Ayreon – Into The Electric Castle (2018 re-issue)


If perchance you have never encountered this album before, here’s the concept: way back before the new millennium, the mad genius space hippie Arjen Lucassen brought together a lot of other exceptional instrumentalists and vocalists and made an album. On this album, some unknown entity has kidnapped a bunch of characters from various points in earth’s timeline and brought them together for what seems like the ultimate psychedelic escape room: the Electric Castle. Here, the characters are confronted with their culture’s beliefs around death, self, and the supernatural, all voiced by a phenomenal international cast, among which Sharon den Adel, Damian Wilson, and Fish.Continue reading


Ayreon Shares Video For “Across The Rainbow Bridge”


Ayreon is preparing a 20th-anniversary re-issue of Into The Electric Castle next month. The set was remixed and remastered by Arjen Lucassen himself and will be available on 3LP, 5-disc Earbook and Limited Edition Box Set on October 26th from Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group. Continue reading


Ayreon – Ayreon Universe DVD


If you are familiar with Ayreon, you will probably know that these collaborative works of music are the brainchild of the somewhat reclusive Arjen Anthony Lucassen, and are rarely – if ever – performed live. September 2015 saw the presentation of The Theater Equation, four shows in which the album The Human Equation (Inside Out) was performed in its entirety in front of a live audience. While this was a successful endeavour, we had been assured for years that there would never be a live ‘best of’ performance of Ayreon.Continue reading