Ayreon: 01011001 Review

This is the 7th album by Ayreon, a project of Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen, and the 5th instalment of the story that began with The Final Experiment. It’s a hard album to classify, continuing the unorthodox and experimental musical style of previous Ayreon albums, though it could be adequately described as a Rock Opera which incorporate numerous genres, including progressive rock, metal, folk, classical and electronica. This is probably the darkest, and at times heaviest, album Ayreon have released to date although it certainly isn’t lacking in folky melodies and soft, ambient passages. Music and lyrics are, as always, composed by Arjen, who once again has a small singing part, while drums are again provided by Ayreon veteran Ed Warby. Arjen has once again assembled a remarkable collection of vocalists and instrumentalists. The singers are mainly new, although a few Ayreon veterans have been included in the cast (Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor Jansen and of course Arjen himself.)