Arjen who is the creator of Ayreon is one of the few people who looks down on Floor at 6ft 8ins. There are a few Ayreon albums several interconnected. The live concerts are amazing and I'm sure there will be many suggestions but personally I love Star One 2003 live which features Floor and her sister Irene as the only female singers plus some great male singers.
@@TheThamesmen A nice thing to know is the fact that Arjen personally stood up after a reaction video was blocked ( more than once) . He made them ( YT) unblock the video himself, no management, lawyers or other parasites were involved.
For us as we had no idea she would be there and so was a good surprise. That said all other musicians were equal and gave equally surprising performances. It was magic!
The cool thing about Ayreon is that all the albums sort of tie into the same story. 'The Source' (the album which this song is from) is technically the start of the story. It's about a race of humans that give control of their planet to a computer (the 'frame) to help solve an environmental catastrophe, but the computer determines that the best course of action is to eliminate the humans. Ten humans and the robot TH-1 escape the planet on the only interstellar ship they have (the 'Starblade') along with the ships crew and head to an ocean planet. The chemist creates a drug ('The Source', aka 'Liquid Eternity') that allows them to evolve into an 'aquatic race'. The drug also makes them basically immortal and allows them to communicate telepathically. The album ends with the survivors (ten plus the ships small crew) living on their new planet ('Planet Y') in relative peace, but in the final track we learn that TH-1 is becoming a new version of the 'frame deep in the ocean. The next album in the timeline, 01011001 ('Y') tells us how machines have now taken over this new planet, and the humans have basically merged with the machines are losing their emotions and sense of time. They now call themselves 'The Forever', since they are essentially ageless drones at this point. We also learn about how they seeded a comet with DNA and sent it to Earth, where it creates human life on our planet. The Forever believe they can live through us telepathically and that they may regain their emotions by doing so. Some of The Forever believe that we need to advance more quickly, and use their telepathy to give us medicine/technology, but this results in us advancing quicker than our morality can cope with. Eventually The Forever realize humanity is doomed and has to decide if they will give them the technology to reverse their past mistakes. Somewhere in the timeline sits the album 'The Electric Castle'From a summary by Arjen: "At the end of the journey those that successfully dealt with their personal demons find out that the voice belongs to an alien named 'Forever of the Stars', a member of an alien race living in a distant galaxy. These aliens created planet Earth and its people as an experiment so they could study, and hopefully one day experience emotions, as they themselves lost feelings eons ago." That's only three albums (less than half!) but I believe those three give you a solid foundation for how the story plays out. Also, I highly recommend any of the Electric Castle Live videos; They are just so fun to watch, plus John de Lancie ('Q' from Star Trek) plays the 'Forever of the Stars' character, which Arjen said he originally based on Q.
Wow. Thanks for taking time to write this. Brilliant. What an imagination. George here, I read epic space sci-fi books and this completely resonates with the best of them
@@TheThamesmen Arjen even got Thijs van Leer to join in 'Electric Castle Live'. I hope you've heard of Thijs van Leer? He and Jan Akkerman were the prominent members of Focus. Their greatest hit song Hocus Pocus was originally a 7m song ( th-cam.com/video/jhlmMBKAx8k/w-d-xo.html ). When they got invited to an American TV-show and got told they had to shorten the song to about half it's length, they refused and instead doubled the beat ( th-cam.com/video/g4ouPGGLI6Q/w-d-xo.html ). As they kept experimenting, there is another version with a jazzy (improvized?) flute intro ( th-cam.com/video/NITqAFhjKVU/w-d-xo.html ).
The track "Everybody Dies" on the same album is lots of fun too. I too just listened and shook my head @ Michael Mills binary vocal solo. I've watched many reactors on this one and most really freak out when Floor come in. More so than for any other singer- all which are great.
Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon's albums are dubbed "rock operas" because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist. Each Ayreon album tells a different story, but all, with the exceptions of Actual Fantasy, The Theory of Everything, and Transitus, take place in the same fictional, science fiction universe; additionally, Lucassen's solo album Lost in the New Real is also set in the Ayreon universe. Ayreon's music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music mixed with instruments more native to folk and classical music. Lucassen writes the music and the lyrics, sings and plays most of the instruments on all of the Ayreon albums, alongside many guest musicians. His most regular collaborator is drummer Ed Warby. In this Video The singers in order of appearance are: James LaBrie from Dream Theater Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me Simone Simons from th most epic Epica Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon Tobias Sammet from Edguy and here mentioned Avantasia Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider Russell Allen from Symphony X Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus and last but not least the incredible Valkyrie Goddess Floor Jansen from Nightwish PS: Best Of Ayreon Live Concert List : th-cam.com/play/PLJGn3wi7b7b606GfoKAdOgm6rtX9OliRc.html.... this whole concert is unbelievable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nightwish Shadow Unit/Ayreonaut 💪😎🤘
@@TimoArula NW track scheduled for Saturday! Dont worry we are not forgetting and have many more tracks to get too there as well. Just need more time and Alex to come back from Greece!
Here is a list of the composer and singers in order of appearance: Arjen Lucassen - Composer - Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. James Labrie - Lead singer for Dream Theatre. Tommy Karevik - Lead singer of Kamelot and Seventh Wonder. Tommy Rodgers - Lead singer of Between the Buried and Me. Simone Simmons - Lead singer of Epica. Nils K. Rue - Lead singer of Pagan's Mind and also worked with Eidolon. Tobias Sammet - Lead singer of Edguy & Avantasia. Hansi Kürsch - Lead singer of Blind Guardian and Demons & Wizards. Mike Mills - Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and main songwriter for Toehider. Russell Allen - Lead singer of Symphony X and Allen/Lande. Michael Eriksen - Lead singer of Circus Maximus. Floor Jansen - Lead singer of After Forever, ReVamp & now Nightwish. Next I would suggest reacting to the performances at Ayreon Universe concert, especially the following Intergalactic Space Crusaders, River of Time, Merlin's Will, Valley of the Queens, Ride the Comet, Star of Sirrah, And the Druids Turn to Stone, Age of Shadows & Everybody Dies.
Ayreon is not a band, it's a rock opera project of Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Arjen has also a space metal Supergroup called Star One with Sir Russel Allen, Floor Jansen, Dan Swano and Damian Wilson
Ayreon!!! One of the best Progressive Rock Music Projects you can imagine. Always nuts!!! Arjen (guess? Dutch!) is the only one who is able to get all these fantastic vocalists together - also live on stage ;D ... AND you got a sneak preview to Simone Simons from Epica, too ;) >>> "Rivers" *lol*.
@@music2seeconcertphotograph457 Why? Consign is the harshest song and 80% growling. It's a nice one if you know EPICA well, but it is not representive for Simone's vocals or the epicness of their music. And it is from 2004. Epica started to be epic in 2009 with Design your Universe 😊.
Told you you would love this! The whole ‘Universe’ concert is epic, just do it all from start to end! You can find live recordings from the concert. 😁🙋🏼♀️ Arjen writes rock opera’s and then invites musicians from all over the world he admires to join his project.
I'm late to your party, sorry for that. Lovely to see your reaction. Arjen ( the tall hippy) is one of the worlds greatest music geniusses. He writes science fiction stories. Then puts them into music. Then, since he has no band, writes the world top of singers and musicians ( Steve Vai or Joe Satriani for instance) to come play and sing for him. And you know what? They are honoured to be asked and gladly participate. It is mindblowing. Last year I visited one of his rare concerts. The 01011001 live beneath the waves concert in Tilburg. Do you want to know how that was? Please, please do yourself a favour and watch the official live video from Arjen Lucassen himself, that he put out as a prelude to the outcoming DVD in may: this song: the day that the world breaks down, that has come out a couple of days ago, and "the sixth extinction" , also came out a couple of weeks ago. It will blow your mind. I was in that audience and afterwards I made a solemn promise to myself to never ever miss a concert from him any more. Beethoven is reincarnated!!! His name is Arjen.
FYI: The 11 guest singers are: [James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder), Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) , Simone Simons (Epica), Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Mike Mills (Toehider), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Floor Jansen (Nightwish)]
@@paisa20 we started on an epica track and had a technology failure! Alex in Greece and without internet for 2 weeks so hope to step up more videos then.
This was the ouverture to an opera... And there are only few live performances, but you may find some vids on YT! E.g. Everybody dies (like this one but shorter), Valley of the Queens (short but sooo good), And the druids turned to stone (great solo), The eye of Ra (full line up at the end of the show), Isis and Osiris (amazing performance) and there is more...
