The beauty for a vocal coach of exploring Ayreon, is all the wonderful singers you discover and making it extremely varied for reactions. Here is a list of the composer and singers in order of appearance: Arjen Lucassen - Composer - Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. James Labrie - Lead singer for Dream Theatre. Tommy Karevik - Lead singer of Kamelot and Seventh Wonder. Tommy Rodgers - Lead singer of Between the Buried and Me. Simone Simons - Lead singer of Epica. Nils K. Rue - Lead singer of Pagan's Mind and also worked with Eidolon. Tobias Sammet - Lead singer of Edguy & Avantasia. Hansi Kürsch - Lead singer of Blind Guardian and Demons & Wizards. Mike Mills - Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and main songwriter for Toehider. Russell Allen - Lead singer of Symphony X and Allen/Lande. Michael Eriksen - Lead singer of Circus Maximus. Floor Jansen - Lead singer of After Forever, ReVamp & now Nightwish. Instrumentalists Joost van den Broek (ex-After Forever) - grand piano and electric piano Maaike Peterse (Kingfisher Sky) - cello Ed Warby - drums Ben Mathot - violin Jeroen Goossens (ex-Pater Moeskroen) - flute, wind instruments Arjen Anthony Lucassen - electric and acoustic guitars, all other instruments (composer) Next I would suggest reacting to the performances at Ayreon Universe concert, especially the following Intergalactic Space Crusaders, River of Time, Merlin's Will, Valley of the Queens, Ride the Comet, Star of Sirrah, And the Druids Turn to Stone, Age of Shadows & Everybody Dies.
For reasons that transpired music there will be no more Demons and Wizards (I will not state my opinion since this is not the time nor the place) and Jorn Lande "got bored" so there will be no more Allen/Lande either. Russell started a new collaboration with former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon
If you liked Michael Mills in this song, next should be "Everybody dies" live from Aryeon Universe. After that, I recommend a song from Arjens latest album (released this year) from his other project Star One. The song is "Prescient" and performed by Michael Mills and Ross Jennings and its another example of beautifully composed multilayered singing.
@@derpip4325 He is definitely a Mastermind and I admire him for that. I like most songs on his own albums (ie "how much for that dragon tooth" ) but some of the songs on his own songs don't click with me. Just a matter of taste. However, I find all his songs for Arjen are awesome.
Not only is he "okay" with you reacting this, he will very likely make an appearance in your comments soon to thank you for it. Dude is a legend and humble to boot!
The Dutch way of pronouncing Simone is "Seemonuh" And if you want to talk to Arjen Lucassen, he is always open for long interviews via Zoom. No problem.
The character of android TH1 is actually named after Michael Mills' band Toehider as Arjen often already has an artist in mind while writing the characters.
This was absolute delight of the best layered cake experience while floating in a pool of awesome and basking in the sun of this stunning music. Thank you to all who recommended it, and to you, Christi, for hosting these delicious live reactions. It is the best community. Happy weekend, all!
I wish Hansi had a bigger part in this song (same goes for just about every song he's not the lead vocalist in, though). He has one of the most unique and distinctive voices in metal. He can do both the most beautiful, frail falsetto imaginable as well as immense gut-shredding screams. It's such a crying shame there's no live video of Blind Guardian's song The Eldar, it's such a fantastic showcase of what Hansi can do.
@@luisnunes3863 And it's a brilliant song, but it's also super long and has a million things going on. The Eldar is a succinct few minutes of nothing but a piano and Hansi singing his heart out.
At the Universe concert i attended it was the first time i heart Mike Mills sing a B5 live by a dude. You can hear it in the song Everybody dies. I was one of the lucky ones. This concert was AAAAAAAAAAAAMAZING.
Recommended Video’s (2021/2022) : Star One - Lost Children of the Universe (Roy Khan, Tony Martin, Marcela and Irene, Steve Vai) ruclips.net/video/6ADV7NYDfQs/видео.html Star One - Fate of Man (Brittney Slayes, Michael Romeo) ruclips.net/video/vn7P3oVMnys/видео.html Star One - Prescient (ft Micheal Mills, Ross Jennings) ruclips.net/video/Ff4dFzMXYsM/видео.html Star One - Revel In Time (ft Brandon Yeagley, Adrian Vandenberg) ruclips.net/video/-fHN4Qceip4/видео.html Recommended Video’s Ayreon - Everybody Dies (Ayreon Universe) ruclips.net/video/9AAXtUdM7xE/видео.html Ayreon - Star of Sirrah (Universe) ruclips.net/video/3dEHQNAZsIo/видео.html Ayreon - Intergalactic Space Crusaders (Universe) ruclips.net/video/mDjomu33Xzc/видео.html Ayreon - The Eye Of Ra (Universe) ruclips.net/video/odcO0SciTUY/видео.html Ayreon - Twisted Coil (Electric Castle And Other Tales) ruclips.net/video/gcHn0kCgmAs/видео.html
While it may hold true that Hard Rock led to Heavy Metal.... The overall "Metal" genre of music has more subgenres then "Rock"! I have yet to truly understand this! Arjen and Tuomas are musical geniuses at least on par with the classical beasts !
Dang, I just missed the live stream! I set a reminder and all that jazz but it might be a clever thing to be at home when the broadcast starts.... Just enjoyed the recording, which really was great. But throwing in some chat remarks would have been the icing on the cake. I like to compare Ayreon with The Alan Parsons Project but just from the operational point of view. While Parsons works on one theme by album, Arjen's albums combined form one big prog/metal/rock space opera. The only artists that come to mind doing/having done something alike are The Who with Tommy and Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. Great stream, Christi! It was like taking a warm bath!
