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

[The Letter M]

The Ayreon Facebook page just posted this:

Dear Ayreonauts, important question! We will shoot a video clip for one of the new Star One tracks on August 24 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. We need a few people who will be prominently featured in the video. No speaking parts but physical acting and facial expressions. Would you be interested or do you know someone? Please email staronemusicvideocasting@gmail.com and copy me: arjen@arjenlucassen.com. I really hope you can help us, thanks in advance!

-Marc.

[kirksnosehair]

Finished up my Ayreon run-through.

Transitus is not good and pretty much totally forgettable.  Yowza.

100% agreed on Transitus. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

I think it had the potential to be a good album, but all that spoken stuff between the songs just totally ruined it for me.   It's one thing when you have those spoken parts between 6, 7 and 8 and 10 minute tracks (ItEC), but when all the tracks are 2, 3 and 4 minutes long and you put as much as a minute of spoken stuff between EVERY track, I tried listening a few times I could never even make it through the first disc without moving on to something else.  I hope he keeps that stuff to a minimum on the new Star One album

[Ben_Jamin]

Transitus is great for what it is. And it is not your usual concept album. There is a reason for why I call it a Comic Book Album.

It reminds me of listening to an old time radio horror show. And if you have heard those, they sound pretty much like the narration in Transitus.

The Comic Book description comes from how the Earbook was packaged like a comic book. You can listen and follow along with the Comic book style and use your imagination to bring movement to the pictures.

We also have to remember. He intended this to be a movie and not an album. He had to make do and make a quick idea change to how he could present this "Movie" in an album format.


Also...I mentioned to Arjen how Transitus sounds like I'm listening to a music comic book. And he told me that's a good way to describe it. 

[Nick]

The Ayreon Facebook page just posted this:

Dear Ayreonauts, important question! We will shoot a video clip for one of the new Star One tracks on August 24 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. We need a few people who will be prominently featured in the video. No speaking parts but physical acting and facial expressions. Would you be interested or do you know someone? Please email staronemusicvideocasting@gmail.com and copy me: arjen@arjenlucassen.com. I really hope you can help us, thanks in advance!

-Marc.

I'm in communication with them, hoping to do this!

[ErHaO]

I like Transitus. It is a lower tier Arjen album for me, but there is only one I don't consider to be good (Actual Fantasy). I listened to it plenty since it came out.

[The Letter M]

https://www.facebook.com/100001414727158/posts/4476340722423041/

Arjen says the new Star One album is nearly finished! Starting next week, he will begin the usual Guessing Games, every Mon and Thurs will be new clues, with answers on Tues and Fri. There will be more than 40 guessing games, starting with 11 "Guess The Movie" games where he'll post lyrics to each song, and then over 30 "Guess The Guest Musician" games.

-Marc.

[jingle.boy]

Cool!

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Arjen is responsible for quite a decent chunk of music I listen to, if only for at times planting seeds or reminding me of artists.  The last thing I absolutely loved from him is Victims of the Modern Age though.  There are still moments on more recent albums, but they're a bit more sporadic.  His taste in vocalists is starting to diverge a bit more from my own it seems, though I'm ecstatic that he worked with Cammie on Transitus, she's one of the best newer vocalists I've heard in quite some time.  However, I'm still not sold on the concept for the new Star One album, it seems like it'll be Flight of the Migrator Part 2.  That was a good album, but I preferred the dynamic interplay between Russ, Damian, Dan, and Floor.  Their chemistry was unbeatable.  Maybe if it were a two-disc version with one being the usual format and the other being the FotM template that would be fine. 

[majo]

Brilliant! 

[The Letter M]

The first of the new Star One guessing games has been posted!

https://www.facebook.com/109887886151/posts/10157813716316152/

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

And the answer has been revealed!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6eW4Hl9nxqU&feature=youtu.be

-Marc.

[Adami]

And the answer has been revealed!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6eW4Hl9nxqU&feature=youtu.be

-Marc.

Woo! I actually got that one right.

[Kwyjibo]

That wasn't actually that hard, let's see what's next-

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Well, so there can't be too many more of the guess the movie games before he starts doing guess the singer games.  What's everyone's wishlist for vocalists?  For mine I'm focusing on people that could fit and who he hasn't worked with yet or only in a limited capacity.

Wishlist - Charlotte Wessels, Chelsea Wolfe, Christian Alvestam, Daniel Tompkins, Heike Langhans, Judith Rijnveld (particularly since he's already worked with her cellist), Klaus Meine, Lajon Witherspoon, Marjan Welman (her one track on 01011001 doesn't come close to doing her justice), Matt Barlow, Melissa Bonny, Nienke de Jong, Rob Halford, Speed Strid, Tinna Karlsdotter, Tomi Joutsen. 

[The Letter M]

Well, so there can't be too many more of the guess the movie games before he starts doing guess the singer games.  What's everyone's wishlist for vocalists?  For mine I'm focusing on people that could fit and who he hasn't worked with yet or only in a limited capacity.

