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

[Evermind]

Why did I buy it, no no no nooo no no, I can't believe I bought it no noooo no, this can't be real, this is just a dream noooo, no no, no, no no

This is pretty much how the first Tommy's song would've went if he bought the album I guess

edit: Hey, I'm not even too far off:

[The Walrus]

 

[kirksnosehair]

It's prog so I'll give it proper time to sink in but my first listen was a bit of a struggle to get all the way through.  I wish the narration parts were all done on individual tracks because the first thing I'd do is get rid of all of it.   


The beginning of the album is very odd.  Perhaps multiple listens will reveal more but my first impression is not very positive, I'm afraid.


It reminds me a LOT of that solo thing he released a while back that I listened to once and never went back to. 

[ErHaO]

Interesting, I love most vocal melodies on this album. And I think Tommy is fantastic here (but if you don't like him this won't change your mind). Sometimes the vocals do remind me a bit of musical theater/Disney, but since I listen to that as well, this may be more my jam than others. And yes, the Digital Rain is strong in Talk of the Town and the ending track. But hey, it is a great melody.

I think the start is good, each part sets the atmosphere for the setting/scene. As I said, it's structure is very much due to the nature of the album. Maybe because I listen to musical soundtracks, audiobooks (with sountracks) and watch musical films etc. this proggy mishmash of it all in a metal coat doesn't feel very awkward to me. But I can definitely understand why people do not dig it.

Not to say I don't think the album had any flaws, to the contrary. But I highly enjoy it. Will list my main complaints later.

[The Walrus]

What an interesting album.

As I've already said, I don't like Tommy on the last two Ayreon records. He's a bit too 'extra' if you know what I mean, and the eclectic mix of singers - Marco Hietala + Tommy Karevik? / James LaBrie + Floor Jansen + Tobias Sammet + Mike Mills?! - just never worked for me. But on this record, I find the vocalists work together very well, and Tommy is far more enjoyable than ever before. Cammie doesn't really do much that impresses me, but she is good nonetheless. I think this is the first Ayreon record in a long time without a standout vocal performance (on first listen - repeat listenings will very likely change that opinion), but the tradeoff is that all the singing is cohesive which in turn makes the whole record cohesive.

Also, the narration works wonderfully for me. I think the story is one of the most coherent Ayreon stories because of it - but not the best (that's either 01011001 or The Human Equation, imo). There's a comment earlier on this page about Arjen maybe running out of ideas, but after hearing this I disagree with that. There's a lot of little moments that I don't think I've heard in previous records, and the concept and story is fun enough to convince me that Arjen has a lot of creative juice left in the tank.

Now I do have some homework - reading the comic as I play the record - but my first impressions are that this is my favorite Ayreon since 01011001. Yay!!

EDIT: Also, I only heard one single before the album came out, I think - the one with Dee Snider. I hated it at first and my interest in the record was drained after that. But when it came on, I actually really liked it, thought Dee was great and enthusiastic in his part, and in the context of the record it was so much more enjoyable.

[jingle.boy]

This is the first Ayreon album since I got into him that was a listen-before-buy.  Far too many times, I found myself "boy does this sound like <insert another Arjen song here>" - whether an entire song, or segments of songs.  I hear no originality in this.  It's just ITEC, THE, Migrator, 01, TTOE, The Source, Star One ... just re-hashes of the stuff I've already heard hundreds of times.  I have a feeling that every time I listen to this, I'll just be thinking 'why am I not listening to <insert prior Ayeron/Star One album here>.

I still bought it today from Amazon - more for the quality that he puts into the earbook, and to be completionist.

[The Walrus]

That's funny because that's what I thought about The Theory of Everything and The Source, but not this. I mean, it's identifiably Ayreon, but it sounds more than just 'another Ayreon album' to me. Hopefully you like it.

[Crow]

my comprehensive review:

"it's fine"

[Pettor]

I wasn't excited by the singles but after spinning the album only two times I feel new excitement. Thought it had a lot of quirky fun sounds and songs. There's no Everybody Dies or clear distinct song I want to listen to by itself, but in context I think this seems to work! The singles are a lot better when being part of the full album. However I do need to listen a lot more!