This is one of best things Arjen has compossed and that's a lot to say. A couple of other amazing songs from Ayreon are the live version of Everybody Dies from Ayreon Universe and Cosmic Fusion from Electric Castle Live, and from Epica go for Omega Alive stuff
Speaking of one big metal family, Floor released a Rock album in 2018 under the project name, "Northward" with the guitarist from Pagan's Mind, Jørn Viggo Lofstad.
The two live concerts are epic: Ayreon Universe live The electric castle live and other tales. This concert has to be listened to in order of songs to understand the story. (it’s an anniversary concert of the album ‘Into the electric castle and some extra songs). First concert with Floor Jansen and Anneke van Giersbergen and other musicians The second concert is with Anneke van Giersbergen and other musicians. Q from Star Trek is the narrator. Simone and Floor do two epic duets with Epica: Stabat Mater Dolorosa. Sancta Terra. Tobias is pronounced as To-bee-as. Bee is spoken shortly. The a in as is pronounced as the a in car. The binary code says Trust TH1. TH1 is an android from the stories in Arjen’s stories.
Hello. Great video! If you allow a suggestion, I strongly recomend track 3 of this album ("Everybody Dies" - Live!) for another sample of epicness of Ayreon and particularly Michael Mills. Greetings!
Thank you for experiencing Ayreon. I've seen James Labrie, Tommy Karevik, Tommy Rodgers, and Russell Allen live, though Russell was with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, not Symphony X.
all 11 singers are on the whole album in the live production of "Everybody Dies" also from the album 4 of the main singers are also on the live Floor Jansen,Tommy Karevik,Hansi Kursch, and Michael Mills they have back up singers Irene Jansen(Karma,Ayreon, and Floor's Sister), Lisette Van Den Berg (Scarlet Stories) Marcela Bovio (MaYaN, Ayreon) and guest singer Magali (Maggy) Luyton (Nightmare) Michael Hits an even higher note than any he hit on TDTTWBD.
I feel like this entire genre really challenges the concept of "Household Names" and it's sad how these people aren't known to the average man on the street, and there are some people who everyone worldwide knows who have barely an ounce of this talent and sing songs they had nothing to do with composing. I hate that fame and fortune is not actually a representation of talent or hard work on a craft in this modern world. It's tragic actually. You are so right in saying this is a 'rich' composition. The layers and seamless transitions between sections are dazzling.
Official video😎 And thank you for your nice reaction to Ayreon. Arjen is the best of the best. Check out his project Star One to. New album out now.! The song Children of the universe is amazing 🤘
Hello trom the Netherlands. About the name Bovee: The family name Bovee or Bovée is a spelling variant that occurs more in the northern Netherlands of the name form Bové, which is more common in Belgium, in addition to the accentless form Bove. Although Bove is also an Italian family name, we are looking at the Dutch or French names here. Its etymological basis is similar. In addition to the French form Bové, one can put Bovet and Bouvet. Boeve belongs next to the Dutch form Bove. The basis is a Germanic word or a Germanic personal name Bovo, the meaning of which has developed into the German word Bube (kwajongen), the Dutch word boef (kwajongen, rogue, knecht) and possibly the English word boy (boy). Bové, Bovet and Bouvet can be regarded as flattering forms of the personal name Bovo. To quote: Leendert Brouwer, 'Bovee', in: Nederlandse Familienamenbank = CBG Family Names, Amsterdam, Meertens Institute / The Hague, CBG Center for Family History, 2000...
Great reaction and commentary Christie! Arjen has so many unique and complex musical creations from guitar driven metal to folk music. Usually with a progressive vibe and many songs include classical and traditional instruments. Loved it!
Thanks again, Christi for this marvelous live reaction to this amazing Arjen Project. It was again a hart warming reaction. It feels like a festivity for the Heart.
if it ain't dutch it ain't much... Welcome in the amazing world of Arjen A. Lucassen Aka Ayreon Universe (Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One, Guilt Machine, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion).... Enjoy this rabbit hole….!!!!!
I am always curious when more "classical" style singer/coach/reactors (such as yourself) take a year or two journey to arrive here. I wonder if you ever expected this. Did you ever imagine that you would be researching metal musicians ? How surprising is the journey.
Great reaction. Such a wonderful song. For some reason it always reminds me of JCS and Operation MIndcrime. A thrilling story, escapism and before you know it it is already bedtime (and in your dreams it will still haunt you, Kate Bush style ! (but in a pleasant way :))
From Maine. Wasn't able to join the live reaction, but "bookmarked" this reaction...waited for a while to see it. Love your reactions, to Nightwish and all the other reactions to metal bands.
40:20 I hadn't seen this earlier! Thanks for the tip - that was definitely great singing. In case somebody else has missed this, too: Floor Jansen & Tommy Karevik - Ave Maria 2019 ruclips.net/video/x_quCQRkQtA/видео.html (It's interesting that Floor and Tommy had to go to Finland to perform this.)
