BlueSunCorp

As part of the build up to its January 28th release, an official teaser trailer for Ayreon's new album, 01011001, has been released, and one of the songs from the new album, The Fifth Extinction, has been made available in its entirety on the Ayreon myspace page. They're incredible.

The album is also available to pre-order in three different editions: the regular 2CD edition, the special edition with a bonus DVD, and the Limited Deluxe Edition which comes in a DVD case with the bonus DVD and a 36 page book of extended artwork (which I bought). The latter two can also come signed if pre-ordered now. Further information can be found here: http://www.ayreon.com/ayreon/preorder.html

Much of the story is still unknown, but the Insideout music website has released this brief synopsis:

Through technological advancement, 'Forever', a race of aquatic beings living on Planet Y, has found the secret of longevity. They have advanced to the point that they have become completely dependent on machines and are losing their emotions. A passing comet on a collision course with Planet Earth provides the opportunity to revitalize their race; 'Forever' harness the comet to carry their DNA to a new home on Earth. When the comet and Earth collide, the cataclysmic impact exterminates the dinosaurs (the Fifth Extinction), but from the ashes of destruction, humans arise. At first, the experiment with seeded DNA seems successful: through the humans ‘Forever’ vicariously relive the emotions they experienced before the age of machines. In order to help mankind overcome their physical ailments and mental limitations, 'Forever' speeds up human evolution. But the result is tragic: people develop a similar technological dependency with their emotions waning just like 'Forever' and moral development not keeping pace with their capacity to invent. 'Forever' must find a way to save mankind from its imminent self-destruction... or should they?

It's quite hazy in the detail, but I'm already beginning to see how this is going to tie in to the previous albums. To say I'm excited is an understatement.