[MirrorMask]

Heard it 3 times so far. Sound 101% Ayreon, probably even 120%, meaning that every single moment hardly comes as a surprise because it's all completely in the style by now we all know.

I guess we're all disappointed that the 10 minutes opener is not another The Day that the World Breaks Down, but I guess it's needed to present the story.

Feels a less extreme The Theory of Everything, in the sense that the whole thing works together as a single unit and the total is greater than its parts, I can't spot so far a standalone song that can rival with the strongest songs from The Source.

Oh, and in the lyrics, when Daniel (Tommy Karevik) confronts his father played by Dee Snider:

how can you be so twisted?

I see what you did there Arjen 

[The Letter M]

Oh, and in the lyrics, when Daniel (Tommy Karevik) confronts his father played by Dee Snider:

how can you be so twisted?

I see what you did there Arjen 

And I love that Dee has now become the very thing he sang against in "We're Not Gonna Take It". What a musical 180, eh? 

I think one of the things I love about this album most is how QUICKLY is breezes by. Just over 80 minutes and the album is done, which is a fair amount shorter than most of Arjen's double albums. The story moves at a great pace and having the comic with it really helps that along. Now I wish we had comics for EVERY Ayreon album. I'd love to see an Ayreon Universe graphic novel, combining all the stories of their albums into a collection. It would make a great companion to the discography.

-Marc.

[425]

I've been trying to decide whether to buy this album, based on the more lukewarm reviews, and I'm now realizing that the regular 2CD version seems to be sold out everywhere I look! I guess I have no choice but to wait and see if it comes back in stock somewhere, since I'm not inclined to shell out for any of the fancy packages.

[MirrorMask]

I can't remember if you're Europe based or USA based, but in Italy I buy a lot of stuff from EMP and at least for the italian version of the site (I assume it's the same stock and it's just the various sites which are translated) the CD is available:

https://www.emp-online.it/p/transitus/474055.html

[The Letter M]

I've been trying to decide whether to buy this album, based on the more lukewarm reviews, and I'm now realizing that the regular 2CD version seems to be sold out everywhere I look! I guess I have no choice but to wait and see if it comes back in stock somewhere, since I'm not inclined to shell out for any of the fancy packages.

The 2CD set is up for $17.97 on Amazon.

-Marc

[Pettor]

I must say I like the length of this album. It doesn't drag like many other large rock operas. CD1 is def a lot more interesting than CD2. The songs that I will actually listen to without the context of the full album is on CD1 and I can't right now think about any from CD2.

Also feeling a bit fatigued over Tommy as the main character. It's quite similar to previous albums and would maybe describe it as overly passionate all the time. His character reminds me of Gabriel from TA where the character development is basically "oh whyyy", "oohhh noooooo", "pleeeeease give meee aaa chaaaaaaance". On TTOE I really like it but here I don't think Tommy came to the perfect use like before. I mean obviously his voice is fantastic just that the character is quite boring and maybe Tommy wasn't the perfect voice for it. Or maybe it was just how the character was written  Anyway somehow the evil or sassy characters are interesting here like most rock operas. Why do rock operas always write the main dude as the purity of moral and goodness and complete lack of personality. Give me a main character with some god damn flaws and balls (you know what, give me a female main character for once as well) already!

Haha the dumb piece of rock is so obviously there just to get Michael Mills in the production. Not that I will complain about forcing him into any story 

[MirrorMask]

When I first heard the album I was wondering why the hell someone would call himself a dumb piece of rock, then through the lyrics I realized he meant it quite literally 

[ariich]

in general it (so far) feels pretty weak when it comes to vocal melodies which is normally one of Arjen's biggest strengths.

Now that you said it, that's probably my biggest beef with the album. The vocal melodies seem very uninspired on this one for me.

So yeah I've listened some more and I still feel the same way, that while there are aspects of the album I like a lot, melodically I just find it quite weak. It's still a good album, just not a very exciting one and at the lower end for me.

One thing I do love is Tom Baker's narration which is as charming and melodramatic as I expected and hoped for. There are a couple of moments where the music lets him down though. In particular early on when he says "between heaven and hell... TRANSITUS!" his delivery is so great and it really feels like it should have been followed by BIG CHUNKY RIFF but instead it was followed by a pretty meh riff and then into some slow moody prog stuff.