Love your reactions as always. And speaking of Russel Allen...give yourself a treat and go listen to him. He is probably the best and most well rounded metal singer. This dude can sing anything. Not as mainstream as Floor or Nightwish with his band Symphony X...but Symphony X is in a class of their own, the whole band, all of the members, in term of musicality and pure skills as well. I always considered this band to be criminally underrated...but it often is the case with bands that have musicians as their target audience. "The Odyssey" would be an amazing song to react to (but a long one) and yes, it really is a whole song taletelling Homer's "Odyssey". Anyway, it sure was a pleasure to watch this reaction =) have a wonderful day
Great reaction and stream Christi!!! Here's a link to the whole live concert and all the songs! Also includes, Marko from Nightwish, Damian Wilson ex Threshold, Edward Reekers from Kayak, Floors sister Irene and at the end even Arjen comes on stage!! All amazing songs!! ruclips.net/p/PLJGn3wi7b7b606GfoKAdOgm6rtX9OliRc
Arjen isn’t from the ZuK, he’s Dutch! Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch composer and guitarist. He grew up in The Hague. For a while he was guitarist with the hard rock band Bodine from The Hague. However, the Randstad soon became too busy for him, so he moved to North Brabant. Born: April 3, 1960 (age 62), Hilversum Genre(s): Rock opera, progressive metal, progressive rock, symphonic metal, electronic music, space rock Related Artists: Vengeance, Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One, Stream of Passion, Bodine, Guilt Machine Music groups: Ayreon (since 1995), Star One (since 2002), Stream of Passion (2005 - 2007) In 2009 he started the new project Guilt Machine, whose album On This Perfect Day was released in August 2009. On November 1, 2010, the Star One album Victims of the Modern Age was released. In September 2014 Lucassen announced a collaboration with “Anneke van Giersbergen” under the name “The Gentle Storm” to release a CD in March 2015 entitled “The Diary”.
Sorry I missed but I was really tired. Hi Everyone. Hi Christi Love you. Arjen didn't take an guitars lessons and played by ear. Mostly self taught. Arjen did a interview with The Charamastic singer Elizabeth and she did one with Joaquim from Sabaton. Elizabeth is a opera singer.
Hi Christi! You are the first who mentioned The Electric Light Orchestra, concernng Mike's part... Some inspiration from Concerto For A Rainy Day from Out Of The Blue, I always felt. Beautiful video again...thank you. Loads of love from Rich, The Netherlands.
You really have to react to Blind Guardian some day! Hansi Kürsch has one of the most unique voices out there. My favorite is still "Mirror Mirror"... still, most prefer their 2016 Wacken performance of their two most iconic songs "The Bards Song" and "Valhalla"... and I can totally relate
Pro tip: avoid lower resolutions in RUclips if your computer and internet connection can handle it. The video formats with higher resolutions (e.g. 1080p and better) have higher bitrate for the audio and the resulting audio sounds much better. It looks like the video in your stream was 240p or 360p. Open source project called "yt-dlp" can fetch offload copies of RUclips videos with best possible audio.
About the binary code from Michaleil mills. Maybe it's already mentioned: But the code is a binairy code (BCD code) that translates to:"Trust TH1" (the part of michael in this rock opera)
How do you (and many other listeners) not know of these bands and singers? Because most of you, new listeners (and especially experienced vocal coaches, singers) only been introduced to such 'gateway' metal bands with super-duper female singers (for good reasons, of course), like Nightwish, Epica (just to mention because Floor and Simone), and without further helping hands all stops there. Thanks to Arjen Lucassen's amazing talent now you have a chance to hear about Seventh Wonder, Circus Maximus (my 2 favorites), Symphony X and others. Many, many underrated bands, or hidden treasures. Give them a try, you can trust Arjen Lucassen ;)
Aryeon is what Yes and King Crimson wished they could have been back in the 70's and 80's. No pretentious aholes here. I got back into this music when I got recommended Ad astra by Haggard 7or 8 years ago. From there I found Faun, Eivor Nightwish Epica etc mostly from recommendations in comments. The metal family will always guide you to somewhere else.
56:05 that is the typical American approach... out do the other... here they are Arjen's assest.. NO one is to be better, they are JUST a part of a project, a collective supergroup, but in that.. just a cog.. and the whole is to be amazing
That you didn't get Queen from the 0100110000 part shows you have not listened no enough early Queen. Its literally straight out of Queen 2. Harmony city deluxe! By the time you saw them live on your date they had gone into different styles allready.
With Ayreon or should I say Arjen Style of Music reminds me of a Metal Broadway show or a Musical He's very smart and a great story teller and i love how he brings so many great Musicians including some famous one's from American like Dee Snider From Twisted Sister or Steve Vai and so many more.
Tommy Karevik is definitely worth taking a listen to with either Kamelot or Seventh Wonder. Pagan's Mind is also worth checking into ...especially the God's Equation album.
Michael Mills doesn't have 5 octaves of range. He has an about 4.5 octave range (F#1-C6 roughly, depending on what you count). I've done research on his whole discography and compiled his vocal range in a video on my channel, which you can check out. Just thought I'd throw that little correction in here.
Explore the Live Ayreon shows. 'Ayreon Universe' and 'Into The Electric Castle' Live, are both amazing and worth watching. As well as so much fun - so much talent on one stage - it is truly jaw dropping
Have you seen the Nightwish movie Imaginaerum yet? I cannot recommend it enough, it is truly one of my favourite stand alone movies regardless of the music being Tuomas' xxxx I was just talking about DreamTheatre &Avantasia last night in a music composition stream on Twitch; what a collective! Two of my absolute favourites and icons in this industry 34:20 what a run! I'm scraping my jaw up off the floor after that Michael Mills section. I still write with fountain pen too, using orange ink right now 💜
Hello Christi! Wow it was suprising to see you reacting Arjen Lucassen's stuff. I have watched your reactions to Lara Fabian, probably the greatest singer ever (IMHO). Now to see you react something totally different was quite fun. I personally like many music styles from classical to prog metal. And love Lara. Now that you are a professional to react and analyze different singers, would you like to take a look at a singer who is quite sensational and coming a big name among the top vocalists. His name is Tommy Johansson and he sings and plays guitar and keyboards in his solo stuff. He has his own channel and he got quite a few great covers already in the list. It's difficult to name just one what you should take a look at. Because of that i'll make it easier, it's his latest. Uploaded a few days ago. Jennifer Rush song which was covered by Celine Dion... So it is Celine's version cover by Tommy. Power of Love. It's a good one to start with, so you know what he sounds like. There's the link so you can check it out. ruclips.net/video/yGLuPiqHAR0/видео.html
I agree with the darkness and something on the rocks to listen to the album carefully (for me it would be Scotch Wiskey - a single malt, almost all of them taste good). Before you do that I would like to suggest a RUclips video where the interaction of the different characters in the different tracks comes out perfectly : ruclips.net/video/vN-kbmQckw8/видео.html
Other than groups like Kansas,, Dixie Dregs, YES , ELP and a few others Of the early 1970s which had long Is form tracksOf progressive music, Is Rick Wakeman, From YES, Produce a full length themed album I believe with a London Symphony. "lourny to the center of the earth".
