How the Music of Ayreon Has Changed My Life

Astounding, glorious, and all done by a mystical space-hermit who dreams of the stars and beyond.

Though they had been around for more than a decade before I came across them, a little-known Dutch band would break my soul.

Not just mine either; my wife adores everything from them, and my children have their own passions for them.

There’s a reason Ayreon has touched my life, transforming it into something unexpected.

Twenty years ago, I was randomly surfing through forums (remember those?) looking for something to inspire me. I’d been a writer for dozens of years at that point, writing story after novel and not really getting anywhere with any of them.

That siren’s call was keening, though, dragging me around by the ears as I searched for the next thing that would touch my heart and make my mind soar with new ideas I could run with. Fodder, so to speak, for the soil that would become the next big story.

I happened on a progressive rock thread, expecting the usual suspects within that field. Of course, I was familiar with Pink Floyd. Who isn’t? Their music was powerful, altering my own views in many ways as I was growing up. I adored them.

Rush? Well, the many nights getting stoned and driving around with Rush tapes playing on my stereo as my friends and I had deep conversations about nothing could testify I was familiar with them.

So many amazing bands listed in this great thread, but none were ones I had never heard before. I needed new, fresh content for my mind to enjoy, cutting through the ennui of the same-old same-old.

That’s when I came across someone mentioning a band named Ayreon, giving a link to the torrent of a particular song whose title caught my attention.

That song was called “Dreamtime,” and I admit I grabbed that torrent to see what it was all about.

Ten minutes after the song began, I was nearly in tears at the sounds I just heard.

I was hooked, and desperately sought out the music of Ayreon at every music store in our town.

Little did I know what I was getting into with this particular rabbit hole of marvelous, awe-inspiring music.

While Ayreon is technically a band, it’s more the brainchild of a singular person.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a self-proclaimed hermit, a genius in music and thought, with a special ability to find the voices that would best fit the tone of music he’s trying to create.

He succeeds.

The band has a plethora of people from other groups who all participate in this massive undertaking of music.

Members of bands in Ayreon include people from dozens of other groups, from classical and pop, to the best in progressive metal and symphonic rock.

Iron Maiden, Opeth, Blind Guardian, Krezip, Nightwish, Helloween, Anathema, The Gathering, Magnum, Lacuna Coil, Twisted Sister, Devin Townsend, Rhapsody, Marillion, Dream Theater, King Crimson, Asia, Katatonia, Kingdom Come, Toehider, Shadow Gallery, Within Temptation, Symphony X, Epica, Avantasia.

There are many others, but these are just some of the singers that have taken part.

That doesn’t count people like Joe Satriani, Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Ed Warby (Gorefest), Barry Hay (Golden Earring), Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis), and more who have come in as guitarists and other instrumentalists.

They all come together from these massive bands because the music created with Ayreon is that epic.

They’re all huge in their own right, and they clamor to participate in the Ayreon project.

The project tells a large, overarching science fiction story about the origins of mankind and our future. Science fiction is a passion of mine, the subject of quite a number of short stories and novels I have authored and co-authored over the years.

Each album (over 18 total) is a part of the story, all continuing from one to the next. In the story, Ayreon was a blind bard in King Arthur’s court who received dream messages from the future, In these dreams, messages from the future tried to warn humans about their impending doom in the year 2084 by nuclear apocalypse. He got the messages and tried to tell the people, but no one other than Merlin believed him.

Merlin, however, was jealous that Ayreon was the one to receive them and did everything he could to discredit the bard, to make him look the fool. Ayreon then, through reincarnation, keeps living lives and knowing something is coming, but is unable, though he lived so often, to get people to understand.

Eventually, in the 01011001 album, he’s a man (Mister L, who is based on Arjen Lucassen, the creator of the Ayreon project) in an insane asylum trying to get people to believe his visions are real and not some psychosis.

01011001 (the binary form of Y) tells the side of the story from the side of the immortal aliens who have forgotten what it means to feel emotions. They are known as Y, or sometimes called Forever, hence the reason for the album’s name.

Their own world was once thriving and alive, but eventually destroyed by giant computer systems which had been set up to make decisions for their lives. The computer (called The Frame) eventually decided the best thing to do for them was to destroy them in an apocalypse of their own.

After escaping their planet (Alpha), the beings began using a special drug they called Liquid Eternity, giving them eternal life, but cutting them off from emotional ties and matters.

Many years later, they created mankind to see, through us, what it means to live fully.

In their attempt to find themselves, they didn’t realize giving us the emotions we cannot control leads to our ultimate destruction. Desperately, they try what they can do to save us from ourselves.

Ayreon has graciously made all of their music available for people on YouTube to listen to and enjoy, in the hopes it will inspire people to purchase the albums.

(Playlist for the lyric videos provided courtesy of Ayreon on YouTube)

The first song from the 01011001 album is called Age of Shadows / We Are Forever.

As an example of the awesomeness of this music, you hear starting at 7:28 all the binary, yes/no, on/off lyrics are actually the aliens pleading for help in computer language.

“HELP” “SOS” “FOREVER” are all spelled out in layers at the same time via different language forms, creating a singular cry for attention to their own plight.

One of the other amazing albums from the band is titled The Human Equation. Many consider it their favorite album, because it is potent.

The concept of this set of songs is pretty wild, too. In it, a man gets into a car accident and is thrust into a situation where his Emotions have taken shape and form. They pressure him to decide whether he should give up his miserable life and move on to the other side, or remain on Earth with his wife and try to find forgiveness for his sins.

The depth of humanness expressed through words and music on this concept art is breathtaking.

The song from this album that hits me hard has to be Pain.

The layers of vocals and the absolute visceral heart-wrenching agony in that song are overwhelming.

As someone with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) who has struggled for many years with overpowering emotions and voices arguing with one another, the album speaks to me in ways difficult to express.

In particular, the lyrics here get me every time:

We lead

We hide

as the pain leaves the rage inside

Being here, welcomed by a sane mind

A travelled lie

All the time, I had waited with Rage

All the time, I was promised my salvation

I’ve felt that. I’ve lived it. It’s ingrained into me.

I am pain

I am real, I’m not a dream

I’m the chain around your neck as you scream

I can’t believe there is no way out

“You’ll find you are wrong”

You fill me with doubt

“You were never that strong”

The whole time, the man is yelling, “WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?” in agony and despair and oh god…

Then, his emotion of Love tries to give him hope, something to grab hold of and live.

I can’t accept this, we will find a way

Out of this cesspool of doom and dismay

Beyond this dejection there’s beauty and grace

A glorious future we long to embrace

And as she speaks, his “Rage” screams “PAIN!“

Have you ever dealt with that yourself? Have you ever felt that fight inside?

I have an unfortunate number of times. Even today, with my wife in my arms reassuring me I am adored by someone, the pain from my past thrives within. It’s always seeking that path to be released and despair.

Music has the ability to transform lives in ways unexpected. Frequencies really summed the whole of the universe. Is it any wonder, then, our own emotions and memories can be altered and triggered by that same force?

What music has transformed your own life?

About me:

I am an author with over a dozen books and dozens of short stories published. I have experience with both traditional and self-publishing, and love to discuss the pros and cons of both.

Why do I write? Because I am blind and live on woefully low disability payments each month. The government graced me with trying to live on about $700 per month, and I decided to start publishing because I also like to be able to eat.

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