Style: Metal opera
Primary Emotions/Themes: Science fiction baby!
Thoughts: Any time you get a new Ayreon album it's a special occasion. Somehow this one eluded me until the last few years. Not sure why I didn't look into it much, but I'm glad I finally came around.
It's hard to quantify everything in an album of this magnitude into a few words. The scope is so massive and there are so many contributors that it's bursting at the seams. I mean just look at the (partial) list of vocalists:
Daniel Gildenlow
Tom Englund
Jonas Renkse
Anneke van Giersbergen
Hansi Kursch
Floor Jansen
That list isn't even 30% of the vocalists on here, the undertaking is truly massive. The way that the vocalists interact with each other, interplay their unique voices and interplay with the various styles throughout the album... it's incredible.
Not only do you have m a s s i v e riffs courtesy of Arjen, but you have the return of the science fiction elements of almost all Ayreon albums. The album also has a keen sense of how to ebb and flow nearly perfectly. Just listen to the opener Age of Shadows from start to finish, you'll get a strong idea of everything that the album has to offer.
There is one important note (at least for me) that deserves special mention. The closing song The Sixth Extinction has Jonas Renkse growling again. This was the first I had heard him use his harsh vocals in... years, and they are absolutely monstrous. The fact that they are contained to the final track of the album makes them all the more impactful.
If any of the previous Ayreon albums were a point of interest then 1011001 is an easy recommend. This continues the project's incredible legacy and is a worthy follow up to The Human Equation. Now if we could get a vinyl reissue of THAT album I will be exceptionally happy.
Written May 8th 2024
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