Into the Electric Castle

Artist: Ayreon
Label: Import [Generic]
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2
EAN: 8712488994659
ASIN: B0000256RB

Release Date: 2001-04-17

Into the Electric Castle

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Tracks:

Welcome to the New Dimension
Isis and Osiris: Let the Journey Begin/The Hall of Isis and Osiris
Amazing Flight (A. Amazing Flight in Space/B. Stardance/C. Flying ...)
Time Beyond Time
Decision Tree (We're Alive)
Tunnel of Light
Across the Rainbow Bridge

Tracks:

Garden of Emotions: In the Garden of Emotions/Voices in the ...
Valley of the Queens
Castle Hall
Tower of Hope
Cosmic Fusion: Soar on the Breeze/Death's Grunt/The Passing of an ...
Mirror Maze (A. Inside the Mirror Maze/B. Through the Mirror)
Evil Devolution
Two Gates
"Forever" of the Stars
Another Time, Another Space

Album Description

Two CD set for Arjen Anthony Lucassen's new space opera. 17tracks, with musical appearances sure to please any progrock fan: Fish, Edwin Balogh, Edward Reekers (Kayak), PeterDaltrey (Kaleidoscope), Ed Warby (Gorefest), Clive Nolan(Pendragon, Arena), Tom Scherpenzeel (Camel, Kayak), ThijsVan Leer (Focus), Jack Pisters (Soylent Green) and ErnoOlah (Metropole Orchestra). Over 100 minutes of music.Double jewel case. 1998 Transmission Records release.

Customer Reviews:

Ingeniously carved!!.......2005-12-31

There is no doubt that Arjen Lucassen could easily earn a living from the creativity in his writing alone but this album is pleasantly different and well articulated with the music; his canvas (and that`s another story all together). Disc one is slightly mellower with a bit of a psychedelic aura to it. Deep Purple anyone? Whilst Disc two delivers a harder punch and a little more diverse sound, with some dark elements even, so I do find myself playing it more often, a lot more often.

I find this to be a project based on a series of varied ingredients, both musical and lyrical. The depth of meaning behind EVERY track is incredibly satisfying and authentic. Regardless of how irrational the story might be at a first glance, it is dressed in a graceful façade and with a larger than life message anywhere you look at it.

"...Our hope's dissolved
for man's evolved into another state of being
have we "progressed" beyond the need of feeling?

A cyber-brain
the last in the chain of man/machine allience
have we become the victims of our science?

Evil devolution
is this an illusion
out here in space

Human humiliation
this mutation
of our human race

Is this the end
will we transcend the need for human pleasures?
will we abandon all our earthly treasures?

Will mankind yield
on the battlefield of natural selection
to an inorganic digital perfection?

Human humiliation
this mutation
of our human race..."

...and this is what real music is about. Not just about creating groovy riffs (more than often mass-produced to satisfy our prostituted-market) but to construct legacies and congregations that will transcend to greater reasoning and further generations, here you embrace its sovereignty and will fear all mediocrity sh*t-albeit imitations possess.

Genius, Pure Genius!.......2004-07-28

Ayreon is the ultimate 'one man' project. Arjen is man behind Ayreon, coming up with the concepts and doing most of the writing. The fact that he uses different musicians and singers on every album means he can really explore a lot of different styles and sounds. Every Ayreon album is unique and packed with creativity.

Into the Electric Castle is my favorite Ayreon so far. It's pretty much uncategorizable, there's so much variety from one song to the next. From haunting acoustic guitar bits to driving hard rock (sometimes within the same song!), it sucks you in like nothing you've ever heard before. There are 9 or 10 different singers on this cd (including Arjen himself), and they all add their own elements without overpowering it. The songs have a lot of variety to them, but fit together so perfectly, even when you're going from a screaming guitar solo (the end of Amazing Flight in Space) to an acoustic number (Time Beyond Time). The storyline is kind of cheesy, reminiscent of the old pulp sci-fi novels, but is very interesting, and ties everything together.

One of the coolest cd's I've ever heard, but definitely made for people who like different styles and types of music. If you're into the whole zero-creativity-and-originality mainstream music scene, don't bother, you'll just find it strange and confusing. But if you're looking for something different, pick this up and you will not be disapointed!

Favorite song: ALL OF THEM! I had some favorites when I first started listening to this, but the more I listened, the more I got into the whole album. So I can't really pick a particular song, they're all so good!

Has Arjen created a masterpiece? I think so!.......2004-05-09

Arjen Anthony Lucassen's third Ayreon creation is a conglomeration of multiple music and singing styles. His multi-faceted story is both fantastic and unbelivable.

If his work continues to be offered to us at this level, I will alway be there to purchase his next creation.

Ayreon's best recording.......2004-03-23

The music of Ayreon doesn't fit into any easy categories. . . Symphonic metal? Power prog? Heavy music? Psychedelic space visions? In my opinion, this is what heavy metal was always destined to mature into, if only most of it hadn't degenerated into merely loud head-banging.

Whatever it is, I love it. I've collected most of Arjen Anthony Luccassen's recordings, and have to rate this one as the pinnacle -- at least so far. The whole two-disc set is more polished and consistent than Ayreon's earlier recordings. It's very much a concept album that leads the listener on a journey, not merely a collection of tunes.

If you like Into the Electric Castle (and you will!), the next thing to look for should be The Dream Sequencer. I consider it a very close second out of Ayreon's catalog.