Oh boy guys have you hit a beautiful endless rabbit hole to go into. Highly recommended anything everything from Ayreon. Brilliant stuff. Keep going at it. You'll enjoy it 1000% for sure.
That was a great reaction to a great song from the great musical mind of Arjen. There are a couple of great sounding live shows with Ayreon so if you want to continue exploring this you can also get live versions of songs. I find that I often get extra enjoyment out of actually seeing the musicians play and sing. This is also a great place to find other musicians and bands you might want to explore since Ayreon has had so many guests over the years. I'm looking forward to following your continued journey.
@@TheThamesmen I'd say the best show to watch is Ayreon Universe Live as it's a general showcase of Ayreon (and Star One, which is a similar project). The other show plays the first Ayreon album from start to finish, with some extra ones after, so it's a bit more niche. As for songs I tend to constantly change which is my favorite for the moment but I'll throw a few out there. Everybody Dies (in the same story as this one and a popular request in general) Amazing Flight in Space (to see Arjen on stage both playing and singing, and to get a lot of instrumental parts) Intergalactic Space Crusaders (just a very fun song about the old British sci-fi show Blake's 7) Just a few chosen arbitrarily since I think pretty much any song on the show is worth watching.
Hey guys 🤘😁 Floor is Arjen's secret weapon. He discovered her at the age of 16 and she is very grateful to him for that. That's why she can be seen very often and is always the highlight. 🤘 "Everybody Dies" by Ayreon. That would be the next step. Because it's live and really fun to watch and listen to.
Watch Ayeron Universe Live: Top Vocalists (Floor, Marco Hietala from nightwish and many others). Best tracks: Valley of the Queen , Age of Shadows, River of Time, Everybody Dies, Intergalactic Space Crusaders.
And not to forget Blind Guardian with „The Bard‘s Song & Valhalla“ from Wacken 2016. when you pass Wacken grounds and listen carefully, you can hear them still singing 😎🤘
Ayreon is one of the many musical projects of Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen. All Ayreon albums are concept albums and he gets top-notch vocalists from all over the world to sing the parts of the various characters. Some of his other projects include Star One, Guilt Machine, Ambeon, and the Gentle Storm.
Hello George, Born in Salisbury and lived in England all my life but Mum and Dad were Welsh and from a town called Morriston just outside Swansea- where nearly all my other relatives live! Somehow I work out as 6/8th welsh, 1/8th English and 1/8th Belgian - a right mongrel! Cymru am byth!
It is so refreshing to see a huge collaboration of so many talented musicians & 11 great singers. So cool. Watch the live songs from this album too like Everybody Dies. So great!
It's like Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and Rick Wakeman had a Dutch lovechild! This was fantastic, made me happier than when I put my Alex mask on my George pillow! Music was great, video was great, and gave wonderful insight into the artist, even the reaction was top notch! More please!
Such a fun comment! I also agree with you. It made me wonder.... Wayne, Wakeman & Lucassen would be a nice little supergroup. :-) (Arjen Lucassen is the name of that "tall hippie dude" who writes these songs.) Emerson, Lake & Palmer is now just "Palmer" so it would be nice to have something like that again.
I will add a couple more songs from the live show to the list, “Day 16: Loser”, with Michael Mills doing the main vocals, but more notably is an insane Hammond Organ solo from Joost van den Broek, such an amazing musician. Another is “Star of Sirrah” featuring the dulcitones of Maggy Luyten, what a voice , and an excellent guitar solo from Marcel Coenen. If you’d like to learn the names of all of the musicians they are all introduced in “The Two Gates”, it is a bit long, but it is fun. Plus, I will second “Everybody Dies” and “Intergalactic Space Crusaders”, both of them are wonderful :) To get an idea of the number of people involved in the production, “The Eye of Ra” is a must watch and a really epic performance.
Day 16: Loser is one of my favorites from the show. It's a fun song, with some theatrics, and a didgeridoo, no less! And yeah, an amazing Hammond solo.
Ayreon is just fantastic as is Arjen the creator. There is more of all of the vocalists on the album and he has other amazing vocalists on other albums. Live 'Ayreon Universe' is definitely worth watching. The Ayreon Project is one great story. Do more please.
I spotted Aryeon after watching Nightwish reactors heading in that direction. Arjen is a magician, pure and simple. So much more to find down that rabbit hole. Just from this video I have got into Blind Guardian (Hansi Kürsch) and paid more attention to the works of the other artists. Great reaction again fellas 🤘
Thank you almighty Thamesmen! I enjoyed this a lot. It cheered up my day. The song is fantastic and It took me much too long to listen to Ayreon even though I had heard something about it. I found out about the song through a music reaction video a couple of years ago. What I really like about Ayreon is that the music is closer to 1970s progressive rock, hard rock and classic heavy metal than many other more modern prog. Well, maybe it's just that I like the melodies and the sounds Arjen Lucassen is using. There was a person called Chris Haughton in the comments saying that this reminded him about Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and Rick Wakeman. I agree. It was a great comment and it made me smile. I also smiled when you mentioned Kajagoogoo... :-) I have a soft spot for many of the new romantic and new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. So, I listened to "Kaja and the GooGoos" a lot when I was a kid. The singer left and apparently all the GooGoos as well because the band was renamed to "Kaja" later... :-) But all joking aside the bass and The Chapman Stick player Nick Beggs is great and have been a member of various prog rock bands and projects. Many of those new wave or new romantic bands actually had a fantastic bass player and a keyboardist with some imagination. I got some inspiration from those guys to start playing keyboards myself. It was just very hard to gain any knowledge about synthesizers in the early 1980s in Finland. I started with an organ and mostly played the drums. I specialized on synthesizers later. I don't have a Moog or a Prophet 5 but some vintage Yamahas and Novation synthesizers for example. Those can sound amazing... when you know what you're doing of course. :-) Well, I've written too much already. There was so much fun stuff in this video and I wanted to share my thoughts. Take care and have a wonderful day.
You wrote the perfect amount. Great to hear from you. Is it not a magic world where I can be sitting in an airport in Houston in dialogue with Finland and referencing one of our other subscribers in Australia. Music truly does bring the world together. Write any time and good luck with those keyboards!
Yes indeed...the title of the oh so rare live performances (only 3 at that time) of this realm of collected brilliance is Ayreon Universe! Time spent in that reality is well worth the effort...please avail yourselves of that opportunity! rl 🤘👹🤘
Floor has been close friends with Arjen for many years and is often brought in to perform on Aryeon songs. Joost, the keyboard player, is one of Floor's old After Forever bandmates, and he is currently working with her on some of her solo pieces. Another good song from this Aryeon album is "Everybody Dies"
A new rabbit hole! Ayreon is a project (not a band) by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. He creates sci-fi rock opera's. He has an amazing catalogue of talent from which he can choose. Each singer plays a character. Most of the albums take place in the Ayreon universe, and are linked in some way. Arjen is a bit of a hermit, that's why he only creates it, he doesn't play it live. Well, that's the basics. There will be other, much more informed people on the way, who can fill you in on the rest.
Hello Gents, Have just subscribed as i enjoy your reactions so much. As a 61 yr old I have found so much good music during lockdown having being chained to youtube with little else to do! As on older chap I always thought that good music pretty much disappeared after the 70's with a few honourable exceptions, and have been very pleased to see that good music still gets made even if we never get to hear it through commercial radio stations and that it is appreciated even by younger reactors too. Best wishes and keep on exploring!
Welcome and thanks for being here. You from Wales by any chance? ( George here, my godson called Rhodri and lives in Wales). Wonder if the internet is there is amazing music to discover and so many like minded people to share with. Good times!
Hello George, Born in Salisbury and lived in England all my life but Mum and Dad were Welsh and from a town called Morriston just outside Swansea- where nearly all my other relatives live! Somehow I work out as 6/8th welsh, 1/8th English and 1/8th Belgian - a right mongrel! Cymru am byth!
It seems you can email Arjen Lucassen the 2,03 meter tall Dutch genius and he will answer. Btw he makes Floor look small when she stands next to him...😂
Hello Alex and George! Pretty darn cool video, enjoyed it. Few other comments: Would totally purchase pillows with your faces on it. And to George-as a life long SF Giants fan, I will try to forgive your baseball cap, LOL. Have an awesome day everyone!
this is track one from a concept album :D there are several albums set directly in the same universe and then a couple of other albums that have loose ties...the live concert Ayreon's Universe is a brilliant sampler and then there are two live shows of complete albums. One is the Electric Castle and the other is The Theatre Equation which was the stage version of The Human Equation. Seeing these albums come to life on the stage is awesome :D
I must have listened to this piece of musical art over 100 times in the last few months. The first time i heard it i was blown away, and it immediately reminded me of the first time i ever heard Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" musical. Full concept albums are few and far between. WotW is one of my all time favourite albums, and this has now joined its ranks in my appreciation books.
