#i listened to every ayreon concept album in order of release.

[mortimer]

i genuinely don't know what triggered this in me other than listening to music while high but after making like five posts about prog metal yesterday (and then continuing to talk about it for an embarrassingly long time in my discord server's music channel) this happened

[nichtschwertrants]

Ayreon - Intro

There are certain things that occupy my mind a lot. One of them is Ayreon. I have a lot to say about Ayreon. But let’s start from the top.

What the heck is Ayreon?

Ayreon is a ProgRock/ProgMetal music project created and masterminded by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen.

Look at this nerd.

What makes this one so interesting to me is that not only is almost every album a rock opera, they also form a continuous story told over the course of several albums. It’s a massive story told over several hours of music, a fantasy science fiction epos spanning billions of years of history.

What is it about?

Lots of things, but there are a few recurring themes throughout. This, apart from the really, REALLY good music is what makes Ayreon so fascinating for me. It tackles lots and lots of really interesting topics that are fun and perhaps even important to ponder.

It involves stuff like: - Time Travel - Preincarnation - Nuclear Armageddon - Transhumanism - Experimental Psychotropic Medicine - Space Travel - An Exploration of the Human Psyche - The consequences of irresponsible use of advanced technology

I don’t wanna spoil any more right now, but I can assure you it’s one hell of a ride.

Is this just gonna be you raving about how awesome Ayreon is?

Well... no. The thing is, I really love the music and I love the topics and themes present, but I’m not always that fond of how those themes are handled. It’ll become clear that I disagree with Mr. Lucassen on a lot of things and I will explain my reasons for this. In general, Arjen Lucassen is incredibly wary of certain kinds of technology. he’s not a luddite by a longshot, but some of his views really don’t mesh with mine.

My goal in all of this is going to be to make people want to check this stuff out and think about the ideas presented within, but maybe not immediately jump to agree with the artist’s interpretations of these topics. I’m certain that this can enrich a lot of lives, because it definitely enriched mine.

But Nichtschwert, you do video games, what do you know about music?

To be fair: Not a lot. Musical analysis is really not my thing. I listen to what sounds good to me and I don’t have the knowledge or vocabulary to really explain why I like certain songs and whatnot.

But I do have things to say about narrative structures, stories and the ideas presented in the materials. I will say some things about the music, but the focus will always be on the story. I know my limits.

So how will this work?

I’ll go through these albums in order of their release: - The Final Experiment - Actual Fantasy - Into the Electric Castle - The Universal Migrator Part 1 - The Dream Sequencer - The Universal Migrator Part 2 - Flight of the Migrator - The Human Equation - 01011001 - The Theory of Everything - The Source

As I do this, I’ll go through the songs, highlight important passages and piece together the fragmented story. I will talk about what I like and what I dislike and will ruminate about the concepts, problems and ideas presented.

Why?

Honestly, I’m not sure if anybody will read this, but that’s secondary to be honest. I’m mostly doing this to get the thoughts out of my head and into a more solid form.

But what about Digimon?

Yes, I’ll get back to that. I promise.

(x) Ayreon (x) Arjen A. Lucassen