Ayreon
01011001
3-LP. Clear-blue Vinyl.

In 2008, Arjen Lucassen's 6th album, 01011001, was released, based on the long story of the Forever. This extraterrestrial people have lost their emotionality over the course of millennia. Not to spoil too much: this album is about the Forever themselves. In short: Ayreon makes progressive, metallic rock music. Concept albums to which Arjen invites lots of guest musicians. All six albums have their own review here on my site, see below.

When Arjen calls, musicians come. It's not different on this album. Floor Jansen (Nightwish, Ex After Forever), Anneke van Giersbergen (Ex The Gathering) Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) the late Steve Lee (Gotthard), Tom S. Eglund (Evergrey) and more. Each musician plays or sings their own role. Each of these musicians has their strengths and Arjen always knows how to translate these into musical images.

The Forever have influenced our fate to prevent their own downfall. Overall, Ayreon looks at topics such as genetic manipulation. Who is worth surviving? Can we play God? Are all means justified? Where will technology and AI lead us? These are still current questions today, not just philosophical ones, but also practical ones. The extent to which listeners (want to) engage with them is not the topic here. Does the music work without delving deeply into the story?

And it's quite something! Here, too, every tone is perfect! Every note, every breath is carefully dissected, analyzed and reinserted. For some critics, perfection is a horror. I love it. Some love blues or jazz, music that comes more from the stomach. I love that too. You shouldn't expect anything instinctive here. With Arjen Lucassen, despite many guest musicians, everything sounds of a piece. But why should I hold 01011001 against its epic, bombastic form? It's purely a matter of taste and has nothing to do with the quality. If you don't like perfect epic music, you'll be happier somewhere else. This record is definitely entertaining to listen to even without knowing the deeper story. Imagine Tolkien's Silmarillion, put it in space and you get the genesis of the Forevers of Planet Y and ours too (because we come from their DNA). And did the Forevers repeat mistakes of the past? Look at us humans.

The first three songs, "Age of Shadow" (nicely spacey, epic, rocky metal), "Comatose" (dark rock) and "Liequid Eternity" are a feast in just over 23 minutes. It's also progressive, although without any "tinkering". So you get something really good for your ears right away. In comparison, "Connect the Dots" sounds out of place without reference to the previous album The Human Equation. It's part of the concept and I can live with it. Arjen proves that it can be done much better with "Beneath the Waves", which is clearly reminiscent of the albums The Final Experiment and The Dream Sequencer. In fact, there are a few places that refer to the other 5 albums. And no, dear critics, that's not a weakness of this album. It weaves the short threads into one big one. And it succeeds unusually well.

Other great songs are “Ride The Comet”, “Web of Lies” (more current than ever) with a great Phideaux Xavier. “E=MC²” and “The Sixth Extinction” round off this firework display. Conclusion? Brilliant, buy it!

Wait a minute! The record is completely free of bends and has little inherent noise. All 3 LPs sit almost perfectly on the record player. Technically, there is nothing wrong with the music either. Everything sounds familiar, is typically perfect, nothing pinches or presses. If you don't like progressive rock, metal, art, dark and epic-style vocal-oriented concept albums, this isn't for you. For me, that's not a criterion of quality, but one of taste. And yet I don't know of any cycle that can hold a candle to this one. Feel free to try the songs mentioned individually if concept albums are new to you. The songs work pretty well on their own too. A worthy conclusion to the series.

1995 The Final Experiment
1998 Into the Electric Castle
2000 Universal Migrator Part I „The Dream Sequencer“
2000 Universal Migrator Part II „Flight of the Migrator“
2004 The Human Equation
2008 0101100I

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.