Great reaction guys. Arjen is a total musical genius and the album 'The Source' is one of my favourite prog albums of all time... and I used to love 'Yes'!
Aside from Ayreon, I can think of two sources of concept albums. Unleash the Archers and Be'lakor. UTA is powermetal with bits of other metal genres. Be'lakor is melodic death metal. Those two & Ayreon are my current favorites. Jinjer close behind them. 😅🤷♀️ I finally looked up Toehider the other day and his song How Much For That Dragon Tooth was an instant favorite song, 😅💚.
All 11 insanely talented singers in order they appear in the video. James LaBrie from Dream Theater Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me Simone Simons from Epica Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon Tobias Sammet from Edguy and Avantasia Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider Russell Allen from Symphony X Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus Last but not least the Queen of Metal, and the Valkyrie Goddess, Floor Jansen from Nightwish, RE-VAMP and After Forever. Arjen Anthony Lucassen, (AYREON) is the Metal Beethoven. Tuomas Holopainen, (Nightwish) the Metal Mozart.
Discovered your channel a bit late, but I'll catch up on all your Nightwish and Floor related reaction vids. ;-) Arjan Lucassen (Ayreon) is a musical genius. All the Ayreon albums are stories. He's not a fan of being on stage in the spotlight, so what he did was very smart. Just let other people sell your creation!
Well done gentlemen, I can only echo the many choices presented to you in other posts but I believe this is a concept you both will enjoy - have fun checking out the Ayreon Universe!
This is just the first track of the album... the 11 singers perform on the whole album and continue the story. Each and every album Arjen puts out is a masterpiece, most of them follow a larger story. My personal favorite is "The Theory of Everything".
He said that his music could not be performed live. Then they did anyway ... and it's amazing! Try something like "Intergalactic Space Crusader", "Into the Black Hole" or "Ride the Comet" live.
@@Unotch Between the Buried and Me has a song with the singular form in the title (Extremophile Elite) but I don’t think it's in the actual lyrics. One of the bands I discovered through Ayreon, coincidentally.
He wites both story and the music. You should see this as an introductio to all the characters. The Source album tells the rest of the story ( Part of a bigger tale told on many more albums)
This is just the first song on the album. Each singer gets to shine on other songs as well. The guitarist, the bassplayer, and the keyboardist are all Arjen Anthony Lucassen. He can take his pick from the best singers in the world. He must have a very interesting phonebook
May I be the 100th?, 1,000th person to welcome you to the World of Aryeon and the mind and talent of Arjen Lucassen. Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish has been called the "Metal Mozart." But Arjen is right there in terms of pure genius. The music is all his arrangements. He is multi-instrumental having played the bass, guitar and organ + synthesizer. This track featured all 11 of the main singers on the album. I believe he has 25 plus albums out now. And he has been telling this story in prequel and sequel form for as long as I have known him. The name "Aryeon" first appeared in one of his earlier works. Was the name he gave to a blind 12th(?) century monk in his story that gets visions from the future of the pending AI apocalypse. And goes mad trying to make sense of what he knows. Brilliant job Thamesmen. First reaction I have seen of this track without a single pause. Usually we have to stop with every singer. Especially when we get to Michael Mills as TH-1. The 001001 guy. If you want some fun, check out his band, Toehider. He plays all the instruments and performs all the vocals. th-cam.com/video/5bqAwy7WSXk/w-d-xo.html
Arjen just gave an interview at Breaking absolutes (ep. 20) with Peter Orullian, where he elaborates on the process of making an album. It is really worthwile checking that out.
Speaking of "Universe", You will absolutely LOVE seeing/hearing selections from the live show "Ayreon: Universe" featuring Floor, Marko & a couple dozen other mindblowing singers, including Floor's sister Irene as a backup singer in the 3 woman chorus as well as both singing together in "The Eye Of Ra".
Concept albums are pretty common actually. Tommy Karevik sang in a band called Seventh Wonder previous to singing in his current band Kamelot. Seventh Wonder released an album called Mercy Falls which is a concept album. It’s brilliant!
He only performed once (2 nights), the line up of that was amazing. Marko was there, Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor and many more. The 010-guy (Michael Mills) sings the lead part in everybody dies, normally the second song that's being checken out. His latest concept album is even put in an animation story, but check out the songs Daniel's decent and this human equation with Simone Simons. By the way, I saw Kajagoogoo live over here in the Netherlands when I was 14 or so...😂
Oh man, too early in the morning for that "double dip recession" joke, heh, good stuff guys. Arjen is a freaking genius... and just brilliance all over his albums... big deep dive into Prog if you like this, the whole album is fantastic. New album is out later this month and has Floor on it as well as her sister Irene, along with other brilliant musicians.
The singers in order of appearance are: James LaBrie from Dream Theater Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me Simone Simons from th most epic Epica -> Try Epica with „Consign to Oblivion“ live from the Zenith Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon Tobias Sammet from Edguy and here mentioned Avantasia Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian -> Try Blind Guardian „The Bard‘s Song & Valhalla“ from Wacken 2016 (one of the most insane crowd interactions) Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider Russell Allen from Symphony X Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus and last but not least the incredible Valkyrie Goddess Floor Jansen from Nightwish
Excellent stuff as always gents! Great channel. On the question of anyone writing concept albums you should check out Coheed and Cambria- Claudio Sanchez has written books, albums and had graphic novels based around his 'Armory Wars' stories. Absolutely excellent stuff and worth investigating. Keep up the good work lads and looking forward to the next video ('Yours Is An Empty Hope' for the next Nightwish track maybe ;) )
Ayreon is all about concept albums. Most of them are all set in the same Ayreon Univese and follows the same overall story over billions of years. Then there are other free standing concept albums as well. The latest album was released last year and is called Transitus which is about Death and purgatory.
the 12 singers (one wasn't on this track) all sang throughout the entire album.... a must listen as this concept album 'the source' is an entire SF opera ;p
You two will reconsider all that you heard in your entire life because lately you open a pandora box with bands like nightwish and Ayreon. You're just in tip of the Iceberg in terms of music. Heavy music and prog music is absolutly mind-blowing in the last 30 years. Musicianship in heavy bands are top-notch in almost every band on the planet.
I think you might like a song from one of Arjens other projects called StarOne. A tribute to the old BBC sci-fi show Blakes7 called Intergalactic space crusaders. There is a great live performance of that on YT.
@@TheThamesmen Star One is another one of Arjen's projects. More of a supergroup, both albums have the same singers and mostly the same musicians. It's science fiction inspired, but unlike what he does as Ayreon, it's inspired by existing works: SF movies and TV shows. It features more traditional rock/metal instrumentation. Oh, and he has a third Star One album coming up.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen was interviewed by Peter Orullian today on his channel so if you want to know more about Arjen, here is your chance, straight from the horses mouth! And just before that he had a 1,5 hour conversation with Floor Jansen.
Beautifull music, I have another suggestion: The Gathering - Travel (TG25: Live at Doornroosje - unofficial video) You guys will be surprised. I am sure you will like this.
Huge fan of Ayreon for years, and I have to say that's a great reaction guys ! I feel that Russell Allen and Floor shine particularly on this one (obviously). Maybe you could try to react to Symphony X by the way, I've not seen a lot of reaction videos of that band but they're absolutely great.
TH-1 sings the binary code = Michael Mills - Toehider - Aussie!Aussie!Aussie! ( how do you hide toes? - kick A$$ really hard!) Ayreon "Valley of the Queens" (live), "Star One" & "Everybody Dies" - the latter live, with more Mills goodness!! Love your reaction! Stunned silence throughout! Awesome! Arjen is a giant in every way!.... concept album!! This is! Also try Queensryche "Operation:Mindcrime" !!!!
Yep, we thought you would like it 😅 Arjen is a genius - writes on ongoing stories and composes like very very few others are capable of!! And he works with the top of the top of musicians and singers from all over the world - as you just experienced. This is the introduction song to the Album The Source, where all the characters are introduced - and on the album, they all performs on different tracks - believe me, there are mind blowing duets on the album!!! I can see you have already been flooded with useful info - so just enjoy the ride with Ayreon - he/it will rock your foundation musically - Arjen is unique and same category as Tuomas from Nightwish, when it comes to composing and writing exiting lyrics.. (the binary says "trust th1")
This is the first I've seen of y'all so I'm not sure how y'all are with extreme metal, but Wintersun is a melodic death metal band that's done two concept albums, "Time I" (2012 - Time II we are still waiting for) and "The Forest Seasons" (2017). If you want to give them a look-see, check out the song "Time" performed live at Sonic Pump Studios.