If you want to get into massive guitar solos to arsolo's to impress you I suggest you start with Richie Blackmore from Deep Purple days right up through Rainbow and through Blackmoer's Knight Guys like him and Joe bonamassa and a few others are thee cream top tier guitarists of all time
44:46 If you want to see something by Toehider, I would recommend their Queen cover. It's so good that Brian May called it "brilliantly accurate": QUEEN COVER - The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (from "Queen II") ruclips.net/video/Ch494KUV0O0/видео.html
And finally my request for Blackbriar again (feat. Zora on vocals). It would be great to do 'The Witch" trilogy. But maybe start with 'Arms of the Ocean' (Acoustic) [Live] ruclips.net/video/7L_L_-ePIKc/видео.html #katebushbutmetal #storytelling #womenempowerment
56:06 NO ! That would make it a pop song.. pop (f) artists, they compete to own centrestage and trip anyone in their way.. Here are some Metal icons in a collective, NOT copeting for centrestage, and it wasn't meant to be that either... Here the stars are making the constellation that is called Ayreon. Just that, not outshine just be part of the whole thing which itself is ginormous
38:21 Simone Simons isn't pronounced like that.. the I in Simome is like the I in AmerIca and the E is pronounced like E in Winnipeg.. in Simons again same I.. Not Saymoms.. Nad the A in Jansen of Floor Jansen is like the A in America aswell... it isn't Jensen.. if it was, she"d have that for a last name lol :D
You are all wrong on her name. I have heard her pronounce her name several times in interviews. Look it up! It is Simone as in Nina and Simons as in simmer. Some countries pronounce like your friends are telling you but, she does not.
Thanks for the reaction, it was great. You made yourself too tiny, though :( Reactions are mostly about the reactor, as the original video can be seen clearly with one click. Keep up the great work!
As I understand it, TH-1 is the AI that helps the Alphans to leave the planet that is threatened by "The Frame ", wich is the actual enemy shutting down life support etc. Anyway. AYREON is a number of albums that describes an ongoing science fiction story, of wich this particular album The Source describes the beginning of it. Next to AYREON Arjen has several other similar projects, similar to this one, but with other subjects. there is Transitus, much like a rock opera including a stage and all, then there is Star One, wich last album just came out last Februari, including musicians like Michael Romeo, Steve Vai, Adrian Vanden Berg and also every song has another singer and is based on Time travel or time manipulating. From that album, Prescient would be for you, it is mainly produced by Michael Mills. I am gonna stop here, because this rabbit hole is too big to take in in one time anyway. Enjoy !!
15:35 "How do you keep all these metal genres straight?" You can start by trying to learn Wikipedia page about heavy metal genres: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_genres
The beauty for a vocal coach of exploring Ayreon, is all the wonderful singers you discover and making it extremely varied for reactions.
Here is a list of the composer and singers in order of appearance:
Arjen Lucassen - Composer - Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon.
James Labrie - Lead singer for Dream Theatre.
Tommy Karevik - Lead singer of Kamelot and Seventh Wonder.
Tommy Rodgers - Lead singer of Between the Buried and Me.
Simone Simons - Lead singer of Epica.
Nils K. Rue - Lead singer of Pagan's Mind and also worked with Eidolon.
Tobias Sammet - Lead singer of Edguy & Avantasia.
Hansi Kürsch - Lead singer of Blind Guardian and Demons & Wizards.
Mike Mills - Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and main songwriter for Toehider.
Russell Allen - Lead singer of Symphony X and Allen/Lande.
Michael Eriksen - Lead singer of Circus Maximus.
Floor Jansen - Lead singer of After Forever, ReVamp & now Nightwish.
Instrumentalists
Joost van den Broek (ex-After Forever) - grand piano and electric piano
Maaike Peterse (Kingfisher Sky) - cello
Ed Warby - drums
Ben Mathot - violin
Jeroen Goossens (ex-Pater Moeskroen) - flute, wind instruments
Arjen Anthony Lucassen - electric and acoustic guitars, all other instruments (composer)
Next I would suggest reacting to the performances at Ayreon Universe concert, especially the following Intergalactic Space Crusaders, River of Time, Merlin's Will, Valley of the Queens, Ride the Comet, Star of Sirrah, And the Druids Turn to Stone, Age of Shadows & Everybody Dies.
She's already seen "Valley of the Queens"
For reasons that transpired music there will be no more Demons and Wizards (I will not state my opinion since this is not the time nor the place) and Jorn Lande "got bored" so there will be no more Allen/Lande either. Russell started a new collaboration with former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon
make that Sir-Joost van den Broek
If you liked Michael Mills in this song, next should be "Everybody dies" live from Aryeon Universe. After that, I recommend a song from Arjens latest album (released this year) from his other project Star One. The song is "Prescient" and performed by Michael Mills and Ross Jennings and its another example of beautifully composed multilayered singing.
