Ayreon - Universal Migrator Part II: Flight of the Migrator

One of the hottest and most eagerly anticipated discs to be unleashed in 2000 is without a doubt "Flight of the Migrator". The vocalist guest list reads out like a who's who of power metal boasting such top class vocalists as Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Russel Allen (Symphony X), Andi Deris (Helloween), Fabio Lione (Rhapsody), and many more. Former Vengeance guitarist Arjen Luccassen has created several fantastic prog-rock operas over the past several years, each more inventive and ambitious than the last, but never has he surrounded himself with so many first class talents than on this double decker set of discs.

"Flight of the Migrator" is the second part of a two cd 'set' that were released simultaenously but sold seperately called "Universal Migrator". "The Dream Sequencer" is actually where this epic all starts, a lush prog rock disc with more similiarities to his past works than "Flight". It is a journey through the history of the Earth in its highest and lowest points before its destruction, and to tie it in with the first Ayreon disc from 1995 - "The Final Experiment", the apocalypse takes place as it was predicted on the debut, in 2084. Even though Earth has been devestated, a small colony living on Mars is still surviving, until their food supplies are diminished and only but one man is left. This man steps into the Dream Sequencer, which is a time traveling device that manipulates the mind through hypnosis allowing the turning back of the tides of time and spinning not only to the past and one's youth but to all the lives they have lived before. However, for this review we are only dealing with the second part of "Universal Migrator", but it seems necessary to know what came previously before falling headfirst into traveling through the far reaches of outer space on this metallic musical adventure. What does that mean? The final link to what was the great race of beings known as Earth-born humans attempts to accomplish what no one has dared do before, travel to the time of the Big Bang and before. Then as Arjen explains it: "During that Big Bang one great soul came to be, that I call The Universal Migrator. The Universal Migrator divides into millions of souls that will seek out planets to give life to. The colonist follows one of the souls on it's way to the earth. Along the way they encounter astronomical phenomena like wormholes, white holes, black holes and quasars." Luccassen only had to reference children's encyclopedias for the information to compose the story for "The Dream Sequencer", for the 'metal disc' of the two, it was the research of the scientist Stephen Hawking that provided the facts necessary for spinning the lyrics to this fantastic Sci-Fi tale.

When listening to the album, the stable of singers and over-the-top storyboard aside, the most notable aspect of the disc is its sound. A slew of analog keyboards were used to create spacey effects, the likes of which I had never heard before. Sounds come out of the speakers that are so otherworldly that it takes the breath away, just as it should and fits the overall theme beautifully. Arjen Luccassen is of course the center of this universe, and with his creative control overshadowing the mixture of musicians, he gently edges everyone along the same pathway that his vision has taken, thus keeping a nice flow to the album, which is quite frantic and fastpaced, as careening through the galaxy would be. Arjen is guitarist for most of the tracks, only allowing for a couple of guesting axemen to work their magics on a solo or two. Erik Norlander is to thank for all the mindboggling analog synthesizer and keyboard sounds that paint varied tapestries of sonic beauty with a 70ish vibe. Ex-Elegy skin pounder Ed Warby does a fantastic job with the drumwork, such a variety of feels were needed to carry out the vision of each song, and he adapts to the changes nicely. Everyone involved gives solid perfomances, with a handful coming across as pure creative genius. While most elements fall together nicely, all is not pure perfection, as a few songs seem a little long winded or not exciting enough.....

Half of these songs are broken up into little pieces but they are reviewed as an entire piece. Only the main titles are mentioned here in the body of the review to try and avoid confusion.

