Why "The Theory of Everything" Is Everything To Me.

To some people the new Ayreon album is "just" an awesome upcoming album featuring some very special musicians. To others it's the one release that's more important than anything – along the lines of "no matter what happens in life - as long as I'll have the new Ayreon album in my hands, all is good". The latter describes my passion for the album quite well – though not in its entirety. So let me explain.

To my shame, I must admit that I discovered Ayreon in 2005, not earlier. But when I did, it completely blew me away. "The Human Equation" was my first contact with the realm of Arjen Anthony Lucassen's perfection that is the prog metal opera Ayreon. It had it all. The perfect blend of prog, rock, folk and metal in a musical-opera that exceeded my wildest dreams. The perfect vocalists for all the different roles. But most of all: one of the most gripping and touching storylines I'd ever experienced in music.

Later on, of course, I got all of Arjen's music. I collected each Ayreon release in the best possible versions, got plenty of autographs on them, too, got Ambeon, Star One, Guilt Machine (on which you can even hear my voice at the beginning!), Strange Hobby and much more. I let my dreams and fantasies carry me away while listening to the amazing "Dream Sequencer", travelled through time, rode on the waves of time and got into the official Ayreon forum where many other fans (to be called friends later on) intertwined all the Ayreon releases into one coherent storyline. And when "01011001" came out (must have been THE single most awesome release party in the history of the universe!), this storyline was even spelled out – and a lot like we Ayreonauts on the official forum thought it would be.

"Zero One" is an amazing album, as are all the previous albums, too.
But "The Theory of Everything" will be different. It will be something absolutely special.

Why?

Well... what gripped me most, emotionally, was the amazingly exciting story of "The Human Equation". Characters you followed through a story, through an adventure. An adventure of love, hate, betrayal, childhood memories, relationships, desires, hopes and wishes. "The Final Experiment", "Into the Electric Castle" and "The Universal Migrator" did, too. You were in the shoes of the progagonists and you felt for them. You lived their ups and downs.

You laughed when "Me" proposed to his wife and she knelt down too for she thought he'd lost his keys. You cried when the Egyptian closed her eyes for all eternity in the Valley of the Queens. You suffered when you stood in the sands of Mars and were truly alone – the last human in existence and you couldn't even get home. You wept when the "Foreverians" reminisced about their life beneath the waves. You triumphed when you opened the gate to your destiny after traversing the mighty Electric Castle. You travelled on the Migrator trail, you contemplated life as the first man on Earth and you were struck with awe when the outcome of the Final Experiment was placed in your hands.

You WERE those persons.

Don't get me wrong, I regularly travel to the Planet Y with "Zero One" and it's one of my favourite albums. It is emotionally captivating, too (of course it is – it's by Arjen, he kinda does that every time!). It's just that it lacked a bit of that specific element of following persons through an adventure.

Now "The Theory of Everything" will have that, again. It will be the first Ayreon since "The Human Equation" — read: the first Ayreon after nine years — to take you away on a journey you won't ever forget. The next step across the borders of the Ayreon Universe.

So welcome aboard, Ayreonauts. Take a seat and dim the light.
Lie down in the energy tank and place the electrodes on your temples.
Empty your mind.
And hold on tight.

And remember.
Forever.



Thank you, Arjen.