Ayreon/Arjen Lucassen Thread (Star Three on the way)

[kaos2900]

Sweet!

[Skeever]

Never been a huge fan of Tommy Rogers, but I'm sure Arjen will get the best out of him.

[Nick]

Ooo....James LaBrie as "The Historian"

I can't be the only one that hopes soon we have a "bearded gentleman"?

[YtseJamittaja]

Wow, those 2 names already got me! I haven't been so much Ayreon fan nowadays but this release is must-hear. 

[Evermind]

Ooo....James LaBrie as "The Historian"

I can't be the only one that hopes soon we have a "bearded gentleman"?

I'm actually not really convinced by these two snippets and—blasphemy, I know—by these two singers too. I remember I instantly loved both the first TTOE guessing snippets, but I'm not feeling these ones so far.

Oh well, it's Ayreon. I'm going to buy the deluxe edition anyway.

[abydos]

I liked TTOE snippets too. But the album didn't click for me at all, minus that one short song that I can't even name.

[ariich]

Tommy Rogers!! Fantastic, he's not a powerful singer (in his clean voice anyway) but his voice has a really interesting quality to it. That's awesome.

[ErHaO]

I really love the Labrie snippets, the Rogers snippets are neat but not very standout. I was actually kind of expecting Labrie after the Theater Equation.

Also, Rogers is singing about Liquid Eternity, so I assume this one ties in directly to older Ayreon material storywise?

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I mean is it to ludicrous to expect this might be The Human Equation 2 or some sequel of sort? He usually have a rule to not bring back previous singers for any new Ayreon project but this time James is back so maybe he's bringing that character back. One can dream though 

[jakepriest]

I mean is it to ludicrous to expect this might be The Human Equation 2 or some sequel of sort? He usually have a rule to not bring back previous singers for any new Ayreon project but this time James is back so maybe he's bringing that character back. One can dream though 

He replied in the comments somewhere that LaBrie is not playing the same character unfortunately.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I mean is it to ludicrous to expect this might be The Human Equation 2 or some sequel of sort? He usually have a rule to not bring back previous singers for any new Ayreon project but this time James is back so maybe he's bringing that character back. One can dream though 

He replied in the comments somewhere that LaBrie is not playing the same character unfortunately.

Ohh  , well nevermind then. I was gonna ask if Arjen actually mentioned something about it.

[Ben_Jamin]

I mean is it to ludicrous to expect this might be The Human Equation 2 or some sequel of sort? He usually have a rule to not bring back previous singers for any new Ayreon project but this time James is back so maybe he's bringing that character back. One can dream though 

He replied in the comments somewhere that LaBrie is not playing the same character unfortunately.

Ohh  , well nevermind then. I was gonna ask if Arjen actually mentioned something about it.

Its on the website for the new album. It shows JLB as The Historian, Tommy Giles as the Chemist...

Let's see if he'll have a doctor/healer. I'm getting that vibe.

[Cyclopssss]

Given the nature of some of the artwork displayed on the site, I'm gonna go with a sequel to Electric Castle.

[Ben_Jamin]

Given the nature of some of the artwork displayed on the site, I'm gonna go with a sequel to Electric Castle.

I'm going with the 2084-2085 war. And when the forever's went to live beneath the waves.

[Evermind]

He did say it's going to be a continuation (or at least related to) the big story that spanned throughout most of his albums.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

New singer, I didn't know who it was but it's in the comments. Love it!

[Cyclopssss]

Has to be Simone.

[Evermind]

Definitely Simone, and this is the first snippet I actually like.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

So Paul Gilbert is one of the instrumentalists, that solo was incredible but honestly I failed to guess who it was, makes sense now though.

[ErHaO]

I loved that solo, but didn't recognise the artist either. Solo is the best snippet thus far in my opinion.

Oh, and the new singer is Mike Mills, channeling Queen in the latest snippet, very cool. And the second half of the snippet definitely sounds similar toe his own band Toehider. Link to the site with the snippets for convience: https://www.arjenlucassen.com/ay8/

Thus far, these snippets make it seem like we are in for a varied and fresh album. And yet again the lyrics (quite obviously) refer to 01011001, so this is a sequel to older material for sure, maybe tying in TTOE.

[abydos]

So many 0101 references, if he doesn't get Anneke again for it I'd be mad.

[Ben_Jamin]

So many 0101 references, if he doesn't get Anneke again for it I'd be mad.

I'd actually like female singers that have never done Ayreon.

[Zook]

Hoping for Amanda Somerville, but she's always so busy.

[ErHaO]

For those wondering, the three songs you get when entering your email on that new album page are the Star One version of Loser (close to Human Equation version) and two  live acoustic bonus tracks (from the Loser single), Castle Hall and Into the Black Hole sung by Irene Janssen. I love this version of Castle Hall (I don't really care for the acoustic version sung by Astrid from Ambeon).

[Adami]

Hoping for Amanda Somerville, but she's always so busy.

Ohhhh that would be so cool!

I'd also love to see Barlow in a role.

[Evermind]

Regarding the story, Arjen has revealed on Facebook it "is indeed before the Age of Shadows. The first part of the story is not on Y, Earth or Mars though."

[Evermind]

Double post, but hey, new snippet is up. Floor or Irene Jansen? I'm not actually sure, went with Floor in the comments on FB.

[ErHaO]

I think that is indeed Floor. Really like this sample too!

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm enjoying the music a lot in these vids. I went with Irene, he could've really gotten her to give it her all. The ending sounded like 5150 Van Halen.

[ErHaO]

Oh yessssss! Hansi Kursch without a doubt 

Oh, and he sings the same line as Floor does, so presumably they are the same song.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

  I only needed a millisecond to guess who that was. Not the biggest fan of his voice but I don't mind him. He's worked with him before or am I mistaken? Floor is always great though.
I do hope he introduces some new talent or some unknowns from obscure bands, that's always fun.

[abydos]

It will probably never happen, but I'd love to see Arjen work with Jon Oliva on an Ayreon record.

[Kwyjibo]

Hansi Kürsch was on 0101010101, normally I can't stand his voice but Arjen made him listenable.

Hoping for some new ones, unknown talents or singers who haven't worked with Arjen.

[ErHaO]

I am a massive fan of Hansi, so this pleases me a lot. And even if you don't like him, he has a very distinctive voice and Arjen used his voice really well in the background of some choruses on 01011001. I actually would love Olbrich from Blind Guardian to be one of the instrumentalists as well (always very recognisable and melodic solos), but I think that chance is very slim.

And yes, some new, unknown singers would be neat as well. Maybe he will use some talent of the epic rock choir from the theater show. I know they aren't exactly "new", but some of them are definitely relatively unknown talents with barely any recorded material out there.

Furthermore, I also hope for two heavy hitters that were in the Netherlands recently, though both are very, very unlikely. One is Bruce Dickinson and the other would be Alice Cooper. I know the latter one was on his list but was way too expensive, but who knows these days.

[Evermind]

I wouldn't bet on Arjen working with Bruce again after what happened before Space Metal was released. But hey, everything's possible, I suppose.