Great suggestions!
Second that...
Third that. It's amazing fun.
Would still go with mikes own work. Heß just like arjen a Mastermind of creating music
@@derpip4325 He is definitely a Mastermind and I admire him for that. I like most songs on his own albums (ie "how much for that dragon tooth" ) but some of the songs on his own songs don't click with me. Just a matter of taste. However, I find all his songs for Arjen are awesome.
Not only is he "okay" with you reacting this, he will very likely make an appearance in your comments soon to thank you for it. Dude is a legend and humble to boot!
The Dutch way of pronouncing Simone is "Seemonuh" And if you want to talk to Arjen Lucassen, he is always open for long interviews via Zoom. No problem.
The character of android TH1 is actually named after Michael Mills' band Toehider as Arjen often already has an artist in mind while writing the characters.
no its not.
th1 just means computer.
toehider means : sock
@@thecaptainmarko TH1 isn't a computer. He's an android separate from the computer network that wants to purge the planet.
This was absolute delight of the best layered cake experience while floating in a pool of awesome and basking in the sun of this stunning music. Thank you to all who recommended it, and to you, Christi, for hosting these delicious live reactions. It is the best community. Happy weekend, all!
Thank you Annie, what a beautiful comment.
I wish Hansi had a bigger part in this song (same goes for just about every song he's not the lead vocalist in, though). He has one of the most unique and distinctive voices in metal. He can do both the most beautiful, frail falsetto imaginable as well as immense gut-shredding screams. It's such a crying shame there's no live video of Blind Guardian's song The Eldar, it's such a fantastic showcase of what Hansi can do.
There is And Then There Was Silence...
@@luisnunes3863 And it's a brilliant song, but it's also super long and has a million things going on. The Eldar is a succinct few minutes of nothing but a piano and Hansi singing his heart out.
@@Norpal Live video available, though...
Arjen is 6'7". 😳😱 But such an amazing composer. Bringing all of these singers and talented musicians together.
At the Universe concert i attended it was the first time i heart Mike Mills sing a B5 live by a dude. You can hear it in the song Everybody dies. I was one of the lucky ones. This concert was AAAAAAAAAAAAMAZING.
Pleaso do next "Everybody Dies" from the same album! It's so wonderful in the live version!!
Yeahhh my like was the 999th, go Christy! I love Ayreon, Arjen Lucassen is such a musical mastermind. Great video, thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad your experience with the metal community has been a positive one. We appreciate you, too! You're doing a fabulous job with streaming!
Quite a line-up of talent, and a fun, creative and engaging execution. The guy is a treasure.
Recommended Video’s (2021/2022) :
Star One - Lost Children of the Universe (Roy Khan, Tony Martin, Marcela and Irene, Steve Vai) ruclips.net/video/6ADV7NYDfQs/видео.html
Star One - Fate of Man (Brittney Slayes, Michael Romeo) ruclips.net/video/vn7P3oVMnys/видео.html
Star One - Prescient (ft Micheal Mills, Ross Jennings) ruclips.net/video/Ff4dFzMXYsM/видео.html
Star One - Revel In Time (ft Brandon Yeagley, Adrian Vandenberg) ruclips.net/video/-fHN4Qceip4/видео.html
Recommended Video’s
Ayreon - Everybody Dies (Ayreon Universe) ruclips.net/video/9AAXtUdM7xE/видео.html
Ayreon - Star of Sirrah (Universe) ruclips.net/video/3dEHQNAZsIo/видео.html
Ayreon - Intergalactic Space Crusaders (Universe) ruclips.net/video/mDjomu33Xzc/видео.html
Ayreon - The Eye Of Ra (Universe) ruclips.net/video/odcO0SciTUY/видео.html
Ayreon - Twisted Coil (Electric Castle And Other Tales) ruclips.net/video/gcHn0kCgmAs/видео.html
I knew many great musicians thanks to Arjen Anthony Lucassen. One of them is Mike Mills. I love him!
While it may hold true that Hard Rock led to Heavy Metal.... The overall "Metal" genre of music has more subgenres then "Rock"! I have yet to truly understand this! Arjen and Tuomas are musical geniuses at least on par with the classical beasts !
Dang, I just missed the live stream! I set a reminder and all that jazz but it might be a clever thing to be at home when the broadcast starts.... Just enjoyed the recording, which really was great. But throwing in some chat remarks would have been the icing on the cake. I like to compare Ayreon with The Alan Parsons Project but just from the operational point of view. While Parsons works on one theme by album, Arjen's albums combined form one big prog/metal/rock space opera. The only artists that come to mind doing/having done something alike are The Who with Tommy and Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. Great stream, Christi! It was like taking a warm bath!
This is one of best things Arjen has compossed and that's a lot to say. A couple of other amazing songs from Ayreon are the live version of Everybody Dies from Ayreon Universe and Cosmic Fusion from Electric Castle Live, and from Epica go for Omega Alive stuff
Speaking of one big metal family, Floor released a Rock album in 2018 under the project name, "Northward" with the guitarist from Pagan's Mind, Jørn Viggo Lofstad.
The two live concerts are epic:
Ayreon Universe live
The electric castle live and other tales. This concert has to be listened to in order of songs to understand the story. (it’s an anniversary concert of the album ‘Into the electric castle and some extra songs).
First concert with Floor Jansen and Anneke van Giersbergen and other musicians
The second concert is with Anneke van Giersbergen and other musicians. Q from Star Trek is the narrator.
Simone and Floor do two epic duets with Epica: Stabat Mater Dolorosa. Sancta Terra.
