Ayreon

[Strychnos]

I'm not a big fan of Space Metal, but I loved the energy of the live CD that followed suit. That said, I have nothing but praises to Lucassen's musical genius.

Fave albums of mine are Universal Migrator II and The Human Equation (largely because of Ed Warby's drum work and the appearance of Mikael Akerfeldt & Devin Townsend).

BTW, any guy that brings out James LaBrie's good vocal abilities is a genius. I cannot stress that enough.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I don't really post here anymore--but I have to say it: Arjen Lucassen is my favorite artist of all time. I have not run into a single album of his that I haven't liked, be it Ayreon, Star One, Stream of Passion (when he was a member--I do not intend to follow the band after its lineup changes), or even Ambeon. I would recommend for a Symphony X fan starting out with Star One rather than with Ayreon--since you'll have Russell Allen's vocals, it'll give you something familiar to catch hold of. Remember, though, that Star One (and Universal Migrator II) are his heaviest works, so it will get less heavy from there.

I can only think of a few things I would say could've been done better. One was "Temple of the Cat" on Universal Migrator (the one case of his not making a vocalist work out), and the other items were on his very first Ayreon album--though I'm more lenient on people's first efforts than on their subsequent works, so that doesn't bother me. In general, he is an extremely capable, creative artist whom I highly recommend.

Good to see you back around. I do have to argue one point (which is an opinion thing) and that is star one... while the majority of it has good vocals, Floor sounds absolutely horrible on that album and manages to ruin quite a few otherwise great tunes. And i really like floors vocals from that period of time, but that album shows the worst of her. The rest of the vocalists (dan swano, russ and damien wilson) are fantastic though and there are some cool songs.

 

[Alyn]

The Star One live album/dvd is phenominal...thats what really got me into Arjen's work, mainly because Russ was on it. Plus, Arjen always makes time for his fans no matter how busy he gets. E-mailed him mid-December once and never expected a reply or anything, just wanted to say me and my girlfriend were really looking forward to the Stream of Passion tour in January, and he replied on Christmas morning with a really nice e-mail. Awesome guy.

 

[Rose Immortal]

I didn't see anything wrong with Floor Jansen on that album.

Swanö had a particularly fitting voice for Spock in "Songs of the Ocean"...I mean, if Leonard Nimoy could actually sing, that might be how it would sound.

Don't intend to post here regularly--just had to comment when I saw Ayreon.

 

[Wander]

Damn.... Now I really have to get that Star One album, just heard a few songs and it's really cool stuff.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I didn't see anything wrong with Floor Jansen on that album.

I thought her melody lines were boring, harmonies were abrasive and timing on a lot of stuff was just awkward. I know it's the way the songs were written, but i just wasn't feeling it.

 

[The Stormbringer]

Damn.... Now I really have to get that Star One album, just heard a few songs and it's really cool stuff.

Get the DVD "Live On Earth" instead. Contains all the good songs off of "Space Metal" and a load of Ayreon classics, all wrapped up in a great live performance. Highly recommended.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

But there's no Dan Swano, who makes the album IMO. That guy who does his stuff live is just not cutting it.

 

[Wander]

But there's no Dan Swano, who makes the album IMO. That guy who does his stuff live is just not cutting it.

Yeah, Dan Swanö (learn to write letter "ö" noobs!) is great. I know him from Edge Of Sanity. I might get that DVD too though...

 

[Phanto]

Yeah, you noobs. åöäöåäöåäöåöäöåäöåäÅÄÅÖÅÖÅÄÅÖÅÄÅÖåöäåöååöå ä-ä-ä-ä-ä-ö-ö-ö-ö-ö-ö-ö-å-å-å-å-å-å-å ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ!

 

[Rose Immortal]

But there's no Dan Swano, who makes the album IMO. That guy who does his stuff live is just not cutting it.

Robert Soeterboek. And I agree he's not as good as Swanö, though on Actual Fantasy Revisited, he sounds good. It's not a dealbreaker to me, but I do wish they'd been able to get Swanö on the live tour.

Oh, and for people with an American keyboard, to get the "ö" character, hold down your ALT key and type 148 on the number pad (not the row of numbers above the letters).

 

[razoredge]

Queensrÿche

Awe man that is so fucking cool ! Here Ive been thinking you needed a different keyboard to do that. Thanks for the ed. Rose Immortal, way better than the lazy twit that wants to throw stones and smugly walk away. Why the hell they didnt teach us this shit in highschool back in the 70's is beyond me............... dut da da ......

They also never taught us the relevance of such letters either. Must have something to do with modern english speaking Americans.... damn! we are so primitive....................

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I'm on a laptop, i have no keypad. I don't care enough to make umlauts over every fuckin' swedish character. That is all, kthxbye.

 

[_Gentleman of_the Snow_]

Pwned!!1

 

[razoredge]

Just wanted to say I was honestly thanking Rose Immortal because I have always wondered and mainly because of
Queensrÿche. Now if I could only figure out the key

 

[progmetaldan]

Worth the listen ?
Worth the money ?

seems like it might be

yes.

 

[Rose Immortal]

For typing umlauts, accents, etc...if you're on a laptop, it depends on the exact make of the laptop. But if you have a Dell, you may have a key marked "FN" for Function. If that's the case, you'll also have some of your regular letter keys with purple numbers on them. You'll have to hold down both FN and ALT at the same time, then type the numbers.

Again, that's no guarantee for your particular laptop...the instructions may vary by model.

I had to learn this for Spanish and German classes, so here is the full table that I use for a variety of characters: http://www.yellowpipe.com/yis/tools/ALT-Characters/

Oh...and the Queensrÿche one is ALT + 152.

 

[Beelzebub]

If I don't have a keypad I just copy+paste the letter from somewhere else.

 

[Phanto]

Don't you have "¨^~"? :> With that key you can do all kinds of fucked up letters. Ë! û ü! ñ! (including åäö)

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Back on topic.

I have been keeping up with the vocalist announcements for the new Ayreon album for a little while now. So far I am very excited for the album and am very pleased with most of the vocalists that have been confirmed. I am probably the most happy with Tom Englund of Evergrey being confirmed. I have been speculating since before vocalists where even close to being announced that he would have a good chance to be on it because I heard a long time ago that Tom had shown an interest in being on an Ayreon album before. I am also pleased to hear that Jorn Lande will be on it as well. The only vocalists that have not been announced that I would really like to see on it is of course Russell Allen and also Daniel Gildenlow. I am assuming Allen won't be on it though since he was on both Star One and The Universal Migrator before and Arjen doesn't like to use very many returning vocalists except his staple few (such as Floor Jansen). Also, I know that he probably will not be on it becuase SyX is busy with touring and stuff right now. I think Daniel Gildenlow could still be a posibility of the few vocalists that have not been announced yet (5 atm I think).