@@TheThamesmen oh, I forgot to mention that Wintersun’s drummer is now the full-time Nightwish drummer, and their bassist is currently filling in with Nightwish since Marko left.
The whole of the Ayreon Universe concert is on YT on a playlist and honestly anything is good from it, you'll already have all the usual suggestions but if you have a couple hours the whole thing is worth watching. Abbey of Synn is one I like a lot live for some reason (based on Name of the Rose), River of Time is great (Marko and Hansi), plenty of Michael Mills - I fell into the Ayreon rabbit hole from YT reactions myself, so as much as I enjoy this one and Everybody Dies, I do hope to see more of the rest because it completely made me a fan.
@@TheThamesmen It's like Ghost Love Score, you really can't argue with it as a starter. I have liked your reactions and am interested to see more, whatever they are!
Unleash The Archers, with the amazing voice of Brittney Slayes also write concept albums, with amazing musicianship. Gloryhammer are great if you want great, fun songs in over-the-top-epic concept albums, and Angus McFife’s voice is as glorious as can be.
As you mentioned the concept album: It's still alive and kicking, especially in progressive rock and in metal environments. Rarely at the scale and quality that Ayreon is showcasing though, as his quarter of a century of experience in the field of writing, recording and making such creations has given him a level of expertise that is rather astounding outside of big label funded projects.
My favourite part of any reaction video to this song is when people get to the Mike Mills part. The guy is an absolute genius. My second favourite is when Floor shows up.
Intergalactic Space Crusaders is one of my fav from Ayreon. If you think Floor having only 8 lines is remarquable wait to see her and her sister in The Eye Of Ra. Let's not forget in this song Simone Simons, lead singer of Epica. I would highly recomand checking them out of it's not already done. Consign to oblivion live in paris, Design your universe from the retrospect concert ( they have a full orchetra on stage) or if you want to continue to build bridges Terra Sancta (Epica+Floor) are good starting points.
My favourite is the “prophet”, Nils K. Rue, amazing singer of (IMHO) the best metal prog band ever: Pagan’s Mind, with a great guitar player: Jörn Viggo Lofstad (did the Northward project with Floor). BTW Love your hilarious outro😄
Excellent reaction once again chaps - this one was new on me too so I can't help with any info. However, have just about got over the footie disappointment, hope you have too?! One question before I go - how highly do you rate the good old British bangers - I mean, are you putting a Cumberland above a tasty herby Lincolnshire? And what about Gloucester Old Spot? Not to mention the not so British now Wild 🐗. In other words, I need to understand your ranking system as it's clarity is a little fuzzy right now?! 😆 🤣 Can't wait for more Nightwish!
Surprised the ranking system Is confusing. Seems very sensible to us! Just know if it is a chicken sausage that is bad as they are filthy. Don’t mention the footie. Too soon
@@TheThamesmen Got to agree re. the chicken sausage - my Wife's Colombian and they love them over there - wouldn't touch them with a barge pole 😜 I'm sure I'll get used to your system at some point - but do me a favour, put the Lincolnshire somewhere near the top where it deserves?! Not from Lincolnshire you understand, pure Battersea born and bred - just love the sausages 😋
Check out Ayreon live, Everybody Dies, International Space Invaders, or Loser for a start! If you love the Hammond Organ then you’ll go Ga Ga at the live show! Rock On Stay Safe!🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Welcome in the amazing world of Arjen A. Lucassen Aka Ayreon Universe (Ayreon, Ambeon, Star one, Guilt Machine, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion).... Enjoy this rabbit hole….!!!!!
Arjen who is the creator of Ayreon is one of the few people who looks down on Floor at 6ft 8ins. There are a few Ayreon albums several interconnected. The live concerts are amazing and I'm sure there will be many suggestions but personally I love Star One 2003 live which features Floor and her sister Irene as the only female singers plus some great male singers.
Sounds excellent. Hope to check it out
@@TheThamesmen A nice thing to know is the fact that Arjen personally stood up after a reaction video was blocked ( more than once) .
He made them ( YT) unblock the video himself, no management, lawyers or other parasites were involved.
@@markschattefor6997 now that is class
i love how every single reactor that listens to this for the first time, all light up with joy and excitement when Floor appears 😊
For us as we had no idea she would be there and so was a good surprise. That said all other musicians were equal and gave equally surprising performances. It was magic!
The cool thing about Ayreon is that all the albums sort of tie into the same story. 'The Source' (the album which this song is from) is technically the start of the story. It's about a race of humans that give control of their planet to a computer (the 'frame) to help solve an environmental catastrophe, but the computer determines that the best course of action is to eliminate the humans. Ten humans and the robot TH-1 escape the planet on the only interstellar ship they have (the 'Starblade') along with the ships crew and head to an ocean planet. The chemist creates a drug ('The Source', aka 'Liquid Eternity') that allows them to evolve into an 'aquatic race'. The drug also makes them basically immortal and allows them to communicate telepathically. The album ends with the survivors (ten plus the ships small crew) living on their new planet ('Planet Y') in relative peace, but in the final track we learn that TH-1 is becoming a new version of the 'frame deep in the ocean. The next album in the timeline, 01011001 ('Y') tells us how machines have now taken over this new planet, and the humans have basically merged with the machines are losing their emotions and sense of time. They now call themselves 'The Forever', since they are essentially ageless drones at this point. We also learn about how they seeded a comet with DNA and sent it to Earth, where it creates human life on our planet. The Forever believe they can live through us telepathically and that they may regain their emotions by doing so. Some of The Forever believe that we need to advance more quickly, and use their telepathy to give us medicine/technology, but this results in us advancing quicker than our morality can cope with. Eventually The Forever realize humanity is doomed and has to decide if they will give them the technology to reverse their past mistakes. Somewhere in the timeline sits the album 'The Electric Castle'From a summary by Arjen: "At the end of the journey those that successfully dealt with their personal demons find out that the voice belongs to an alien named 'Forever of the Stars', a member of an alien race living in a distant galaxy. These aliens created planet Earth and its people as an experiment so they could study, and hopefully one day experience emotions, as they themselves lost feelings eons ago." That's only three albums (less than half!) but I believe those three give you a solid foundation for how the story plays out. Also, I highly recommend any of the Electric Castle Live videos; They are just so fun to watch, plus John de Lancie ('Q' from Star Trek) plays the 'Forever of the Stars' character, which Arjen said he originally based on Q.
Wow. Thanks for taking time to write this. Brilliant. What an imagination. George here, I read epic space sci-fi books and this completely resonates with the best of them
@@TheThamesmen Arjen even got Thijs van Leer to join in 'Electric Castle Live'. I hope you've heard of Thijs van Leer? He and Jan Akkerman were the prominent members of Focus. Their greatest hit song Hocus Pocus was originally a 7m song ( th-cam.com/video/jhlmMBKAx8k/w-d-xo.html ). When they got invited to an American TV-show and got told they had to shorten the song to about half it's length, they refused and instead doubled the beat ( th-cam.com/video/g4ouPGGLI6Q/w-d-xo.html ). As they kept experimenting, there is another version with a jazzy (improvized?) flute intro ( th-cam.com/video/NITqAFhjKVU/w-d-xo.html ).
@@arturama8581 no way. We did that Focus track early on when we started this channel. Was amazing! Great how it is all connected
The track "Everybody Dies" on the same album is lots of fun too.
I too just listened and shook my head @ Michael Mills binary vocal solo. I've watched many reactors on this one and most really freak out when Floor come in. More so than for any other singer- all which are great.
Everybody dies the live version pls! Awesome performance!
@@brendawolf6557 think that is best next track in this genre?
Michael Mills was astounding. loved his contributions
@@TheThamesmen It's the next track that came to mind. Actually, all that I've heard from Ayreon is exceptional.
@@TheThamesmen i totally agee with Milton…. Michael Mills at his best…. So i really think this is the next best track in this awesome journey 😁😁
Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon's albums are dubbed "rock operas" because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.
Each Ayreon album tells a different story, but all, with the exceptions of Actual Fantasy, The Theory of Everything, and Transitus, take place in the same fictional, science fiction universe; additionally, Lucassen's solo album Lost in the New Real is also set in the Ayreon universe. Ayreon's music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music mixed with instruments more native to folk and classical music. Lucassen writes the music and the lyrics, sings and plays most of the instruments on all of the Ayreon albums, alongside many guest musicians. His most regular collaborator is drummer Ed Warby.
