Ayreon is one person - Arjen A. Lucassen. For the Ayreon projects, he writes incredible concepts, and recruits a different mix of vocalists to play the characters he writes. Ayreon is definitely more progressive than metal. There are certainly tunes with a metal flair, but by-and-large, prog. Heavier than, say, Spock's Beard or Transatlantic prog though.
If you want a metal version, check out Arjen's project, Star One. Two albums - one written with each song based on a Sci-Fi movie/TV show; the other with each song based on a dystopian movie. Two of my favorite albums of all time.