If you are familiar with Ayreon at all, you will already know that Arjen Lucassen does not really do things on a small scale.  Thankfully, ‘Transitus’ finds that nothing has changed on that score. Ayreon will release the new album ‘Transitus’ 25 September, via Music Theories Recordings and MetalTalk have spoken …

With the 50th Anniversary of the sad loss of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, we were excited to read a story in the Edinburgh Evening News that the ’66 Jimi Hendrix Experience breakthrough single ‘Hey Joe’ was actually written in Edinburgh by Billy Roberts, who co-wrote the song ten years earlier with …

The new Ayreon album, ‘Transitus’, has been announced today by Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen and it promises to be one of the most epic packages Ayreon have ever put together. ‘Transitus’ is built around a new story and, while not connected to the Ayreon universe, there are subtle links. The …

Arjen Lucassen’s ambition to take his Ayreon Universe to the stage was realised in three massively successful shows in Tilburg last year. With the video and audio recordings of the show just released, MetalTalk caught up with him to chat about all things Ayreon. Words: Ian Sutherland Last time you …

Ayreon is the brainchild of Dutch producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer Arjen Lucassen. The project’s first release was 1995’s ‘The Final Experiment’ and, like most of Ayreon’s output, is a rock opera with multiple guest musicians and vocalists. Words: Robert Adams The music covers a myriad of styles, but is …

Any Ayreon live concert is a huge spectacular event. Arjen Anthony Lucassen is certainly the Dutch king of Progressive Rock and, true to his roots, rather than just re-release ‘Into The Electric Castle’, put together a plan to record the album Live. The result is ‘Ayreon – Electric Castle Live …

Giant Dutchman Arjen Lucassen has been happy to buck music industry trends for the last twenty years plus, sitting in his home studio and putting out epic concept albums under the Ayreon name. No touring, little promotion, yet he has built up a worldwide fan base who buy everything he comes …