Wishlist - Charlotte Wessels, Chelsea Wolfe, Christian Alvestam, Daniel Tompkins, Heike Langhans, Judith Rijnveld (particularly since he's already worked with her cellist), Klaus Meine, Lajon Witherspoon, Marjan Welman (her one track on 01011001 doesn't come close to doing her justice), Matt Barlow, Melissa Bonny, Nienke de Jong, Rob Halford, Speed Strid, Tinna Karlsdotter, Tomi Joutsen.

I believe he said there would be 11 "Guess The Movie" games, so it looks like we'll be getting at least 11 songs, and today's Guessing Game was number 8, so we should start seeing Guess The Vocalist games starting on October 7th.

As much as I'd like to see Arjen widen his vocal pool a bit, I have a feeling he will bring in a lot of tried-and-true voices from his albums past, in addition to the voices that have been on Star One before. If he goes the one-vocalist-per-song route, with 11 different vocalists total, I can only see maybe about 2 or 3 new-to-Arjen-projects vocalists, but the rest will likely have made at least one other appearance on another Arjen project/album before.

-Marc.

[jingle.boy]

Well, I hope at least one or more of Floor/Damien/Dan make an appearance.  Or maybe Soeterboek or Michael Anderson.  I could probably rhyme off a wishlist of a couple dozen, but no sense in just listing off my fave vocalists that haven't been on an album of Arjen's.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

That's the whole fun of it though.  Maybe we can see if anyone's tastes overlap. 

I believe he said there would be 11 "Guess The Movie" games, so it looks like we'll be getting at least 11 songs, and today's Guessing Game was number 8, so we should start seeing Guess The Vocalist games starting on October 7th.

As much as I'd like to see Arjen widen his vocal pool a bit, I have a feeling he will bring in a lot of tried-and-true voices from his albums past, in addition to the voices that have been on Star One before. If he goes the one-vocalist-per-song route, with 11 different vocalists total, I can only see maybe about 2 or 3 new-to-Arjen-projects vocalists, but the rest will likely have made at least one other appearance on another Arjen project/album before.

Yeah, the last two had 14-15 tracks once you counted bonus cuts and covers.  So I just upped mine to 16.  Of people he's already worked with, I'd like to see more from Anneke van Giersbergen, Cammie Gilbert, Cristina Scabbia, Devin Townsend, Eric Clayton, Heather Findlay, Irene Jansen, John JayCee Cuijpers, Jonas Renkse, Lana Lane, Magali Luyten, Tom Englund, and the main quartet.  Lana is probably not likely since I'd heard rumors that he had some falling out with her and/or Erik Norlander. 

[MoraWintersoul]

Well, I hope at least one or more of Floor/Damien/Dan make an appearance.  Or maybe Soeterboek or Michael Anderson.  I could probably rhyme off a wishlist of a couple dozen, but no sense in just listing off my fave vocalists that haven't been on an album of Arjen's.

Dan said last year he fucked up his voice recording the last Witherscape, so unless he recovered in the meanwhile I would be mildly pessimistic about getting him.

[The Letter M]

Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) is back with a new Star One album titled Revel In Time.  The new album comes more than 10 years since the previous release and is due out on Feb 18th, 2022 on InsideOutMusic.

The album will be available for pre-order on Dec. 17th and it will come as Ltd. 2CD Digipak, Ltd. Deluxe 3CD+Blu-Ray Artbook (incl. a poster of the cover artwork), and as 180g Gatefold 2LP (incl. the album on CD & an LP-Booklet). CD 2 features alternate versions of the same songs as CD 1, but with different vocalists. Also available will be a 5.1 mix, a high-res audio version, and an exclusive, hour-long Behind the Scenes video, on the Blu-ray included in the Artbook.

For this Star One release, Arjen has decided to use a different singer for each song, and those singers as well as the instrumentalists are slowly being revealed on Arjen Lucassen’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArjenLucassenOfficial

Arjen explains the decision to return with a new Star One album:
“Ayreon is like the mothership for all my music. It contains all the different musical styles that I like to listen to and that I love to create. But I’m always looking for challenges and trying to create something new and original as well. Working within a set of constraints forces you to do that, so sometimes I like to limit myself and focus on just one style. For example, with Star One I focus on the metal-side of Ayreon. That means you won’t hear the exuberantly liberal use of acoustic instruments that are so often featured on Ayreon albums, like violin, woodwinds, cello, horns, dulcimer, mandolin, etc.”

The artwork was designed by Ayreon artist Jef Bertels, Arjen explains:
“As always, Jef’s painting is wondrously labyrinthine; I can sit in front of it for hours and discover new details all the time. Now you might be thinking “Hey, isn’t Jef Bertels the designated artist for Ayreon, but not for Star One?” Of course I thought about that myself. But when I realized how much I liked this album I felt that it deserved a painting of its own and a special place alongside Jef’s other front-cover masterpieces. And anyway, I’ve been breaking rules ever since the very beginning of Ayreon. So… there you have it!”

