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Customer Reviews
It is a concept album (with the unlikely story of a man in a coma and all who are close to him) that keeps one enthralled from the very first note to the last. In my opinion there is not a weak or unimaginative track on either CD.
If you veer towards prog metal or are an out and out progster (as I am), this double CD will reward you with its superb musicainship, excellent lyrics and music. Above all else is something that you will find yourself playing in full again and again.
The different styles blend together superbly to make what for me has turned from a 'take a chance' purchase, having not heard any Ayreon before, to one of my all-time favourites.
Go on, dip into your pocket and get yourself a classic.
Arjen has surrounded himself as he did on "Space Metal" with a cast of thousands. He has used vocalists from various bands and backgrounds to help realise his dream. Notable are the contributions of James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn) and Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) which indicates the diversity of talent on show. Arjen himself deftly plays guitar and keyboards throughout, ably assisted by a host of talented supporting musicians. He himself has an excellent heavy rock guitar sound, which really gives the album a huge dynamic epic feel and his use of bubbling analogue synths is a joy to hear.
Arjen has created a masterpiece, simple as that. The music is bold and full sounding, using a multitude of styles, from prog rock, metal, celtic folk and classical all melded together gracefully to produce a huge work over it's 2 CD's. The story of a comatose car crash victim struggling in his dream state with various emotional and personal issues is simply, but deftly told. But there is an ingenious twist in the tail which links the album to past projects. Though this is a concept album, there is nothing here that is over done or pompous. There is great attention to detail with subtle shades of acoustic instrumentation deftly integrated with the more bombastic rock workouts.
The album is beautifully packaged as one would expect from the excellent InsideOut label. The 2 CD set is good, but even better is the limited edition version which comes in a hardback book format housing both CD's with an extended booklet. Plus there is an extra disc, a DVD which includes behind the scenes stuff, videoclips and trailers. Well worth getting.
This ambitious work will surely be rated as one the best progressive rock releases of the year and should be heard by anyone liking epic sounding concept based rock.
There are Floydian guitar and synth solos (reference to 'on the run'from Dark Side Of The Moon, Jethro Tull's choppy flute style
and i'm sure a little Camel and Wishbone Ash dual guitar.
Ayreon's playing is even better and is a master at atmospherics.
My only complaint with him is that he doesn't seem to recognise the piano as a part of prog rock .Too much Hammond and synth for my liking but that is personal.'Loser' one the last tracks is musically confusing with didgeridoos starting off and going into Irish folk rock ,At first I thought it was Gary moore's Over the Hills And Far Away but it wasn't.This is an album for listening to and not background music.The bonus(?) track is a Led Zep cover they must have had some spare studio time left but could have come up with something better.
This album will not be to everyone's taste as it is a little over blown at times although not so much as Spock's 'Snow'
and without the reprise(track one repeat).
An impressive album but not quite 5 stars
But I just need to say this: this is one of the best conceptual albums. But, it takes some time to really appreciate it.
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