Tobias is pronounced as To-bee-as. Bee is spoken shortly. The a in as is pronounced as the a in car.
The binary code says Trust TH1. TH1 is an android from the stories in Arjen’s stories.
Michael Mills always steals the show xD
You have to see Ayreon's "Everybody dies" Live... you will love it
Big fan of Ayreon here, the whole ‘Universe ‘ concert is epic and definitely worth checking out❣️
Wonderful reaction, Christi. Wish I’d be able to watch it live but this is good enough. Great piece of music from a superb album.
Hello. Great video!
If you allow a suggestion, I strongly recomend track 3 of this album ("Everybody Dies" - Live!) for another sample of epicness of Ayreon and particularly Michael Mills.
Greetings!
Thank you for experiencing Ayreon. I've seen James Labrie, Tommy Karevik, Tommy Rodgers, and Russell Allen live, though Russell was with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, not Symphony X.
all 11 singers are on the whole album in the live production of "Everybody Dies" also from the album 4 of the main singers are also on the live Floor Jansen,Tommy Karevik,Hansi Kursch, and Michael Mills they have back up singers Irene Jansen(Karma,Ayreon, and Floor's Sister), Lisette Van Den Berg (Scarlet Stories) Marcela Bovio (MaYaN, Ayreon) and guest singer Magali (Maggy) Luyton (Nightmare) Michael Hits an even higher note than any he hit on TDTTWBD.
I feel like this entire genre really challenges the concept of "Household Names" and it's sad how these people aren't known to the average man on the street, and there are some people who everyone worldwide knows who have barely an ounce of this talent and sing songs they had nothing to do with composing. I hate that fame and fortune is not actually a representation of talent or hard work on a craft in this modern world. It's tragic actually.
You are so right in saying this is a 'rich' composition. The layers and seamless transitions between sections are dazzling.
They are legends and their name will live on, at least.
Circus Maximus- Arcitecht of fortune live . Is a good one next👍
Official video😎 And thank you for your nice reaction to Ayreon. Arjen is the best of the best. Check out his project Star One to. New album out now.! The song Children of the universe is amazing 🤘
Lost children of the universe- Star One
Hello trom the Netherlands.
About the name Bovee:
The family name Bovee or Bovée is a spelling variant that occurs more in the northern Netherlands of the name form Bové, which is more common in Belgium, in addition to the accentless form Bove. Although Bove is also an Italian family name, we are looking at the Dutch or French names here. Its etymological basis is similar. In addition to the French form Bové, one can put Bovet and Bouvet. Boeve belongs next to the Dutch form Bove. The basis is a Germanic word or a Germanic personal name Bovo, the meaning of which has developed into the German word Bube (kwajongen), the Dutch word boef (kwajongen, rogue, knecht) and possibly the English word boy (boy). Bové, Bovet and Bouvet can be regarded as flattering forms of the personal name Bovo.
To quote:
Leendert Brouwer, 'Bovee', in: Nederlandse Familienamenbank = CBG Family Names, Amsterdam, Meertens Institute / The Hague, CBG Center for Family History, 2000...
Great reaction and commentary Christie! Arjen has so many unique and complex musical creations from guitar driven metal to folk music. Usually with a progressive vibe and many songs include classical and traditional instruments. Loved it!
Thanks again, Christi for this marvelous live reaction to this amazing Arjen Project. It was again a hart warming reaction. It feels like a festivity for the Heart.
if it ain't dutch it ain't much... Welcome in the amazing world of Arjen A. Lucassen Aka Ayreon Universe (Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One, Guilt Machine, Gentle Storm, Stream of Passion).... Enjoy this rabbit hole….!!!!!
I am always curious when more "classical" style singer/coach/reactors (such as yourself) take a year or two journey to arrive here. I wonder if you ever expected this. Did you ever imagine that you would be researching metal musicians ? How surprising is the journey.
I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I couldn't be more delighted! @greywuuf 😘
Great reaction. Such a wonderful song. For some reason it always reminds me of JCS and Operation MIndcrime. A thrilling story, escapism and before you know it it is already bedtime (and in your dreams it will still haunt you, Kate Bush style ! (but in a pleasant way :))
From Maine. Wasn't able to join the live reaction, but "bookmarked" this reaction...waited for a while to see it. Love your reactions, to Nightwish and all the other reactions to metal bands.
40:20 I hadn't seen this earlier! Thanks for the tip - that was definitely great singing. In case somebody else has missed this, too:
Floor Jansen & Tommy Karevik - Ave Maria 2019
ruclips.net/video/x_quCQRkQtA/видео.html
(It's interesting that Floor and Tommy had to go to Finland to perform this.)
Love your reactions as always.
And speaking of Russel Allen...give yourself a treat and go listen to him. He is probably the best and most well rounded metal singer. This dude can sing anything. Not as mainstream as Floor or Nightwish with his band Symphony X...but Symphony X is in a class of their own, the whole band, all of the members, in term of musicality and pure skills as well. I always considered this band to be criminally underrated...but it often is the case with bands that have musicians as their target audience.
"The Odyssey" would be an amazing song to react to (but a long one) and yes, it really is a whole song taletelling Homer's "Odyssey".
Anyway, it sure was a pleasure to watch this reaction =) have a wonderful day
Michael Mills vocals are awesome! He does this level of singing live too in the Everybody Dies song.
Great reaction and stream Christi!!! Here's a link to the whole live concert and all the songs! Also includes, Marko from Nightwish, Damian Wilson ex Threshold, Edward Reekers from Kayak, Floors sister Irene and at the end even Arjen comes on stage!! All amazing songs!!
ruclips.net/p/PLJGn3wi7b7b606GfoKAdOgm6rtX9OliRc
Arjen isn’t from the ZuK, he’s Dutch!
Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch composer and guitarist. He grew up in The Hague. For a while he was guitarist with the hard rock band Bodine from The Hague. However, the Randstad soon became too busy for him, so he moved to North Brabant.
Born: April 3, 1960 (age 62), Hilversum Genre(s): Rock opera, progressive metal, progressive rock, symphonic metal, electronic music, space rock
Related Artists: Vengeance, Ayreon, Ambeon, Star One, Stream of Passion, Bodine, Guilt Machine Music groups: Ayreon (since 1995), Star One (since 2002), Stream of Passion (2005 - 2007) In 2009 he started the new project Guilt Machine, whose album On This Perfect Day was released in August 2009. On November 1, 2010, the Star One album Victims of the Modern Age was released. In September 2014 Lucassen announced a collaboration with “Anneke van Giersbergen” under the name “The Gentle Storm” to release a CD in March 2015 entitled “The Diary”.
Wow !!! 💕
christi,. Enjoyed it a bunch, thank you. Hubby is a studio player...right? What was his take ? Be well.
Sorry I missed but I was really tired. Hi Everyone. Hi Christi Love you. Arjen didn't take an guitars lessons and played by ear. Mostly self taught. Arjen did a interview with The Charamastic singer Elizabeth and she did one with Joaquim from Sabaton. Elizabeth is a opera singer.
Hi Christi! You are the first who mentioned The Electric Light Orchestra, concernng Mike's part... Some inspiration from Concerto For A Rainy Day from Out Of The Blue, I always felt.
Beautiful video again...thank you.
Loads of love from Rich, The Netherlands.
You really have to react to Blind Guardian some day! Hansi Kürsch has one of the most unique voices out there.
My favorite is still "Mirror Mirror"... still, most prefer their 2016 Wacken performance of their two most iconic songs "The Bards Song" and "Valhalla"... and I can totally relate
If you look closely you can say that Tommy Karevik sings with his hands in this video ...
I prefer "Everybody dies" but this one is a gem as well 😊😊
Pro tip: avoid lower resolutions in RUclips if your computer and internet connection can handle it. The video formats with higher resolutions (e.g. 1080p and better) have higher bitrate for the audio and the resulting audio sounds much better. It looks like the video in your stream was 240p or 360p.
Open source project called "yt-dlp" can fetch offload copies of RUclips videos with best possible audio.
About the binary code from Michaleil mills. Maybe it's already mentioned: But the code is a binairy code (BCD code) that translates to:"Trust TH1" (the part of michael in this rock opera)
How do you (and many other listeners) not know of these bands and singers? Because most of you, new listeners (and especially experienced vocal coaches, singers) only been introduced to such 'gateway' metal bands with super-duper female singers (for good reasons, of course), like Nightwish, Epica (just to mention because Floor and Simone), and without further helping hands all stops there. Thanks to Arjen Lucassen's amazing talent now you have a chance to hear about Seventh Wonder, Circus Maximus (my 2 favorites), Symphony X and others. Many, many underrated bands, or hidden treasures. Give them a try, you can trust Arjen Lucassen ;)
Hi, greetings from The Netherlands. Arjen should see this reaction, thank you.
Aryeon is what Yes and King Crimson wished they could have been back in the 70's and 80's. No pretentious aholes here.
I got back into this music when I got recommended Ad astra by Haggard 7or 8 years ago. From there I found Faun, Eivor Nightwish Epica etc mostly from recommendations in comments. The metal family will always guide you to somewhere else.
56:05 that is the typical American approach... out do the other... here they are Arjen's assest.. NO one is to be better, they are JUST a part of a project, a collective supergroup, but in that.. just a cog.. and the whole is to be amazing
There's a video of Micheal Mills covering "Wuthering Heights" in the original key! That guy is simply phenomenal!
That you didn't get Queen from the 0100110000 part shows you have not listened no enough early Queen. Its literally straight out of Queen 2. Harmony city deluxe! By the time you saw them live on your date they had gone into different styles allready.
Yes!
There's Arjen Anthony Lucassan and Tuomas Holopainen, then there is a light year, followed by every other composer on the planet.
Yes, Lady,Christy,You... ..
With Ayreon or should I say Arjen Style of Music reminds me of a Metal Broadway show or a Musical He's very smart and a great story teller and i love how he brings so many great Musicians including some famous one's from American like Dee Snider From Twisted Sister or Steve Vai and so many more.
Tommy Karevik is definitely worth taking a listen to with either Kamelot or Seventh Wonder. Pagan's Mind is also worth checking into ...especially the God's Equation album.
Michael Mills doesn't have 5 octaves of range. He has an about 4.5 octave range (F#1-C6 roughly, depending on what you count). I've done research on his whole discography and compiled his vocal range in a video on my channel, which you can check out. Just thought I'd throw that little correction in here.
Explore the Live Ayreon shows. 'Ayreon Universe' and 'Into The Electric Castle' Live, are both amazing and worth watching. As well as so much fun - so much talent on one stage - it is truly jaw dropping
this i s the 1st song of the source the whole album is great try everybody dies live from the same album
Tommy Karevik..🇸🇪
Floor regards Russell Allen as one of her mentors.
Have you seen the Nightwish movie Imaginaerum yet? I cannot recommend it enough, it is truly one of my favourite stand alone movies regardless of the music being Tuomas' xxxx
I was just talking about DreamTheatre &Avantasia last night in a music composition stream on Twitch; what a collective! Two of my absolute favourites and icons in this industry
34:20 what a run!