1.] Chaos - Everything the song title hints at. Lana Lane as the Dream Sequencer warns of the impending dangers of traveling that far back into the depths of time, then the listener is whisked away on an instrumental journey, that allows Luccassen to pull all his guitar tricks out of the bag with an enormous explosion bringing it to a close.
2.] Dawn of a Million Souls - In Symphony X, vocalist Russel Allen and guitarist Michael Romeo are consistantly awesome, but here they cross over the border into being phenomenal. Allen's voice takes on a new sound, more subdued and thoughtful than ever before, in comparision to the lighter moments of SyX's "Candlelight Fantasia". Captivating and well rounded, a bit Tony Martin-ish in delivery with lush hints of pure AOR, he has never sounded finer or more convincing, especially with Damian Wilson enforcing this melodic feel by providing backing vocals, bringing an extra element of vocal texture. Romeo's solo bursts are luckily equal in quality, and the song itself matches the performances so well. It's like Symphony X on acid, brimming with swirling keyboard effects and a chorus that allows the singer to fully realize his vocal capabilities, bringing a powerful centerpiece to the track. Storywise this gives insight to the flight of the souls as they spread out in search of planets to create life.
3.] Journey On the Waves of Time - This song was well recieved, and while its opening is delightfully bombastic, all seems ruined when Ralf Scheepers starts singing. Personally I've never been a fan of Scheepers, while he has a powerful voice, and does seem suited to the song, but causes the tune to fall flat in terms of vocal performance. The wandering bass heavy parts drive the stake through its heart and leaves it to the grave. Not a 'bad' song by any fashion, but Ralf has the kind of cold, passionless throat that plagues Broadway singers (as can be seen in Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Beethoven's Last Night"). After the positively divine "Dawn of a Million Souls", this is just a real let down. The last human on Mars (or Earth for that matter) joins up with the souls and travels to them.
4.] To the Quasar - Recorded just a scant two days before the end mix in Germany, its nearly nine minutes of psychedelic metallic goodness, opening with distorted processed vocals and abstract acoustic meanderings. Andi Deris is singing a little lower with a few outbursts of his full force range. The pacing is a little too murkily warped until its transistion from the first half into the next section, which is heralded in by violin sounds and crushing double bass drumwork that has the powerful feel of Symphony X. When the haunting chorus kicks in, all that came before is forgiven, as Lana Lane's crystalline voice can be heard backing up Deris, the light to his darker shades. Here the soul wants to embark on a journey through the quasar with the ultimate goal of being able to reach the Earth in this manner. "Lift your head up to the sky and hear the faraway cry of a dying star."
5.] Into the Blackhole - An intriguing song that allows the concept to be illustrated not only with words but just by feel. Making the song complete is the absolutely breathtaking vocal performance by Bruce Dickinson, the embodiment of the black hole as it beckons. Heavy, opaque, daunting, the power radiating from that voice is as mesmerizing as it is overwhelming. Those who believe Dickinson lost it somewhere between the solo outing, "Chemical Wedding" and Iron Maiden's "Brave New World" will be blown away by this song which defies description. Slow, dark and heavy, it takes its time in presenting its ultimate power, and spans over ten minutes long, building cautiously but soon unleashing waves of bombastic might. Bruce holds a note that *must* be heard to be believed. It forces the listener to succumb to the atmosphere that surrounds, and holds them there for the duration of the song. Absolutely phenomenal. Lana Lane provides contrast at the end, sounding deceptively heavenly while pleading to "Feed me light" as a black hole would crave. "Look away in disbelief, this cannot be happening...the end has come, I bow in grief, there is no way back from the halo of darkness."
6.] Through the Wormhole - The title to this describes the storyline here just as the song before it did. Because of its straightup speed/power metal feel (with a heaping of special effects to keep the theme flowing), many people seemed to overlook this track, which is easy to do since anything that would follow "Into the Blackhole" would seem weak when stacked up against it, but I found this track to be of a more 'lighter' fare than the attention demanding one before it. A fun, energetic flight, galloping through the wormhole (those that watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will know what this is without a doubt, since it was the center of many a plot on that Sci-Fi series). Some of the recurring melodies that were strung through both this disc and "The Dream Sequencer" crops up and brought to the forefront. My judgement on this track could perhaps be clouded by my love for Fabio Lione's voice, who is singing with all the commanding authority and strength of one who could possibly be riding the waves of energy through the tunnel through time and space. Shadow Gallery's Gary Wehrkamp provides a suitable guitar solo and an even better synthesizer one.
7.] Out of the White Hole - As Luccassen explains in an interview "theoretically the other side of the black hole is called the white hole. No one has ever seen it and it is unsure if it exists... the soul and the colonists have come out of the white hole and end up in Andromeda, a planetary system ("M31"). in the distance they see a planet that could have life on it...On this "Planet Y" lives Forever, the alien from "Into the Electric Castle". They see creatures with hollow eyes staring up without emotion. Suddenly a voice says: "Remember Forever", the final sentence of "Into the Electric Castle". Since this planet is already inhabited, the soul continues his quest..." A wonderful companion piece to "Through the Wormhole", Timo Kotipelto's pipes seem to fit in perfectly after hearing Lione. Another highlight of the album, yet another landscape created that strays far from the pathways of the previous tracks, but with enough similarities so not to be out of place. Anytime Kotipelto takes the stage as frontman, he demands attention, and this particular song puts him in a vastly different setting than his work with Stratovarius. Arjen's flaming axework is tough and driving, liquid fire writhing over the top of Norlander's bubbling keys that threaten to overtake and drown the song in synthesizer. The song hesitates for a second, then kicks back in with a detached spectral feel before rounding back in to run the chorus through one last time before the finale. "We're passing Sirrah in Alpha Pegasi, into the atmosphere of planet Y, what will we find? chances almost none...will there be life in M31?"
8.] To the Solar System - Robert Soeterboek voices the track as the duo of soul and colonist reaches our solar system and something is going astray. It seems The Dream Sequencer wasn't built for such far fetched journeys and thus overheats, causing the man trapped inside to slowly die. A rollicking, very 70s rock flavored chorus, rejoicing for the homecoming to the Planet of Blue, feels strange as the song veers back into the pathways of extreme progressive metal. The last minute of the song is actually the computer voice demanding the flesh and blood being inside the machine to return to consciousness. You would think by this far in the future that computers could emulate human voices a little better, but I suppose the cliched 'robotic' voice gives it more of a classic science fiction edge. "I can almost touch the glorious rings of Saturn but then I feel them slip away, I can almost see the yellow clouds of Venus but then the sequence slowly fades."
9.] The New Migrator - They couldn't leave the fellow dead or on the brink of death could they? Every story has a happy ending (or atleast one that the audience can come to terms with) and Arjen's opus is no exception. Destination Earth is reached, the Migrator contacts the dying colonist and his soul seperates from his worldly body as he embarks on a new adventure, as that of.... as the title has already given the plot twist away.... the new universal migrator. The first part of this song "Metamorphosis" is bombastic and otherworldly, giving a feel of what lies in the afterlife, then it breaks loose into "Sleeper Awake", a song which Arjen and Ian Parry wrote for Vengeance, when they both were a part of that 80s Dutch hard rock outfit, with the lyrics rewritten by Parry to fit in with the storyline. Fairly straightforward with a triumphant chorus, and some of the most uplifting musical sections to appear on the disc. A blistering guitar/synthesizer duel ensues toward the end, those that love this sort of thing will be delighted. Strangely, this is one of the weakest tracks, which lies in the repetitive nature of the song, both musically and lyrically. However, it seems a fitting end, especially with the instrumental bits acting as bookends.