From Arjens's Website:Hey Ayreonauts! Most of the Ayreon-related internet action is now to be found on Arjen’s Facebook page, but below you’ll find the basic info on the new Ayreon album “The Theory of Everything.”
Arjen Lucassen soon to release new Ayreon album, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
Arjen Lucassen soon to release new Ayreon album, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
It features a stellar cast of guests, with members past and present of Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Kamelot, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Asia, Toehider, Grand Magus, and Ancient Bards (see below)
It will be a
double albumIt begins a completely
new story line for the Ayreon universe
It is divided into 4 long tracksIt’s a true Rock Opera with a dramatic, real-world story
It will be released in 4 editions, including an exclusive limited edition and vinyl (details TBA)
The DVD for the special and limited editions features over 2 hours of behind the scenes content
Release date is late October, 2013 Pre-orders in Arjen’s webshop will start sometime in September (details TBA)
Arjen has been running “guess the musician” contests via Facebook. You can see all of the videos on his Youtube channel.
GUEST MUSICIANS
VOCALISTS
(in order of appearance)
JB (Grand Magus) as The Teacher
Sara Squadrani (Ancient Bards) as The Girl
Michael Mills (Toehider) as The Father
Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) as The Mother
Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder) as The Prodigy
Marco Hietala (Nightwish, Tarot) as The Rival
John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) as The Psychiatrist
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Gorefest) – drums
Rick Wakeman (Yes) – keyboards
Keith Emerson (Emerson Lake and Palmer) – keyboards
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) – keyboards
Steve Hackett (Genesis) – lead guitar
Troy Donockley (Nightwish) – Whistles, Uilleann pipes
Ben Mathot (Dis) –violin
Maaike Peterse (Kingfisher Sky) – cello
Jeroen Goossens (Flairck) – flute , bass flute, piccolo, bamboo flute and contrabass flute
Siddharta Barnhoorn – orchestrations
Michael Mills (Toehider) – Irish Bouzouki
Wilmer Waarbroek – backing vocals
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, mandolin, analog synthesizers,
Hammond, Solina Strings
This is all the news that’s fit to print today, we’ll add updates as more details are confirmed.