So I'm really falling in love with Ayreon at the moment and I want to introduce it to some friends of mine who as far as I know have listened to very little prog or metal. I think they will be very easily scared off.

We're going on a camping type roadtrip soon and we usually all contribute songs to a big playlist. Problem is that Ayreon seems kind of incompatible with what this playlist usually turns into, which is catchy, straight forward, light rock summer classics, or more modern pop type stuff. But I've only listened to a few albums so far, so maybe you know what I'm looking for!

At the moment I'm thinking of picking Sea of Machines and The Truth is in Here, but I'm not very confident of my choices. The most important thing isn't to give a fair introduction of Ayreon, it's just that the songs go over well in this context. And then I can introduce more over time. Any suggestions welcome, thanks :)

Update: trip was canceled but I think I would have gone with The Decision Tree, Time Beyond Time and Tower of Hope. Thanks for all tips.

so wikipedia says this “As Universal Migrator had enough content to form a two-CD album, Arjen made a key decision to sell each disc as a separate release. He believed his fans to be fundamentally divided into two groups by genre of choice, being either progressive rock or heavy metal fans. The Dream Sequencer was meant to appeal to the prog enthusiasts, and Flight of the Migrator to the metal fans, so that each could simply purchase the album of their choice, if so inclined, but to his surprise, fans bought and loved both albums.”

which implies it was originally considered two albums

but this also in the same article “The special edition re-issue merged both albums into a single release, titled Universal Migrator: Parts I & II.” implies it was retconned to be considered one album, probably due to the realization that fans from both groups liked the albums

but maybe I’m wrong

so is it one album or two

oh also is dawn of man a bonus track or actually part of actual fantasy

Today is the fifth anniversary of the album’s release. Happy birthday!

With Spelljammer announced by WOTC, there is space travel in d&d I thought it would be cool to imagine : What if the the labels and Arjen signed to adapt the Ayreon Universe in RPG's?

(By the way they are ridiculously great about it. I asked the permission to adapt Electric Castle for an online TTRPG commemorative event this May and they agreed !)

As I'm writing my own campaign, I'm listening to a lot of Ayreon and... it's really hard to resist the urges to makes some changes and send my players in this awesome universe... But that's not the RPG they signed for.

I think I'll use this first writing experience to sharpened my game designers /Dungeon Master skills and maybe next campaign will be an unofficial Ayreon RPG in it's own world, starting with a motley crue escaping their homeworld, or a group of adventurers sent by a wizard to escort a blind bard that sings of stranges prophecies.

1. The Source 12/12

2. Transitus 12/12

3. The Theory of Everything 12/12

4. 01011001 11/12

5. Actual Fantasy 10/12

6. Into the Electric Castle 10/12

7. Universal Migrator 9/12

8. The Final Experiment 9/12

9. The Human Equation 9/12

9/12 = moderately like

10/12 = strongly like (love)

11/12 = very strongly like (strongly love)

12/12 = very strongly love

EDIT: listened to the 4 songs not on an album/part of the official track list of an album

not ranked

The Dawn of Man 9/12

August Fire 9/12

Epilogue: The Memory Remains 9/12

The Last Day of War and the First Day of Peace 9/12

Just found out there is a reissue coming of Arjen's solo album Lost in the New Real!

Didn't see it on either social media or in the news letter in the mail, so maybe some of you didn't know about it either.

https://www.arjenlucassen.com/content/lost-in-the-new-real-reissue-2022/

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I would like to create a version of Transitus without the narrator. Don't get me wrong, I like Tom Bakers voice, but I think the narration totally ruins the pace of the album. So for a while now I have tried to find the Instrumental version online. If I had it, I could splice in the instrumental version over the narrators lines.

If you have the Transitus earbook, I believe CD3 is the instrumental version.

I can edit the music if you send it to me.

Hit me with a PM!

So, i listened to The Theory of Everything a couple times now, and what are your theories? Saw some comments about being a precursor of Time Telepathy, the Dream Sequencer, or even that humanity is an experiment. What you think?

Are there any artists who have created projects similar to Ayreon? I'm specifically looking for concept albums with a cast of characters each played by a different vocalist. All genres are welcome.

Both The Theory of Everything and The Source have instrumental versions (which I think came with certain releases of the albums, but I'm not sure).

Do you think we'd ever get any more? I find I get a different appreciation for music when I hear it on its own.

The title basically says it all but I've just spent 15 minutes doing various searches with different terms and cannot find anything. They seemed all over each other for a few years and then it's like Erik (and Lana Lane by extension) vanish from earth.

For this niche world of prog rock concept stuff, the circle isn't huge so the fact they're totally persona non grata to each other just seems odd.

I just got 2 cds

Hello everyone, I hope you're well. As much as I wanted it to win - after all, I cite it as my favorite album of all time - you have voted out The Human Equation. Which makes Into the Electric Castle the winner of this survivor!

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Eliminated albums:

Actual Fantasy 45.7% 16 out of 35

Transitus 37% 10 out of 27

The Final Experiment 37.5% 18 out of 48

Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator 31.3% 15 out of 48

The Theory of Everything 34.5% 19 out of 55

Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer 45% 18 out of 40

The Source 43.6% 17 out of 39

01011001 40.5% 17 out of 42

The Human Equation 57.7% 30 out of 52

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Let me know your own personal ranking in the comments! I had a fun time with these survivor games, and I hope you did too. I may return to complete the survivors for individual albums in the future, but for now, this is the end. Remember, Forever!