side so far, for all the little references.
This is a nice discovery for me,listening to it a few times now,its awesome...going to check their other stuff now.
Definitely check out The Human Equation.
THE is "top 10 best albums ever" material to me.
New Ayreon is ace. One of the best casts Arjen had had on any of his albums and plenty of memorable/catchy hooks. First disc is fantastic, second disc is good.
I think the album has enough of it's own identity. Just listened to it and 01 (the most similar album to this one imo) back to back and they have a similar musical direction, but the overall tone is different. I think the different vocalists on his albums also work to shake things up.
It indeed is. I have also seen it live two years back (the evening that was recorded), one of my favourite concerts.
I think the album has enough of it's own identity. Just listened to it and 01 (the most similar album to this one imo) back to back and they have a similar musical direction, but the overall tone is different. I think the different vocalists on his albums also work to shake things up.
It indeed is. I have also seen it live two years back (the evening that was recorded), one of my favourite concerts.
MistaBowaa
Member
The Human Equation is pretty good, but Into The Electric Castle is the chicken dinner for me. The solos in Cosmic Fusion and Evil Devolution are roller coaster music, for sure.
I remember sipping cough syrup and listening to that album in college. Good times.
I remember sipping cough syrup and listening to that album in college. Good times.
Electric Castle drags too much for me.
Universal Migrator Pt 1 is the bees knees. I really wish he'd do something more like that again. It feels really distinct in the catalog. I also like that about both the Universal Migrator albums. They're separate and that kind of makes them easier to digest rather than the other albums.
Universal Migrator Pt 1 is the bees knees. I really wish he'd do something more like that again. It feels really distinct in the catalog. I also like that about both the Universal Migrator albums. They're separate and that kind of makes them easier to digest rather than the other albums.
I would put The Human Equation in my top 5 of all time. Into the Electric Castle and Universal Migrator part 2, close second for Ayreon albums.
I think for Ayreon new comers it would be easier to start with 01011001 or Into the Electric Castle, those are nice self contained albums. The other albums tend to be more eclectic. THE is probably the hardest to get into, I know it was for me, but in the end it was worth it.
I would say THE is absolutely by far the easiest to get into. I've shown the album to a lot of people who aren't even into prog rock and they liked it. Can't really do that with any of his other releases.
Agreed with this. THE is very different than the rest of their albums, at least that I can recall.
I've thoroughly listened to THE, 01011001, and The Theory of Everything... the latter two to me sound very same-y to me.
Regarding that Pain of Salvation discussion:
-Sucks that Ragnar is leaving. I liked his voice, I liked his composition-contributions to the latest album. If what he's saying about his motives for leaving PoS is true then wow, Daniel really sounds like a massive douche.
-On a related note, have y'all seen the PoS documentary that was released in parts before ITPLOD? Daniel's reasons for firing band members all seemed to be "well, they're not really 100% committed to the band even with unreasonable circumstances so they shouldn't be here" and his statement about Ragnar's departure really reminded me of that.
-At least Hallgren's back. I bet it's not going to last, if those old wounds between him and Daniel haven't healed.
About Ayreon:
-I liked THE. Kinda haven't given the rest of the albums a thorough listen, and I think I should.
-Sucks that Ragnar is leaving. I liked his voice, I liked his composition-contributions to the latest album. If what he's saying about his motives for leaving PoS is true then wow, Daniel really sounds like a massive douche.
-On a related note, have y'all seen the PoS documentary that was released in parts before ITPLOD? Daniel's reasons for firing band members all seemed to be "well, they're not really 100% committed to the band even with unreasonable circumstances so they shouldn't be here" and his statement about Ragnar's departure really reminded me of that.
-At least Hallgren's back. I bet it's not going to last, if those old wounds between him and Daniel haven't healed.
About Ayreon:
-I liked THE. Kinda haven't given the rest of the albums a thorough listen, and I think I should.
I'm glad this thread is finally getting some posts.
Lately I've been pretty addicted to this album:
Stream here. If you have to listen to one song I'd probably recommend Sisyphus.
Lately I've been pretty addicted to this album:
Stream here. If you have to listen to one song I'd probably recommend Sisyphus.
Huh, to me overall Theory of Everything probably has a bit more in common with Human Equation than with 01. More focus on folk, similar proggy intrumentals, more conversation (discussion) driven vocals, character driven story/themes, similar short orchestral-esque outburst every now and then (see Dark Energy or the middle part in School). And in terms of singing Theory of Everything is much more clean, whereas 01 has many rock belters. Human Equation was a bit inbetween in that regard, I think.
However, Human Equation has parts written by Devin Townsend (the parts he is singing), because Devin did not want to sing material written by someone else (both in terms of lyrics and melody). As he has a standout part on the album, maybe his influence on Human Equation is what makes it stand apart for you so much.
Since Arjen clearly has a (unique) trademark sound nearly all of his (modern) material has strongly similar music though (see Gentle Storm, Guilt Machine, and his solo work as well). I guess it depend on what specific element stand out to the listener in regards to which albums sound similar. I agree that overall Human Equation is the album that stands out the most, however. It is my favourite, after all (followed by Theory of Everything).
Also, the Source does give me strong 01 vibes, along with Universal Migrator pt 2., and Star One.