[Pettor]

Agree narrator couldn't have been better 

[Fritzinger]

Agree narrator couldn't have been better 

I personally could have lived without the narrator 

[Pettor]

Agree narrator couldn't have been better 

I personally could have lived without the narrator 

Haha well, it's still the best narrator you never wanted!

[MirrorMask]

After another listening I'd say the album sounds very theatrical, and basically made for a stage. You can clearly imagine the singers acting out what they're singing, with the lyrics themselves being presented in a very.... "visual" style for lack of a better term.

I mean you could bring on stage any Ayreon album I guess but this one seems tailor made for it. I can't imagine a full, acted rendition of The Source for example coming across so nicely as a Transitus one could be.

[The Walrus]

Ayreon is the real metal opera.

[Ben_Jamin]

I must say I like the length of this album. It doesn't drag like many other large rock operas. CD1 is def a lot more interesting than CD2. The songs that I will actually listen to without the context of the full album is on CD1 and I can't right now think about any from CD2.

Also feeling a bit fatigued over Tommy as the main character. It's quite similar to previous albums and would maybe describe it as overly passionate all the time. His character reminds me of Gabriel from TA where the character development is basically "oh whyyy", "oohhh noooooo", "pleeeeease give meee aaa chaaaaaaance". On TTOE I really like it but here I don't think Tommy came to the perfect use like before. I mean obviously his voice is fantastic just that the character is quite boring and maybe Tommy wasn't the perfect voice for it. Or maybe it was just how the character was written  Anyway somehow the evil or sassy characters are interesting here like most rock operas. Why do rock operas always write the main dude as the purity of moral and goodness and complete lack of personality. Give me a main character with some god damn flaws and balls (you know what, give me a female main character for once as well) already!

Haha the dumb piece of rock is so obviously there just to get Michael Mills in the production. Not that I will complain about forcing him into any story 

Have you read The Astonishing book?

And it's a concept that is a musical comic book. It being a comic book, explains why the characters act the way they do.

It's also a horror story, and we all know how cheesy those horror movies can be.

Also, the cheese adds more to the old time radio horror story effect. That is why I love this album. Instead of narration, Arjen uses the music and vocalists to play out the story, and uses the narration to tell the story.

The point of Daniel being all why. Is because the house was on fire, he was burning and wondering Why would you do this?...Then he enters Transitus and then has even more why questions. Daniel is in an ultimate despair.

[kaos2900]

Honestly didn't it like it at all after first listen. Forced myself to through more listens and it's grown on me but it's still one of my least favorite Ayreon albums. A few solid songs but for the most part it's just ok.

[The Letter M]

I guess I'm just one of the few here who initially liked it and have grown to REALLY like it since my first few listens. I've probably spun it at least a dozen times by now, and I like with every spin. The narration doesn't bug me because Tom Baker does it so flawlessly and it fits the feel of the album.

I read an interview with Arjen saying that Transitus was originally a film idea and not an album, but when that seemed not financially possible, he turned to make it an album, but not an Ayreon album. I think it was the label that mentioned to him that it could be an Ayreon album.

Transitus is probably the one Ayreon album that is tailormade to be a stage production, mostly because the idea stemmed from being a film in the first place. I think if Arjen wasn't to do another live production, this might be the one, especially since the vocalists have already embraced their roles and even been costumed for them in the videos. Sadly, I'm sure the show would have happened in 2021 if it wasn't for COVID, so it might be awhile before a Transitus Live show could ever happen, but it would be awesome to see (I can imagine the stage having the large estate as the main set, with smaller sets for Transitus and Daniel's home).

In that same interview I mentioned above (from sonicperspectives I believe), Arjen did say he was thinking about doing another live production, but did not mention which album(s) it would be. He also brought up that he may do a new re-release of the Universal Migrator albums, much like he did for ITEC a couple of years ago (which I still need to get somehow). I suspect this might be a continuing trend in the future for most of his album, especially since THE and 01 did not have Earbook releases in the past.

Because of Transitus, I've been listening to a LOT of Ayreon lately, and have revisited TFE, ITEC, UM, THE, 01, TTOE, and TS, and I've kind of warmed up to 01 a bit more. I still feel like there's just WAY too much going on and it's a lot to digest, but musically it's pretty amazing. I also enjoyed The Source a bit more as well, which I found fairly good upon release, but rarely found myself going back to. Funny how the earliest stories in the Ayreon universe (01 and The Source) are the ones that I have a harder time getting into.

