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Ayreon's latest opus continues the story played out in The Final Experiment, Into the Electric Castle, The Universal Migrator: The Dream Sequencer and The Universal Migrator: Flight of the Migrator. This time the concept explores the relationship between Man and Forever of the Stars whilst referencing the previous albums. For anyone hoping for something new, you are going to be very disappointed, this album follows the same pattern as Into the Electric Castle, though thankfully toning down on the cheesiness that plagued previous albums. The music still does the job without fanfare or flourish and, though filled with catchy melodies and hooks, offers little to really get your hooks into. From the vocalists, the stand out performances come from the usual suspects, namely Daniel Gildenlow, Anneke van Giersbergen (who steels the show on this album) and Floor Jansen. Many of the male vocalists are good but they all have a very similar vocal style, it becomes difficult to distinguish between them, this even happens to Gildenlow but this is more down to poor production and a sense of him being held back from upstaging the rest. Simone Simons and Phideaux Xavier are badly under used here, only appearing on the dull Web of Lies at the end of the first disc, I would have preferred it if they had taken the place of other singers in the main body of the work. Overall its a case of we've seen it all before, its pleasant to listen to but wont really grab you, and is sonically far too similar to Into the Electric Castle. Fans of traditional prog metal will get a kick out of it but if you prefer the more experimental or technical side of prog metal, I doubt this will do much for you.