AAAAAAH I'M SO JEALOUS RIGHT NOW
At least I'll always have this:
Perks of being a Dutch person is that going to his concerts is relatively easy (the try-out, the theater show, and the upcoming Universe shows). Probably one of the relatively few Dutch people who does though, his music is ridiculously underrated over here, despite many of the artists he is involved with having significant fanbases.
But I don't have a personalized signed cd! Nice!
EndlessFloydian
Member
Looks like David Gilmour's live shows in Pompeii are being packaged for release on Blu-ray/DVD/etc in November.
I totally get why people don't like the album. It is much more of an actual opera/musical than any of his other albums and it's structure was a tough pill to swallow for me initially. A lot of the parts that make up the 4 songs aren't very chorus driven, contrary to much of his other material. And the album in general focuses more on recurring melodies or even entire parts (see main theme that returns twice with slight alterations) than his other material. That took a while for me to click. It also lacks some of the more heavy/bombastic elements most other Ayreon albums tend to have (or at least doesn't have a lot of it). The album massively grew on me, but I can see that not happening to other people.
Personally, his worst is Actual Fantasy. In fact, I straight up dislike that album. Not a single song I really like. Final Experiment at least has some catchy stuff and I really dig the acoustic disc that was added to later editions.
Slackbladder
Member
Oooh, looking forward to that. Saw him at the Royal Albert last Sept (and the Sept before that). 4K would be nice but unlikely.
Interesting thing I saw on my Facebook feed. Apparently a French journalist uploaded Anathema's new album onto the internet. One of the band members and principle songwriter Daniel Cavanagh is not happy at all - https://www.facebook.com/dan.cav.77/posts/157823324750452
Yeah the choppy structure doesn't work. Reminds me of that other album where you were supposed to be able to rearrange like 40 tracks to create a different experience. Forget the name of the band but it was like 7 or 8 years agof
Anyway fortunately Arjen put out Lost in the New Real around that time
it's a very lovely song. Ninet has a great voice, too. Apparently the album will be inspired by certain 80s "prog-pop" albums like Peter Gabriel's So... which sounds right up my fucking alley.
Yeah. I remember him talking a bit about Prince last year after he died and discussing how Prince, to him, is the best artist of all time because he was constantly able to reinvent himself. I'm glad Steven continues to aspire to that. You never know what you're gonna get.
That said, Hand. Cannot. Erase. launched with the poppy songs off the album, so we'll see if there are any Ancestral-esque epics tucked away further on
"I'm tired of facebook"
Holy fuck the lyrics are worse than ever but musically it's brill as usual.
I mean, the man gave us "and I can laugh about it now/but I hated every minute/I was waiting for your email" and "Xbox is a god to me/A finger on the switch/My mother is a bitch/My father gave up ever trying to talk to me" back then. It's not like his lyricism was ever out of this world good :lol
(though, tbh, I think that Feel So Low lyric really works within the context/style of the song)
They were never great but the earlier stuff stuff they were much less noticeable.
"The moon shook and curled up like gentle fire
The ocean glazed and melted wire
Voices buzzed in spiral eyes
Stars dived in blinding skies"
I'm more of a fan of his psychedelic stuff in general.
Alter_Fridge
Member
Prog rock or prog metal?
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Very disappointing track. It's just the same chord pattern over and over and over again. A soaring guitar solo in a different key could have redeemed the song, but no, the solo is crap. What a shame....
Pegasus Actual
Member
Yeah, Gildenlow is a massive cunt. Dave Mustaine-like!
As for Ayreon, I'll have to check out the new one. Never got into the old stuff. Enjoyed The Human Element and 00101111012 quite a bit. The Theory of Everything though... that may have broken my cheese limits. I never managed to listen to the whole thing. On multiple attempts. Cheese is cheese but that ventured into pure cringe for me.
As for Ayreon, I'll have to check out the new one. Never got into the old stuff. Enjoyed The Human Element and 00101111012 quite a bit. The Theory of Everything though... that may have broken my cheese limits. I never managed to listen to the whole thing. On multiple attempts. Cheese is cheese but that ventured into pure cringe for me.
I was in Berlin. Great show, so glad I finally got to see them.
I'm also completely in love with the venue.
CarpeDeezNutz
Member
Any colour you like.
Amazing song (minus the weird Facebook callout...) Ninet's vocals are great and I'm liking the directions.
Preorders are up, too. I grabbed the box set, as I do with all SW releases nowadays.
I expect the 5.1 to be top notch as usual.
lucky bastard
haven't done so yet. I'm just getting into them, listened to both English Electric albums and liked them both. Thought the vocalist sounded like a pleasant mix between Steve Winwood and Phil Collins.
This is really good!
Slackbladder
Member
Any idea on the musicians featured on the album?
Not sure. I would guess his latest touring band would be featured, plus Ninet Tayeb obviously.
In that case it'd be Nick Beggs on Bass, Adam Holzman on keyboards, and Craig Blundell on Drums. Dave Kilminster was also the latest touring guitarist so possibly him?
From the deluxe edition pics it does look like Craig is on drums.
Edit, from wikipedia:
Nick Beggs was wearing a kilt yesterday, swear I saw his bollocks at one point during Dance on a Volcano.
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