-Marc.

[Evermind]

I didn't like it much, but oddly enough I want to come back to it and spin it a few more times. I guess I'll do that and maybe my opinion will change.

I don't doubt it would be much better live. I'd go see the live performance of that in an instant.

[kirksnosehair]

Unfortunately, I'd have to say this is the most disappointing release I've heard this year.  If I liked the music more I might be inclined to load these tracks up on the studio mac and try to remove all the narration, but there's really nothing here that makes me want to go through that effort.   

[The Walrus]

Talk of the Town, Dumb Piece of Rock and Get Out Now are my three favorites right now

[ronnibran]

I can't stop listening to this album, I really enjoy it more with every listen.  I like the format, the narration, the story...  Musically I find it quite interesting too.  Time will tell how it rates amongst all Ayreon albums, but I'm guessing it will be in the top third.  Favorite songs thus far are Fatum Horrificum, Message From Beyond, and Get Out Now.  Dumb Piece of Rock is great too though, another  easy one to get stuck in your head.  With Michael Mills, Tommy Kaverik, etc I didn't have huge hopes and was expecting something similar to The Theory Of Everything.  I love that album, just wanted something different.  And I think we got just that, with Transitus. 

[kaos2900]

Talk of the Town, Dumb Piece of Rock and Get Out Now are my three favorites right now

Yep, unfortunately those are really the only good track.

[425]

I've been trying to decide whether to buy this album, based on the more lukewarm reviews, and I'm now realizing that the regular 2CD version seems to be sold out everywhere I look! I guess I have no choice but to wait and see if it comes back in stock somewhere, since I'm not inclined to shell out for any of the fancy packages.

The 2CD set is up for $17.97 on Amazon.

-Marc

Thanks for the link! Weirdly, this wasn't showing up for me in the regular search. Now to decide whether I want to go for it...

Thanks to MirrorMask also, but since I'm US-based this link will probably work better.

[The Walrus]

Talk of the Town, Dumb Piece of Rock and Get Out Now are my three favorites right now

Yep, unfortunately those are really the only good track.

I think this is the mistake a lot of people are making with this album, though. I don't go into this - or any of the recent Ayreon albums - looking for standout 'tracks.' Since these albums are clips of many tracks together to tell one long cohesive story, I think it's a flaw of the design that there aren't inherently strong tracks like most typical albums, but it serves the flow of the record and the story well and with enough listens you'll find lots of moments to savor. I admit it's a little annoying to trudge through 20-something 1-3 minute tracks to find the gold, but such is the nature of the beast.

[kaos2900]

Talk of the Town, Dumb Piece of Rock and Get Out Now are my three favorites right now

Yep, unfortunately those are really the only good track.

I think this is the mistake a lot of people are making with this album, though. I don't go into this - or any of the recent Ayreon albums - looking for standout 'tracks.' Since these albums are clips of many tracks together to tell one long cohesive story, I think it's a flaw of the design that there aren't inherently strong tracks like most typical albums, but it serves the flow of the record and the story well and with enough listens you'll find lots of moments to savor. I admit it's a little annoying to trudge through 20-something 1-3 minute tracks to find the gold, but such is the nature of the beast.

I don't look for that either. However, it doesn't hurt to have more memorable songs than not. Compared to The Source which I love and has a ton great songs and moments I think Transitus is really lacking in the emotional moments which has been a staple on the other Ayreon albums. I also think my other problem with the album is the lack of diverse vocalists. It's definitely one of the weaker compilation of vocalists. Again, it's not a terrible album but it's the weakest to my ears.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I've yet too hear the album but from the samples this is the first time in years regarding an Ayreon release that my excitment level is an all time low sadly. I love Ayreon and have a tremendous respect for Arjen but honestly the big push for the album to sound more theartical is a turn off for me surprisingly because I actually first thought that would be the next logical step for Ayreon given the success of the theater productions.
However I haven't heard the album so I don't wanna say to much yet.

[kirksnosehair]

Interesting review here.  Top of the page reads 2.5/5.0


After the review at the bottom of the page he rates it 3.5/5.0