Cheeseball Story but absolutely Fantastic Music!.......2003-09-10

Sooner or later I had to get to Ayreon

Should any of my readers not know who Ayreon is, let me edify you. Ayreon is not a band, not really. Neither is Ambeon. Let me explain. Ayreon and Ambeon are projects, you might say alter egos of brilliant Dutch composer and musician, Arjen Anthony Luccassen.

You see, Arjen has borrowed one from the book of the ever successful recording broker, Alan Parsons. He composes a Rock Opera and then like the mice followed the Pied Piper into the river, several well known, at least to me, guest singers and musicians follow our piperish leader, Arjen, into the studio to record, this wonderful music.

Now Arjen hasn't used this successful formula once or twice. No he's made eight exciting albums this way, two of which are double albums. Mind you now, I understand there's a waiting list to be in Arjen's next production.
I can see why, it must be fun, mingling with other very talented people and making this remarkably interesting and different music. It's probably like, if I may regress to seventies terms, a "happening". And how different it is!

Into the Electric Castle, as do all of Arjen's projects, tells a story and in this case it is a science fiction story centered around eight strangers brought together into a dimension of no space and no time. It seems, if Luccassen ever decides to hang up his guitar he could make a living writing sci-fi.

Here is a summary of the story from Ayreon's Website:

"'Into the Electric Castle' tells the story of 8 stereotypical characters from different periods of time who suddenly find themselves in another dimension. A Highlander, Knight, Egyptian, Indian, Barbarian, Roman, Hippie and Futureman each try to understand where they are and what they are supposed to do. It is then that a voice rings out from the sky to tell them that the dimension they have arrived in is built on dreams and fears. In order to find their way back to their own dimension and time, they must go in search of The Electric Castle. During the search every character is forced to confront his or her innermost fears, and not everyone survives the treacherous journey to the Castle."

"At the end of the journey those that successfully dealt with their personal demons find out that the voice belongs to an alien named 'Forever of the Stars', a member of an alien race living in a distant galaxy. These aliens created planet Earth and its people as an experiment so they could study, and hopefully one day experience emotions, as they themselves lost feelings eons ago."

"'Into the Electric Castle' is a double CD. On disc 1 we experience the journey to The Electric Castle and on disc 2 we find out what happens when they arrive there."

Haven't I read something by Stephen King like that. Yeah, I know, the plot is pretty ch-e-e-ze ball but honestly the music is fabulous, here are some highlights:

"Isis and Osiris" is an eleven minute multi-part song.

"Let the Journey Begin" is the first part with Highlander and Indian singing in what is an ethereal, almost Moody Blues part. "The halls of Isis and Osiris" is sung by Roman and Egyptian as the pace picks up nicely with a choppy orchestral beat plus a sitar and guitar solo. "Strange Constellations / Reprise" the third and forth parts narrated by Highlander (Fish) with an atmospheric background and some remarkable guitar and keyboard work. This is an amazing piece of work that I could use a thousand words describing.

"The Decision Tree (we're alive)" sung by Barbarian and Highland, with all joining in on the chorus's. It is a medium slow very catchy song with lots of organs and synths.

"Across the Rainbow Bridge" sung by Knight, Roman and Hippie. Opens with acoustic then switches back and forth to electric while keyboards in background to a varied pace. At three+ minutes it changes with a chugging beat at a medium fast pace. really great song.

"the Garden of Emotions" is a ten minute multi-part song that opens Disc 2. "In the Garden of Emotions" sung by Hippie (actually spoken through a distorter of some sort) and Egyptian slowly and atmospheric. "Voices in the Sky" picks up with a heavy crunchy beat and some very nifty organ / synth work. sung by Barbarian, Roman and Indian. "The Agression Factor" is sung by Futureman , Knight and Indian and is a mix of the first two parts

"The Castle Hall" sung by Knight and Barbarian, starts out with some very deep heavy guitar work and ominous singing before mellowing out at a medium tempo. Great melody and hooks.

"The Two Gates" sung by Barbarian and Knight, played in a medium heavy beat and pace with some more great hooks and all singers join in and pace changes again. Excellent!(Trying to describe these songs is impossible, every couple minutes everything changes)
CONCLUSION

I have a soft spot in my heart for Ayreon. They, are the catalyst that has propelled me in the musical direction I have chosen. I accidentaly came across them while downloading and was so overwhelmed and intrigued that I wondered what else I could be missing. It turns out, it was quite a bit, so for the last two years I have been relentless in that nothing worthy gets by me.

The whole time I was writing this review I had this eerie
feeling that our characters, Highlander, Indian , knight etc. were members of that inane TV show, Survivor. Of course in our story the characters die instead of getting voted off. Oh, I didn't tell you? Sorry.

Ok, the conclusion. Ayreon is remarkable, and Into the Electric Castle is his most remarkable project. This is Progressive music like no others make. It is bombastic, highly varied (even within each song)and even at 100 minutes it captivates you. I just finished a review on another rock opera, a rather good rock opera I might add but it pales in comparison to this, this is chicken salad while it is chicken sh-i-t.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music

Strange Fruit ~ Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Voice from the Past: Paradigm ~ Gary Peacock

Tba

Over the Rainbow ~ Jimmy Scott

Persévérance ~ L%C3%A2%C3%A2m

Canta Candeia ~ Luiz Carlos Da Vila

Chansons de Ses Films ~ Carlos Gardel

Collapse ~ In Strict Confidence

2nd X'mas ~ Dream, Sweets, Aiko Kayo

Lusophone ~ Various Artists