In this Video
The singers in order of appearance are:
James LaBrie from Dream Theater
Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder
Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me
Simone Simons from th most epic Epica
Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon
Tobias Sammet from Edguy and here mentioned Avantasia
Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian
Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider
Russell Allen from Symphony X
Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus
and last but not least the incredible Valkyrie Goddess Floor Jansen from Nightwish
PS: Best Of Ayreon Live Concert List : th-cam.com/play/PLJGn3wi7b7b606GfoKAdOgm6rtX9OliRc.html.... this whole concert is unbelievable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nightwish Shadow Unit/Ayreonaut 💪😎🤘
What fantastic information. Almost too much to take in and comprehend. This is going to take some time to explore I feel.
@@TheThamesmen No problem, take your time 😉, and don't forget Nightwish 🧐
@@TimoArula NW track scheduled for Saturday! Dont worry we are not forgetting and have many more tracks to get too there as well. Just need more time and Alex to come back from Greece!
Arjen, musical genius, yes he does phenomenal concept albums and brings amazing musicians/singers on board, they’re just a privilege to listen to.
never seen anything like it!
Here is a list of the composer and singers in order of appearance:
Arjen Lucassen - Composer - Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon.
James Labrie - Lead singer for Dream Theatre.
Tommy Karevik - Lead singer of Kamelot and Seventh Wonder.
Tommy Rodgers - Lead singer of Between the Buried and Me.
Simone Simmons - Lead singer of Epica.
Nils K. Rue - Lead singer of Pagan's Mind and also worked with Eidolon.
Tobias Sammet - Lead singer of Edguy & Avantasia.
Hansi Kürsch - Lead singer of Blind Guardian and Demons & Wizards.
Mike Mills - Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and main songwriter for Toehider.
Russell Allen - Lead singer of Symphony X and Allen/Lande.
Michael Eriksen - Lead singer of Circus Maximus.
Floor Jansen - Lead singer of After Forever, ReVamp & now Nightwish.
Next I would suggest reacting to the performances at Ayreon Universe concert, especially the following Intergalactic Space Crusaders, River of Time, Merlin's Will, Valley of the Queens, Ride the Comet, Star of Sirrah, And the Druids Turn to Stone, Age of Shadows & Everybody Dies.
Ayreon is not a band, it's a rock opera project of Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Arjen has also a space metal Supergroup called Star One with Sir Russel Allen, Floor Jansen, Dan Swano and Damian Wilson
whatever it is it is amazing!
@@TheThamesmen Arjen is a genius!
Ayreon!!! One of the best Progressive Rock Music Projects you can imagine. Always nuts!!! Arjen (guess? Dutch!) is the only one who is able to get all these fantastic vocalists together - also live on stage ;D ... AND you got a sneak preview to Simone Simons from Epica, too ;) >>> "Rivers" *lol*.
Flipping amazing track. Completely gobsmacked. Loved every second of it
„Rivers“ is great.
My suggestion for a first Epica stop is „Consign to Oblivion“ live from the Zenith
@@music2seeconcertphotograph457 Why? Consign is the harshest song and 80% growling. It's a nice one if you know EPICA well, but it is not representive for Simone's vocals or the epicness of their music. And it is from 2004. Epica started to be epic in 2009 with Design your Universe 😊.
@@bobsuisse2 good to know, thank you
@@music2seeconcertphotograph457 Epica Sancta Terra live retrospect is also a good treat to watch th-cam.com/video/cx22Yuj2nzg/w-d-xo.html
Told you you would love this!
The whole ‘Universe’ concert is epic, just do it all from start to end!
You can find live recordings from the concert. 😁🙋🏼♀️
Arjen writes rock opera’s and then invites musicians from all over the world he admires to join his project.
I'm late to your party, sorry for that. Lovely to see your reaction. Arjen ( the tall hippy) is one of the worlds greatest music geniusses. He writes science fiction stories. Then puts them into music. Then, since he has no band, writes the world top of singers and musicians ( Steve Vai or Joe Satriani for instance) to come play and sing for him. And you know what? They are honoured to be asked and gladly participate. It is mindblowing. Last year I visited one of his rare concerts. The 01011001 live beneath the waves concert in Tilburg. Do you want to know how that was? Please, please do yourself a favour and watch the official live video from Arjen Lucassen himself, that he put out as a prelude to the outcoming DVD in may: this song: the day that the world breaks down, that has come out a couple of days ago, and "the sixth extinction" , also came out a couple of weeks ago. It will blow your mind. I was in that audience and afterwards I made a solemn promise to myself to never ever miss a concert from him any more. Beethoven is reincarnated!!! His name is Arjen.
That was Awesome, I was blind going into this It was totally Awesome Great Musicians and artists.
Crazy eh!! Crazy talented
As were we. How much fun is that!
FYI: The 11 guest singers are: [James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder), Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) , Simone Simons (Epica), Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Mike Mills (Toehider), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Floor Jansen (Nightwish)]
In the video I said 9 at some point but I had had my mind blown by then!
We are waiting for Epica in this channel too
@@paisa20 we started on an epica track and had a technology failure! Alex in Greece and without internet for 2 weeks so hope to step up more videos then.
YEAH 🔥🔥🔥 AYREON. My musical happy place. The whole Ayreon Universe concert is gold !!! Can't miss.
It really is a whole universe. Have a fab weekend and thanks for being here.
This was the ouverture to an opera... And there are only few live performances, but you may find some vids on YT! E.g. Everybody dies (like this one but shorter), Valley of the Queens (short but sooo good), And the druids turned to stone (great solo), The eye of Ra (full line up at the end of the show), Isis and Osiris (amazing performance) and there is more...
Oh boy guys have you hit a beautiful endless rabbit hole to go into. Highly recommended anything everything from Ayreon. Brilliant stuff. Keep going at it. You'll enjoy it 1000% for sure.
We will definitely explore more!
That was a great reaction to a great song from the great musical mind of Arjen. There are a couple of great sounding live shows with Ayreon so if you want to continue exploring this you can also get live versions of songs. I find that I often get extra enjoyment out of actually seeing the musicians play and sing. This is also a great place to find other musicians and bands you might want to explore since Ayreon has had so many guests over the years.
I'm looking forward to following your continued journey.
Can you recommend any specific shows, songs or links as this is all new to us? Would welcome a push in right direction!
@@TheThamesmen I'd say the best show to watch is Ayreon Universe Live as it's a general showcase of Ayreon (and Star One, which is a similar project). The other show plays the first Ayreon album from start to finish, with some extra ones after, so it's a bit more niche. As for songs I tend to constantly change which is my favorite for the moment but I'll throw a few out there.
Everybody Dies (in the same story as this one and a popular request in general)
Amazing Flight in Space (to see Arjen on stage both playing and singing, and to get a lot of instrumental parts)
Intergalactic Space Crusaders (just a very fun song about the old British sci-fi show Blake's 7)
Just a few chosen arbitrarily since I think pretty much any song on the show is worth watching.
@@Evil_Peter fantastic. Cant wait to get to these when Alex back from Greece
JC Superstar! Yes! I’m still messed up from watching that movie as a young kid!
I loved it!
Hey guys 🤘😁
Floor is Arjen's secret weapon. He discovered her at the age of 16 and she is very grateful to him for that. That's why she can be seen very often and is always the highlight. 🤘
"Everybody Dies" by Ayreon.
That would be the next step. Because it's live and really fun to watch and listen to.
Watch Ayeron Universe Live: Top Vocalists (Floor, Marco Hietala from nightwish and many others). Best tracks: Valley of the Queen , Age of Shadows, River of Time, Everybody Dies, Intergalactic Space Crusaders.
Brilliant. Thanks for help. We need it. Once Alex back in USA will get on this I feel.
"Everybody Dies" on the same album is amazing - (hint) Floor
High on the list as everyone is saying this!
Hi guys. Another great reaction to another artist with a huge rabbit hole! That can lead onto Epica, Kamelot etc. Stay safe 🤘✌
It was ridiculously good! Think we may need some pointers on what else he has done and best route!
And not to forget Blind Guardian with „The Bard‘s Song & Valhalla“ from Wacken 2016.
when you pass Wacken grounds and listen carefully, you can hear them still singing 😎🤘
Ayreon is one of the many musical projects of Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen. All Ayreon albums are concept albums and he gets top-notch vocalists from all over the world to sing the parts of the various characters. Some of his other projects include Star One, Guilt Machine, Ambeon, and the Gentle Storm.
So good to find ( or be directed to!)
Hello George, Born in Salisbury and lived in England all my life but Mum and Dad were Welsh and from a town called Morriston just outside Swansea- where nearly all my other relatives live! Somehow I work out as 6/8th welsh, 1/8th English and 1/8th Belgian - a right mongrel!
