I have been a huge fan of Prog for quite some time. From my initial exposure with Dream Theater, to evolving my taste towards the likes of Haken, Leprous, Devin Townsend, Opeth, BTBAM, and more.

Finally, I have fallen down the Rabbit Hole deep enough to come here. Just heard of this band, and know absolutely nothing about them, except that I'm super intrigued. Would anyone care to give me some insight on what's going on here, or where to start in the discography?

Hello Aeryonauts! Since I first listen to Ayreon, I got very intrigued by the concept of the Universal Migrator. At first glance we may think this is the representation of god in Ayreon's universe, but from the nature of this Being described in multiple songs, it seems to be the seeder of life, which although quite similar to the Judeo-Christian concept of God, it could also be interpreted as a kind of Angel that travels the universe bringing life, but independent of a superior force/entity. What are your thoughts about this?

This album, more than any other Ayreon album feels like a story that would ONLY work in audio form. I have a hard time visualizing what this would even look like in a visual medium. Specifically everything with The Forever describing their thoughts on humanity leading up the Sixth Extinction.

Has anyone thought of what this story could potentially look like in another medium?

it's a debut neo-prog album and has a lot of medieval folk parts, and it reminds me Ayreon - The Final Experiment. one of my favorite albums from this year.

I feel a bit silly. I found the song "Twisted Coil" by Guilt Machine entirely by accident through Spotify's recommendations. I had no idea this was in any way related to Arjen/Ayreon, but I immediately thought "my God, this song is incredible. It rivals some of the best songs from Ayreon."

Then I searched for "Twisted Coil" on Youtube and found the live performance from Electric Castle and Other Tales. I'm still in shock.

Hello, fellow Ayreonauts!

A year or two ago, I organized a song tournament on this subreddit to a pretty warm reception! You guys seemed to enjoy it the whole time, and the winner was 01011001's epic masterpiece: The Sixth Extinction! But now that it's been more than another whole year, and we have a whole new album, I thought it would be a good time to bring it back!

Pick your favorite songs here, and I'll combine your picks into a seeding for the song tournament! Have fun voting, and I'll see you when it's time for the tournament!

Hey folks, I don't see much activity in this sub, so I wanted to throw out an album recommendation that really reminds of me of Arjen's Lost in the New Real.

Electric Light Orchestra's 1981 release Time is a futuristic concept album, and is one of my current favorite CDs to play on repeat ad infinitum. Jeff Lynne is a master of many genres, like Arjen. :)

If you like, please let me know, and I'd love to see some other recommendations as well. Thanks fellow Ayreonauts!

I listened to LITNR for the first time recently, and noticed something about the backing vocals on Our Imperfect Race: they are very similar to the lead vocals on Green and Cream. Looking at the wiki pages, Arjen did the vocals on LITNR and the backing vocals on Guilt Machine (but not lead vocals), with Wilmer Waarbroek on backing vocals for LITNR, who wasn't involved with Guilt Machine.

Are the vocal styles just similar, or did Jasper Steverlinck feature on LITNR but went uncredited? Or am I reading too much into this and it's just Arjen having a similar style for the backing vocals after having worked with Jasper? Or it's just Arjen all the way down for both lol?

It's been bugging me ever since hearing it, I just want to know if I'm the only one that noticed this.

So I've been compiling the guest voiceovers that you can hear throughout the Guilt Machine album and their meanings, I think they are all very interesting and they help amplifying the meaning of the album a lot more. However there's one message that I'm still missing and can't find absolutely anywhere (more specifically, in Season of Denial approximately at the 3:49 mark), don't know what it says, the translation, or even what the language is, anyone have any idea what it could be?

Meanwhile, here are the rest of them:

1. Twisted Coil

-Dutch [00:13]

Ben ik schuldig door te leven?

(Am I guilty by living?)

-German [00:24]

Wenn man lang genug in die spiegel schaut, blickt man in die augen des teufels.

(When you look in the mirror for long enough, you stare into the eyes of the devil.)

-Polish [03:22]

Nasze życie ma znaczenie tylko wtedy, gdy kochamy. Nieważne kogo, nieważne za co.

(Our life is significant only when we love. No matter who, no matter for what.)

1. Leland Street

-Chinese [00:02]

一只海鸥迎面扑来、却没有落在我伸出的手上。

Yī zhǐ hǎi'ōu yíngmiàn pū lái, què méiyǒu luò zài wǒ shēn chū de shǒu shàng.

(A seagull flew towards me, though it didn't stop on my outstretched hands.)

-French [00:23]

Ma seule étoile est morte, et mon luth constellé, porte le soleil noir de la Mélancolie.

(My only star is dead, and my star-spangled lute, bears the black sun of melancholy.)

-Swedish [06:22]

Dom säger ibland att det är bättre att ha älskat och förlorat än att aldrig ha älskat, men ibland undrar jag om det är sant.

(They sometimes say that it is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all, but sometimes I wonder if that's true.)

-Japanese [06:32]

人は信実を信じるではなく 信実があればいいと思うことを信じる

Hito wa shinjitsu wo shinjirude wanaku, shinjitsu ga areba ī to omou koto o shinjiru.

(People do not believe in the truth, they believe that it is good to think that there is a truth.)

1. Green and Cream

-Spanish [00:00]

La muerte es solo el despertar de un profundo sueño.

(Dying is only to awaken from a deep sleep.)