Totally ordering the artbook!

-Marc.

[jingle.boy]

Might have to pull the trigger on that, simply to be a completionist with all his earbooks.  Blue Ray 5.1 isn't as exciting to me, as I rarely (ie, never) get the chance to just sit and listen from my couches where I have a 5.1 system to listen to.

[Adami]

Having the same songs on each disk but with different singers is a really cool idea!

[ZirconBlue]

Having the same songs on each disk but with different singers is a really cool idea!

Glad you mentioned that.  I skimmed over that paragraph, since I figured I'd delve into the different options when I get ready to pre-order. 

[The Letter M]

Having the same songs on each disk but with different singers is a really cool idea!

He explains it more here:
https://www.facebook.com/109887886151/posts/10157869816316152/

But yeah, he did the opposite (sort of) with The Gentle Storm, where the song arrangements changed but had the same vocalist between both. I wonder if seeing Transatlantic release two versions of an album also inspired him to do something similar a year after TA's The Absolute Universe? Or perhaps he just couldn't settle on one vocalist per song and decided to have his cake and eat it too? Either way, I can see fans mixing and matching different versions of the songs to make their own preferred album.

-Marc.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Apparently 15 different vocalists, so some tracks will have multiple.  I guess that's a more acceptable compromise.  I really like the dynamic interplay between different singers that he's been known for, and I was afraid we'd be losing that.  I just relistened to the Universal Migrator albums again a week or two ago, and while I still love them, the limited vocal interaction I think is part of what holds the albums back some for me.  Having different people interpret the same songs is cool as well, I've liked how we've had both Russell Allen and John Jaycee Cuipers doing renditions of "Dawn of a Million Souls", Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor Jansen, Marcela Bovio, Marjan Welman and maybe others I'm forgetting having versions of "Valley of the Queens", etc.  Loving the cover art too, it looks more blended sci-fi/fantasy, but it's fascinating visually, so I'm fine with it. 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Having the same songs on each disk but with different singers is a really cool idea!

Hmm interesting idea. 

[Ben_Jamin]

Having the same songs on each disk but with different singers is a really cool idea!

He explains it more here:
https://www.facebook.com/109887886151/posts/10157869816316152/

But yeah, he did the opposite (sort of) with The Gentle Storm, where the song arrangements changed but had the same vocalist between both. I wonder if seeing Transatlantic release two versions of an album also inspired him to do something similar a year after TA's The Absolute Universe? Or perhaps he just couldn't settle on one vocalist per song and decided to have his cake and eat it too? Either way, I can see fans mixing and matching different versions of the songs to make their own preferred album.

-Marc.

This means mixing them into one to form Harmonies...  

[ErHaO]

I would not expect too much of the fact that there are more singers than songs. I assume several background singers are part of the guessing game, as was the case with Transitus. I fully expect songs to mostly be led by a single vocalist with some harmonies here and there.

And I love the finished cover.

[ErHaO]

Nice to see Floor in again! And the clip sounds great.

I do hope all og Star One singers have a song here. I would not be surprised if Russel is an option again after these years.

[jingle.boy]

I do hope all og Star One singers have a song here. I would not be surprised if Russel is an option again after these years.

I hope you're right, but I fear you're not.

[Kwyjibo]

If he really has Russel Allen on board, he should have stuck with the original cast and not add a ton of other singers. But I seriously doubt it.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I think Dan Swano might be the hardest one to get back.  He blew out his voice recording the last Witherscape album, and has done virtually no vocal work since then.  He might not be capable of it anymore. 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I would love to see Arjen work with Russell again despite the past, kinda bury the axe if that really is the thing.
I agree it would be cool hearing all the OG cast and I feel the pandemic might have solved alot of schedule problems but we'll see.
What if he actually got Bruce on board... 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

https://fb.watch/8AOrysiAbr/

Guitar guessing game.  This is a tricky one.  Most everyone seems to think it's Vai.  That possibility certainly came to mind, and it would make sense to start out with a bang like he did with Floor.  Still, something sounds a bit off to me.  Definitely in a similar style, so at the very least probably someone influenced by him, but some of the phrasing and particularly the tone is a little different than Vai's typical sound.  Almost keyboardy at times.  Admittedly I haven't listened to Vai's newer material in quite some time, so his playing may have evolved a bit, and he might be using different gear now than what I'm used to.  So I won't be surprised if it is him, but I'm slightly skeptical.  Some are suggesting Arjen himself, and of course he's massively Vai-influenced, but it's a bit more nuanced than Arjen is typically capable of, and if the solo is three minutes, I don't think Arjen is really quite that self-indulgent. 

Edit:  second listen through with Vai specifically in mind, and I think it's more likely than not it is him, and he's just using a different amp and some subtle modulation effect that I'm not accustomed to from him. 

[ErHaO]

It ended up being Vai, solo sounds great 

[jingle.boy]

It certainly does!