Cymru am byth!
It is so refreshing to see a huge collaboration of so many talented musicians & 11 great singers. So cool.
Watch the live songs from this album too like Everybody Dies.
So great!
Over the years he has featured over 70 singers !
It's like Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and Rick Wakeman had a Dutch lovechild! This was fantastic, made me happier than when I put my Alex mask on my George pillow! Music was great, video was great, and gave wonderful insight into the artist, even the reaction was top notch! More please!
Wasn’t it amazing and surprising. So good to discover music like this. Thanks for promoting the Merchandise. Better go make it now!
Such a fun comment! I also agree with you.
It made me wonder.... Wayne, Wakeman & Lucassen would be a nice little supergroup. :-) (Arjen Lucassen is the name of that "tall hippie dude" who writes these songs.) Emerson, Lake & Palmer is now just "Palmer" so it would be nice to have something like that again.
Both Keith Emmerson & Rick Wakeman have appeared on Ayreon albums
@@richardwest6358 That's so cool! I need to listen to Ayreon a whole lot more.
Arjen is truly fantastc and soo humble.
Floor for a few seconds still shines .
The ayreon concert DVD is brilliant .
Hope to see more soon. was amazing
I will add a couple more songs from the live show to the list, “Day 16: Loser”, with Michael Mills doing the main vocals, but more notably is an insane Hammond Organ solo from Joost van den Broek, such an amazing musician. Another is “Star of Sirrah” featuring the dulcitones of Maggy Luyten, what a voice , and an excellent guitar solo from Marcel Coenen. If you’d like to learn the names of all of the musicians they are all introduced in “The Two Gates”, it is a bit long, but it is fun. Plus, I will second “Everybody Dies” and “Intergalactic Space Crusaders”, both of them are wonderful :) To get an idea of the number of people involved in the production, “The Eye of Ra” is a must watch and a really epic performance.
You mentioned Hammond Organ solo. I am in!
Thanks for great guidance
Day 16: Loser is one of my favorites from the show. It's a fun song, with some theatrics, and a didgeridoo, no less! And yeah, an amazing Hammond solo.
@@SingWhileYouMay sound perfect!
@@TheThamesmen My pleasure😀
@@SingWhileYouMay Agreed, it’s a wonderful song 😀
Ayreon is just fantastic as is Arjen the creator. There is more of all of the vocalists on the album and he has other amazing vocalists on other albums. Live 'Ayreon Universe' is definitely worth watching. The Ayreon Project is one great story.
Do more please.
I spotted Aryeon after watching Nightwish reactors heading in that direction. Arjen is a magician, pure and simple. So much more to find down that rabbit hole. Just from this video I have got into Blind Guardian (Hansi Kürsch) and paid more attention to the works of the other artists.
Great reaction again fellas 🤘
Thank you. So many ways to go now!
Thank you almighty Thamesmen! I enjoyed this a lot. It cheered up my day. The song is fantastic and It took me much too long to listen to Ayreon even though I had heard something about it. I found out about the song through a music reaction video a couple of years ago. What I really like about Ayreon is that the music is closer to 1970s progressive rock, hard rock and classic heavy metal than many other more modern prog. Well, maybe it's just that I like the melodies and the sounds Arjen Lucassen is using. There was a person called Chris Haughton in the comments saying that this reminded him about Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and Rick Wakeman. I agree. It was a great comment and it made me smile.
I also smiled when you mentioned Kajagoogoo... :-) I have a soft spot for many of the new romantic and new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. So, I listened to "Kaja and the GooGoos" a lot when I was a kid. The singer left and apparently all the GooGoos as well because the band was renamed to "Kaja" later... :-) But all joking aside the bass and The Chapman Stick player Nick Beggs is great and have been a member of various prog rock bands and projects. Many of those new wave or new romantic bands actually had a fantastic bass player and a keyboardist with some imagination. I got some inspiration from those guys to start playing keyboards myself. It was just very hard to gain any knowledge about synthesizers in the early 1980s in Finland. I started with an organ and mostly played the drums. I specialized on synthesizers later. I don't have a Moog or a Prophet 5 but some vintage Yamahas and Novation synthesizers for example. Those can sound amazing... when you know what you're doing of course. :-)
Well, I've written too much already. There was so much fun stuff in this video and I wanted to share my thoughts. Take care and have a wonderful day.
You wrote the perfect amount. Great to hear from you. Is it not a magic world where I can be sitting in an airport in Houston in dialogue with Finland and referencing one of our other subscribers in Australia. Music truly does bring the world together. Write any time and good luck with those keyboards!
@@TheThamesmen Thanks for such a great reply! The Thamesmen connecting people... from Finland to Australia and beyond. 👍🎶🎹
You guys are awesome! Ayreon brought us together! Subscribed
Awesome. Thanks for your support. Really appreciate it
Yes indeed...the title of the oh so rare live performances (only 3 at that time) of this realm of collected brilliance is Ayreon Universe!
Time spent in that reality is well worth the effort...please avail yourselves of that opportunity!
rl
🤘👹🤘
Floor has been close friends with Arjen for many years and is often brought in to perform on Aryeon songs. Joost, the keyboard player, is one of Floor's old After Forever bandmates, and he is currently working with her on some of her solo pieces. Another good song from this Aryeon album is "Everybody Dies"
Hope to cover that soon. Thanks for info and tip
A new rabbit hole! Ayreon is a project (not a band) by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. He creates sci-fi rock opera's. He has an amazing catalogue of talent from which he can choose. Each singer plays a character. Most of the albums take place in the Ayreon universe, and are linked in some way. Arjen is a bit of a hermit, that's why he only creates it, he doesn't play it live.
Well, that's the basics. There will be other, much more informed people on the way, who can fill you in on the rest.
One hell of a hermit! Definitely a whole new universe for us! So good
Welcome in the world of Ayreon. Arjen made so many fantastic albums. And really from the artwork to the music, everything is amazing.
So look forward to hearing more
Hello Gents, Have just subscribed as i enjoy your reactions so much. As a 61 yr old I have found so much good music during lockdown having being chained to youtube with little else to do! As on older chap I always thought that good music pretty much disappeared after the 70's
with a few honourable exceptions, and have been very pleased to see that good music still gets made even if we never get to hear it through commercial radio stations and that it is appreciated even by younger reactors too. Best wishes and keep on exploring!
Welcome and thanks for being here. You from Wales by any chance? ( George here, my godson called Rhodri and lives in Wales).
Wonder if the internet is there is amazing music to discover and so many like minded people to share with. Good times!
Hello George, Born in Salisbury and lived in England all my life but Mum and Dad were Welsh and from a town called Morriston just outside Swansea- where nearly all my other relatives live! Somehow I work out as 6/8th welsh, 1/8th English and 1/8th Belgian - a right mongrel!
Cymru am byth!
@@rhodriwatts7525 we won’t hold it against you😉
It seems you can email Arjen Lucassen the 2,03 meter tall Dutch genius and he will answer. Btw he makes Floor look small when she stands next to him...😂
What would you say but "Thank you, you are amazing!"
Hello Alex and George! Pretty darn cool video, enjoyed it. Few other comments: Would totally purchase pillows with your faces on it. And to George-as a life long SF Giants fan, I will try to forgive your baseball cap, LOL. Have an awesome day everyone!
Being a SF giants fan explains the willingness to have a pillow with us on! That said Alex is in SF and an occasional giants fan!
@@TheThamesmen LOL, great response!
this is track one from a concept album :D there are several albums set directly in the same universe and then a couple of other albums that have loose ties...the live concert Ayreon's Universe is a brilliant sampler and then there are two live shows of complete albums. One is the Electric Castle and the other is The Theatre Equation which was the stage version of The Human Equation. Seeing these albums come to life on the stage is awesome :D
I must have listened to this piece of musical art over 100 times in the last few months. The first time i heard it i was blown away, and it immediately reminded me of the first time i ever heard Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" musical. Full concept albums are few and far between. WotW is one of my all time favourite albums, and this has now joined its ranks in my appreciation books.
Great reaction guys. Arjen is a total musical genius and the album 'The Source' is one of my favourite prog albums of all time... and I used to love 'Yes'!
He is astounding. So glad we were directed to it. Just brilliant
Aside from Ayreon, I can think of two sources of concept albums. Unleash the Archers and Be'lakor. UTA is powermetal with bits of other metal genres. Be'lakor is melodic death metal. Those two & Ayreon are my current favorites. Jinjer close behind them. 😅🤷♀️
I finally looked up Toehider the other day and his song How Much For That Dragon Tooth was an instant favorite song, 😅💚.
another great reaction. Thank you !