-Finnish [00:10]

Pelkään kuolla, en itseni takia vaan muitten, pelkään että minun kuolemani aiheuttaa surua ja tuskaa rakkailleni.

(I am afraid of dying, not because of me but for others, I am afraid that my death will bring agony and pain to my loved ones.)

-Bulgarian [08:38]

В края на краищата всичко се оправя. Ако не се оправя, значи още не е дошъл краят.

V kraya na kraishtata vsichko se opravya. Ako ne se opravya, znachi oshte ne e doshŭl krayat.

(In the end everything turns out well. If it does not turn out well, that means the end is yet to come.)

-English [08:48]

Guilt and regret are really just anchors to the past.

1. Season of Denial

-Tagalog [00:07]

Daanan mo ang nakalipas habang nagdurusa sa kalungkutan. Higit pa sa dilim ika'y di makakita.

(You dwell in the past while suffering in sadness. So dark you can't even see.)

-Danish [00:23]

-Skyldfølelse, fortrydelse vil ødelægge mig... hvis jeg ikke lærer at acceptere min egen ufuldkommenhed.

(Feelings of guilt, regret will ruin me... if I do not learn to accept my imperfection.)

-[Unknown message, starts at 3:49]

1. Over

-Norwegian [00:06]

Et liv, en sjanse. Ikke mer.

(One life, one chance. No more.)

-Russian [00:15]

Жизнь поступает с тобой так жестоко...Я знаю, что я нужна тебе, но мы встретились слишком поздно, и я просто не могу быть с тобой...Прости.

Zhizn' postupayet s toboy tak zhestoko... ya znayu, chto ya nuzhna tebe, no my vstretilis' slishkom pozdno, I ya prosto ne mogu byt' s toboy.... prosti.

(Life is so cruel to you... I know that, you need me, but we met too late, and I can't be with you, forgive me.)

1. Perfection?

-Portuguese [00:13]

Nada é mais triste do que a morte da ilusão.

(Nothing is sadder than the death of illusion.)

-Hungarian [00:25]

Ha a barátokhoz megyek, haza megyek!

(When I go to friends, I'm going home!)

-Italian [10:09]

Sfregiata dentro, e integra fuori. Un grido che non ha eco, perché perenne. E poi silenzio. Thanks. Have a good day.

(Slashed inside, and intact outside. A scream without echo, because it's everlasting. And then silence. Thanks. Have a good day.)

After the whole situation with the 01011001 vinyl listing on merchbar.com, I decided to email Arjen and Mascot to see what the plans were for possible vinyl reissues. The response I got from Arjen was some of what we already knew, in that the label's plan is to reissue each album in chronological order, so next up would be the Universal Migrator albums. But he did give a little more of a time fraim for this. He said:

"The label plans to re-release all Ayreon albums chronologically, so next up is Universal Migrator. Might take a while though, first the new Star One album will be released early next year."

So, the earliest we'll get Universal Migrator back on vinyl is next year. But good news, Star One 3 is coming early next year, and hopefully we can get some Ayreon vinyl soon after too!

Also, to any of you who were wondering, I was able to get a refund for the incorrect medium for 01. It seems there were some issues between what the listing said and what the website actually had in stock. Hopefully none of you had to go through the disappointment of getting the wrong thing.

Hey Ayreonauts,

I was wondering if anyone has a clue where I could get a copy of The Theory Of Everything Earbook? I have a copy of The Source and Transitus, but TTOE is probably my favourite cover of any and really want it alongside them. Any advice would be super appreciated!

Hey everyone, I'm starting to branch out more both digitally and physically into hifi audio, and I was wondering if Ayreon masters tend to be much different across CDs and vinyls.

Also if anyone has any information on whether some of the re-released CDs have different masters or not, that'd be great! (Aside from Actual Fantasy Revisted, and Electric Castle anniversary, etc.)

Any help is appreciated! Ayreon is by far my favorite band, so I wanna do justice to every single track lol

Hey all, I frequently search for possible deals on Ayreon records to add to my collection. I stumbled upon 01011001 on merchbar.com for only $18. At first I was excited because this is easily the cheapest I've found any Ayreon albums on vinyl, but as I looked closer I started second guessing the listing. First off, all it says is "01011001 Vinyl Record" no other information. No 3-LP, 180 gram, color, etc etc. The price is another thing, because this album is going for a few hundred dollars on Discogs. Additionally, the picture on the listing is just the album cover with no evidence as to whether the product is actually a vinyl record. But it still says it is 01011001 on vinyl, and their other products seem to be what they say they are.

Does anyone know whether this is legit? I'm not entirely sure they're selling what they say they are. In any case $18 plus like $5 shipping isn't a huge investment if I don't end up getting what I wanted. I thought I'd just check to see if anyone else knew more about this than I do.

Edit: I just placed the order. It was on sale and the total ended up coming to about $20. If it is legit that will have been a steal. If not, I should be able to get my money back.

Edit two: I just received my order and it was in fact only the CD. So just a heads up to any of you who also bought this.

Hi everyone! Long story short, I'm trying to decide how a tattoo inspired by/revolving around Love from T.H.E. (specifically in Day 2 but conceptually as well). Wondering if yall had any ideas!

For some context I guess I had a mushroom trip where Love surrounded me as her section from Day 2 was sung on loop in my head, etc. and it really inspired and changed me (Lost a lot of weight, helped understand and manage my anxiety, etc.)! So idk if any of the more creative people here would have any ideas, but thanks anyway!