I'm scraping my jaw up off the floor after that Michael Mills section.
I still write with fountain pen too, using orange ink right now 💜
Symphony X - The Odyssey.
You did it. 💙💛
Hello Christi! Wow it was suprising to see you reacting Arjen Lucassen's stuff. I have watched your reactions to Lara Fabian, probably the greatest singer ever (IMHO). Now to see you react something totally different was quite fun. I personally like many music styles from classical to prog metal. And love Lara.
Now that you are a professional to react and analyze different singers, would you like to take a look at a singer who is quite sensational and coming a big name among the top vocalists.
His name is Tommy Johansson and he sings and plays guitar and keyboards in his solo stuff. He has his own channel and he got quite a few great covers already in the list.
It's difficult to name just one what you should take a look at. Because of that i'll make it easier, it's his latest. Uploaded a few days ago. Jennifer Rush song which was covered by Celine Dion...
So it is Celine's version cover by Tommy. Power of Love. It's a good one to start with, so you know what he sounds like. There's the link so you can check it out.
ruclips.net/video/yGLuPiqHAR0/видео.html
2nd attempt: nice official medley of Ayreon's 'Transitus' album ruclips.net/video/ozmTXh2CBWw/видео.html
Epica next omega alive...🥰🤘
I agree with the darkness and something on the rocks to listen to the album carefully (for me it would be Scotch Wiskey - a single malt, almost all of them taste good). Before you do that I would like to suggest a RUclips video where the interaction of the different characters in the different tracks comes out perfectly : ruclips.net/video/vN-kbmQckw8/видео.html
You should do a couples reaction with Mr. Voice Love, you get to see it again, and we can all watch his reaction. Win-win as far as I am concerned...
I just want to say you have beautiful hair!
Other than groups like Kansas,, Dixie Dregs, YES , ELP and a few others Of the early 1970s which had long Is form tracksOf progressive music, Is Rick Wakeman, From YES, Produce a full length themed album I believe with a London Symphony. "lourny to the center of the earth".
If you want to get into massive guitar solos to arsolo's to impress you I suggest you start with Richie Blackmore from Deep Purple days right up through Rainbow and through Blackmoer's Knight Guys like him and Joe bonamassa and a few others are thee cream top tier guitarists of all time
I don't know how tall Arjen is, But when i saw a picture of him standing next to Floor, he made her look short.
BTW. Jazz major? Have you done a reaction to "Slow Love Slow" yet?
1:03:59 My good lady..do not underestamte Simone.. here she does shallow, she might be an octaval hurricane in her part of the album
also Russell Allen if you listen to Symphony X songs like Wings of Tragedy and The Odyssey those songs are very long but very worth the voyage.
Reaccióna a una banda española que se llama Mago de Oz, hacen Folk Metal, La Cantata del Diablo, live 2017 CDMX
44:46 If you want to see something by Toehider, I would recommend their Queen cover. It's so good that Brian May called it "brilliantly accurate":
QUEEN COVER - The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (from "Queen II")
ruclips.net/video/Ch494KUV0O0/видео.html
And finally my request for Blackbriar again (feat. Zora on vocals). It would be great to do 'The Witch" trilogy. But maybe start with 'Arms of the Ocean' (Acoustic) [Live] ruclips.net/video/7L_L_-ePIKc/видео.html #katebushbutmetal #storytelling #womenempowerment
56:06 NO ! That would make it a pop song.. pop (f) artists, they compete to own centrestage and trip anyone in their way.. Here are some Metal icons in a collective, NOT copeting for centrestage, and it wasn't meant to be that either... Here the stars are making the constellation that is called Ayreon. Just that, not outshine just be part of the whole thing which itself is ginormous
Does Arjen arrived in here already guys??
For some reason my suggestion for 'Transitus' has dissapeared from the comments?
38:21 Simone Simons isn't pronounced like that.. the I in Simome is like the I in AmerIca and the E is pronounced like E in Winnipeg.. in Simons again same I.. Not Saymoms.. Nad the A in Jansen of Floor Jansen is like the A in America aswell... it isn't Jensen.. if it was, she"d have that for a last name lol :D
You are all wrong on her name. I have heard her pronounce her name several times in interviews. Look it up! It is Simone as in Nina and Simons as in simmer. Some countries pronounce like your friends are telling you but, she does not.
Please react to Ayreon age of shadows
I concur. Live of course 🤘
Thanks for the reaction, it was great. You made yourself too tiny, though :( Reactions are mostly about the reactor, as the original video can be seen clearly with one click. Keep up the great work!
As I understand it, TH-1 is the AI that helps the Alphans to leave the planet that is threatened by "The Frame ", wich is the actual enemy shutting down life support etc. Anyway. AYREON is a number of albums that describes an ongoing science fiction story, of wich this particular album The Source describes the beginning of it. Next to AYREON Arjen has several other similar projects, similar to this one, but with other subjects. there is Transitus, much like a rock opera including a stage and all, then there is Star One, wich last album just came out last Februari, including musicians like Michael Romeo, Steve Vai, Adrian Vanden Berg and also every song has another singer and is based on Time travel or time manipulating. From that album, Prescient would be for you, it is mainly produced by Michael Mills. I am gonna stop here, because this rabbit hole is too big to take in in one time anyway. Enjoy !!
Please react to Chakra Khan -tennesse whiskey
..and Nils isn;'t Niles... same I as in America Nils :D
Yeah this is all feeling fuzzy but how about we get on with the music....
15:35 "How do you keep all these metal genres straight?"
You can start by trying to learn Wikipedia page about heavy metal genres:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_genres
you did a very stupid thing to delete the author's comments, you made a mistake, they are an essential part of the video