Loved that track. Amazing
All 11 insanely talented singers in order they appear in the video.
James LaBrie from Dream Theater
Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder
Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me
Simone Simons from Epica
Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon
Tobias Sammet from Edguy and Avantasia
Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian
Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider
Russell Allen from Symphony X
Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus
Last but not least the Queen of Metal, and the Valkyrie Goddess, Floor Jansen from Nightwish, RE-VAMP and After Forever.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen, (AYREON) is the Metal Beethoven. Tuomas Holopainen, (Nightwish) the Metal Mozart.
Discovered your channel a bit late, but I'll catch up on all your Nightwish and Floor related reaction vids. ;-) Arjan Lucassen (Ayreon) is a musical genius. All the Ayreon albums are stories. He's not a fan of being on stage in the spotlight, so what he did was very smart. Just let other people sell your creation!
Welcome
Well done gentlemen, I can only echo the many choices presented to you in other posts but I believe this is a concept you both will enjoy - have fun checking out the Ayreon Universe!
All amazing so far!
One track you can't afford to mis 'And The Druids Turned To Stone', seriously good vocals on that one.
This is just the first track of the album... the 11 singers perform on the whole album and continue the story. Each and every album Arjen puts out is a masterpiece, most of them follow a larger story. My personal favorite is "The Theory of Everything".
Just subscribed, mostly because of Ayreon and Nightwish. But that Ian Gillan shout-out was what actually made me click.
Nice and welcome! Love a bit of Ian Gillan
He said that his music could not be performed live. Then they did anyway ... and it's amazing!
Try something like "Intergalactic Space Crusader", "Into the Black Hole" or "Ride the Comet" live.
Three titles that clearly show Arjen's love for science fiction. 👽 All great songs too. I especially love Marcela and Lisette on Ride the Comet.
@@SingWhileYouMay One just has to love "Ride the Comet" simply for most likely being the only song in the world to contain the word "Extremophiles" ^^
@@Unotch Between the Buried and Me has a song with the singular form in the title (Extremophile Elite) but I don’t think it's in the actual lyrics. One of the bands I discovered through Ayreon, coincidentally.
He wites both story and the music. You should see this as an introductio to all the characters. The Source album tells the rest of the story ( Part of a bigger tale told on many more albums)
don't be at all surprised if Arjen pops in to comment .. he does that regularly to reactions .. seems to be a genuinely nice guy
Now that would be cool. Loved his commentary in that video. Added to the appeal and introduction to something we knew nothing about.
This is just the first song on the album. Each singer gets to shine on other songs as well. The guitarist, the bassplayer, and the keyboardist are all Arjen Anthony Lucassen. He can take his pick from the best singers in the world. He must have a very interesting phonebook
Thats the truth!
May I be the 100th?, 1,000th person to welcome you to the World of Aryeon and the mind and talent of Arjen Lucassen. Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish has been called the "Metal Mozart." But Arjen is right there in terms of pure genius. The music is all his arrangements. He is multi-instrumental having played the bass, guitar and organ + synthesizer.
This track featured all 11 of the main singers on the album. I believe he has 25 plus albums out now. And he has been telling this story in prequel and sequel form for as long as I have known him. The name "Aryeon" first appeared in one of his earlier works. Was the name he gave to a blind 12th(?) century monk in his story that gets visions from the future of the pending AI apocalypse. And goes mad trying to make sense of what he knows.
Brilliant job Thamesmen. First reaction I have seen of this track without a single pause. Usually we have to stop with every singer. Especially when we get to Michael Mills as TH-1. The 001001 guy. If you want some fun, check out his band, Toehider. He plays all the instruments and performs all the vocals. th-cam.com/video/5bqAwy7WSXk/w-d-xo.html
Awesome info as ever. Thank you.
We don’t want to stop tracks. Seems so crazy!
It was pure genius. Just amazing
Arjen just gave an interview at Breaking absolutes (ep. 20) with Peter Orullian, where he elaborates on the process of making an album. It is really worthwile checking that out.
Speaking of "Universe", You will absolutely LOVE seeing/hearing selections from the live show "Ayreon: Universe" featuring Floor, Marko & a couple dozen other mindblowing singers, including Floor's sister Irene as a backup singer in the 3 woman chorus as well as both singing together in "The Eye Of Ra".
Sounds brilliant. Will have to check it out
You have a lot to catching up to do we enjoy Ayreon projects for 3 decades.
bugger, we will never catch up!
Concept albums are pretty common actually. Tommy Karevik sang in a band called Seventh Wonder previous to singing in his current band Kamelot. Seventh Wonder released an album called Mercy Falls which is a concept album. It’s brilliant!
I will check those out - Thanks
He only performed once (2 nights), the line up of that was amazing. Marko was there, Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor and many more. The 010-guy (Michael Mills) sings the lead part in everybody dies, normally the second song that's being checken out.
His latest concept album is even put in an animation story, but check out the songs Daniel's decent and this human equation with Simone Simons.
By the way, I saw Kajagoogoo live over here in the Netherlands when I was 14 or so...😂
Oh man, too early in the morning for that "double dip recession" joke, heh, good stuff guys. Arjen is a freaking genius... and just brilliance all over his albums... big deep dive into Prog if you like this, the whole album is fantastic. New album is out later this month and has Floor on it as well as her sister Irene, along with other brilliant musicians.
Cool!!!
The singers in order of appearance are:
James LaBrie from Dream Theater
Tommy Karevik from Kamelot, Seventh Wonder
Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me
Simone Simons from th most epic Epica
-> Try Epica with „Consign to Oblivion“ live from the Zenith
Nils K. Rue from Pagan's Mind and Eidolon
Tobias Sammet from Edguy and here mentioned Avantasia
Hansi Kürsch the „Bard from Walhalla“ from Blind Guardian
-> Try Blind Guardian „The Bard‘s Song & Valhalla“ from Wacken 2016 (one of the most insane crowd interactions)
Mike Mills playing a computer and singing binary from Toehider
Russell Allen from Symphony X
Michael Eriksen from Circus Maximus
and last but not least the incredible Valkyrie Goddess Floor Jansen from Nightwish
Excellent stuff as always gents! Great channel. On the question of anyone writing concept albums you should check out Coheed and Cambria- Claudio Sanchez has written books, albums and had graphic novels based around his 'Armory Wars' stories. Absolutely excellent stuff and worth investigating. Keep up the good work lads and looking forward to the next video ('Yours Is An Empty Hope' for the next Nightwish track maybe ;) )
Thanks for kind words and advice. So much good stuff out there.
Next NW track on Saturday and we take our first look at the original Singer.
Ayreon is all about concept albums. Most of them are all set in the same Ayreon Univese and follows the same overall story over billions of years. Then there are other free standing concept albums as well. The latest album was released last year and is called Transitus which is about Death and purgatory.
Fantastic vision and imagination. What a trip
And narrated by Tom Baker (Dr.Who)
the 12 singers (one wasn't on this track) all sang throughout the entire album.... a must listen as this concept album 'the source' is an entire SF opera ;p
We will do more for sure
lol, loved this reaction. But...wait until you experience "Everybody dies"; shorter but equally mind blowing.
cant wait!
You two will reconsider all that you heard in your entire life because lately you open a pandora box with bands like nightwish and Ayreon. You're just in tip of the Iceberg in terms of music. Heavy music and prog music is absolutly mind-blowing in the last 30 years. Musicianship in heavy bands are top-notch in almost every band on the planet.
One hell of an adventure!
I think you might like a song from one of Arjens other projects called StarOne. A tribute to the old BBC sci-fi show Blakes7 called Intergalactic space crusaders. There is a great live performance of that on YT.
Really? Used to love Blake’s 7!
@@TheThamesmen Star One is another one of Arjen's projects. More of a supergroup, both albums have the same singers and mostly the same musicians. It's science fiction inspired, but unlike what he does as Ayreon, it's inspired by existing works: SF movies and TV shows. It features more traditional rock/metal instrumentation.
Oh, and he has a third Star One album coming up.
@@SingWhileYouMay wow. Seriously prolific! George speaking here. Love Sci-fi fiction. Bigger the universe and imagination the better
Arjen Anthony Lucassen was interviewed by Peter Orullian today on his channel so if you want to know more about Arjen, here is your chance, straight from the horses mouth!
And just before that he had a 1,5 hour conversation with Floor Jansen.
And a 7 hour interview with Russell Allen a while ago. Yes, SEVEN, not a typo. I'm 3 hours in, I'm taking it in in parts, obviously.
