INTO THE ELECTRIC CASTLE

Just after Arjen Lucassen had released his first album under the name Ayreon, I had (as a fellow Dutchman) the opportunity to make an interview at his farm with studio, deep into the forest and far away from the busy streets and pushy people. He impressed me as a very professional, intelligent and nice person and I was delighted to see that his LP collection looked very like mine including records from Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and lots of progrock bands like Triumvirat. While talking and listening to his new material (from the CD "Actual Fantasy") I was sure that this experienced (he played in known Dutch rock bands Bodine and Vengeance) and versatile musician (acoustic - and electric guitars, keyboards and knowledge from computers and recording-technique) would conquer the (prog)rock world. So he did, how great to notice all those four - and five star ratings for his albums from my fellow reviewers on Prog Archives! My favorite Ayreon album is the 2- CD "Into The Electric Castle-A Space Opera" (what a mindlbowing surrealistic cover painting). In my opinion the balance between symphonic (Hammond, Moog and Mellotron), rock (heavy guitar) and folk (acoustic instruments like flute, sitar and guitar) is at its peak, the compositions are all very strong and alternating and the contributions from guest musicians Fish, Sharon Den Adel, Damian Wilson, Clive Nolan, Ton Scherpenzeel en Thijs Van Leer are excellent. Arjen did a perfect job to let these 'celebrities' sound inspired on this 2-CD, A CLASSIC DUTCH PROGROCK ALBUM!!!