A brilliant interviewer. Absolutely recommend the Floor edition
Beautifull music, I have another suggestion: The Gathering - Travel (TG25: Live at Doornroosje - unofficial video)
You guys will be surprised. I am sure you will like this.
Thanks for tip. Will check it out
And there you will meet Anneke who inspired Floor to take the plunge all those years ago
Huge fan of Ayreon for years, and I have to say that's a great reaction guys ! I feel that Russell Allen and Floor shine particularly on this one (obviously). Maybe you could try to react to Symphony X by the way, I've not seen a lot of reaction videos of that band but they're absolutely great.
Good to know and thank you
TH-1 sings the binary code = Michael Mills - Toehider - Aussie!Aussie!Aussie! ( how do you hide toes? - kick A$$ really hard!) Ayreon "Valley of the Queens" (live), "Star One" & "Everybody Dies" - the latter live, with more Mills goodness!! Love your reaction! Stunned silence throughout! Awesome! Arjen is a giant in every way!.... concept album!! This is! Also try Queensryche "Operation:Mindcrime" !!!!
Thanks for tips and info. Great stuff
Yep, we thought you would like it 😅
Arjen is a genius - writes on ongoing stories and composes like very very few others are capable of!!
And he works with the top of the top of musicians and singers from all over the world - as you just experienced. This is the introduction song to the Album The Source, where all the characters are introduced - and on the album, they all performs on different tracks - believe me, there are mind blowing duets on the album!!!
I can see you have already been flooded with useful info - so just enjoy the ride with Ayreon - he/it will rock your foundation musically - Arjen is unique and same category as Tuomas from Nightwish, when it comes to composing and writing exiting lyrics..
(the binary says "trust th1")
The Turn Of A Friendly Card/Time/The Wall/War Of The Worlds...just to name a few: CONCEPT ALBUMS, yeah...where are those days?
Nope! :D He hasn't got a whole world. Arjen has a whole universe! I liked your reaction, thanks.
thanks for being here. Astounding piece!
This is the first I've seen of y'all so I'm not sure how y'all are with extreme metal, but Wintersun is a melodic death metal band that's done two concept albums, "Time I" (2012 - Time II we are still waiting for) and "The Forest Seasons" (2017). If you want to give them a look-see, check out the song "Time" performed live at Sonic Pump Studios.
Thanks for tips. Not sure death metal our normal genre but we are open minded. Would not have found Nightwish if we were not
@@TheThamesmen I didn’t like the sound of harsh vocals until I heard Wintersun using them in a way I thought was tasteful.
@@Metal_Auditor ok. Interesting take. Will have to check it out
@@TheThamesmen oh, I forgot to mention that Wintersun’s drummer is now the full-time Nightwish drummer, and their bassist is currently filling in with Nightwish since Marko left.
@@Metal_Auditor small world they move and work in!
The whole of the Ayreon Universe concert is on YT on a playlist and honestly anything is good from it, you'll already have all the usual suggestions but if you have a couple hours the whole thing is worth watching. Abbey of Synn is one I like a lot live for some reason (based on Name of the Rose), River of Time is great (Marko and Hansi), plenty of Michael Mills - I fell into the Ayreon rabbit hole from YT reactions myself, so as much as I enjoy this one and Everybody Dies, I do hope to see more of the rest because it completely made me a fan.
Got it. We had to start somewhere!
@@TheThamesmen It's like Ghost Love Score, you really can't argue with it as a starter. I have liked your reactions and am interested to see more, whatever they are!
Welcome to the Ayreon Universe!
This one is a true Universe!
Thijs Van Leer ( the jodler, remember? Focus? ) plays in one of his productions, electric castle.
Really? How cool what a small world
@@TheThamesmen Well, Arjen Lucassen ( AYREON ) is Dutch, and Thijs van Leer is one of the foremost Dutch musicians ever. It was inevitable to happen?
The gift that keeps on giving! Ayreon 💙
Hell of a gift
Unleash The Archers, with the amazing voice of Brittney Slayes also write concept albums, with amazing musicianship. Gloryhammer are great if you want great, fun songs in over-the-top-epic concept albums, and Angus McFife’s voice is as glorious as can be.
Thanks for advice. Do think ‘unleash the archers” is a great name!
and the discovery trip goes on, you must be like kids in the candystore:D
ITS WILD!!!
As you mentioned the concept album: It's still alive and kicking, especially in progressive rock and in metal environments. Rarely at the scale and quality that Ayreon is showcasing though, as his quarter of a century of experience in the field of writing, recording and making such creations has given him a level of expertise that is rather astounding outside of big label funded projects.
Little did we know and now humbly corrected!
The latest Nightwish album "Human Nature" is kind of a concept album. It's all about ... human nature. By the way, love you guys
Thank you. We love having you here and sharing with us. A great journey for us
Definitely check out more Ayreon guys, awesome 👌
Dont worry we will!
My favourite part of any reaction video to this song is when people get to the Mike Mills part. The guy is an absolute genius.
My second favourite is when Floor shows up.
Mike Mills is a freaking genius!
Intergalactic Space Crusaders is one of my fav from Ayreon.
If you think Floor having only 8 lines is remarquable wait to see her and her sister in The Eye Of Ra.
Let's not forget in this song Simone Simons, lead singer of Epica. I would highly recomand checking them out of it's not already done. Consign to oblivion live in paris, Design your universe from the retrospect concert ( they have a full orchetra on stage) or if you want to continue to build bridges Terra Sancta (Epica+Floor) are good starting points.
Thanks, this song grows into you
For me it did about 20 seconds in!
Thanks Guys !
You bet!
My favourite is the “prophet”, Nils K. Rue, amazing singer of (IMHO) the best metal prog band ever: Pagan’s Mind, with a great guitar player: Jörn Viggo Lofstad (did the Northward project with Floor).
BTW Love your hilarious outro😄
Excellent reaction once again chaps - this one was new on me too so I can't help with any info. However, have just about got over the footie disappointment, hope you have too?! One question before I go - how highly do you rate the good old British bangers - I mean, are you putting a Cumberland above a tasty herby Lincolnshire? And what about Gloucester Old Spot? Not to mention the not so British now Wild 🐗. In other words, I need to understand your ranking system as it's clarity is a little fuzzy right now?! 😆 🤣 Can't wait for more Nightwish!
Surprised the ranking system
Is confusing. Seems very sensible to us! Just know if it is a chicken sausage that is bad as they are filthy.
Don’t mention the footie. Too soon
@@TheThamesmen Got to agree re. the chicken sausage - my Wife's Colombian and they love them over there - wouldn't touch them with a barge pole 😜 I'm sure I'll get used to your system at some point - but do me a favour, put the Lincolnshire somewhere near the top where it deserves?! Not from Lincolnshire you understand, pure Battersea born and bred - just love the sausages 😋
@@honorarythamesman5732 a fellow Thamesmen! Excellent
@@TheThamesmen such an honour to be one among you! Walked along it today as a matter of fact - not on it you understand!
@@honorarythamesman5732 not like the old days when so polluted you probably could walk on it!
Yes there’s plenty of band that still do concept albums.
You could check some American bands like Telergy, The Dear Hunter or Majestic.
We are learning we were completely wrong!
Thought you'd love this. What I loved was the editing with the savaloy towards the end 🤣🤣🤣
Sorry about that! George teaching myself how to use Davinci Resolve!
Ah yes, the next rabbit hole 😄 enjoy our Dutch genius! If you want to see the European metal royalty on one stage, watch “the eye of Ra”
'The Source' is an incredible album. Easily his best Ayreon record since 'The Human Equation'.
Going to check it out more
@@TheThamesmen Check out the live version of 'Star of Sirrah'. I has one of the best riffs of the past decade.
JC Superstar is right, is one of the favorites by Arjen (the version with Ian Gillan that is)
I think Floor was 18 years old when she first appeared on an Ayreon album
Wow amazing. What a career
Check out Ayreon live, Everybody Dies, International Space Invaders, or Loser for a start! If you love the Hammond Organ then you’ll go Ga Ga at the live show! Rock On Stay Safe!🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Welcome to the universe of Ayreon... we are called Ayreonauts :)
Arjen is amazing and there are surprises awaiting for you if you keep listening
Thank you and what a great name. Perfect
Welcome in the amazing world of Arjen A. Lucassen Aka Ayreon Universe (Ayreon, Ambeon, Star one, Guilt Machine, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion).... Enjoy this rabbit hole….!!!!!
Just incredible. What would you recommended next from him?
@@TheThamesmen everbody dies live (from the same album) th-cam.com/video/9AAXtUdM7xE/w-d-xo.html