I had to think about this for a while, but I'm putting Ayreon in the Prog Rock section, he has some definite metal influences, but all of his albums are Conceptual so I feel he belongs in here.
Ayreon is the invention of the amazing Arjen Lucassen, he writes a story about his character, "Ayreon", and then adds the music and brings in some of the finest musicians in Europe to record the finished work. I don't know what to say other than he blew me away with the first CD I picked up "The Final Experiment". After listening to this one I got all his other albums, except the latest 3 CD compilation seeing I have all the songs already I felt it was not essential.
If you like concept albums like "Dark Side Of The Moon", "Tales of Mystery & Imagination" for example then you should give Ayreon a listen, the production quality on every album is excellent, the musicians too, I could fill a page with my appreciation of Arjen's creation, but I'll settle for just introducing him for now.
My Collection:
The Final Experiment
Actual Fantasy
Into The Electric Castle
Universal Migrator Pt. 1 & 2
The Human Equation
01011001
The Awareness from "The Final Experiment"
Ayreon is the invention of the amazing Arjen Lucassen, he writes a story about his character, "Ayreon", and then adds the music and brings in some of the finest musicians in Europe to record the finished work. I don't know what to say other than he blew me away with the first CD I picked up "The Final Experiment". After listening to this one I got all his other albums, except the latest 3 CD compilation seeing I have all the songs already I felt it was not essential.
If you like concept albums like "Dark Side Of The Moon", "Tales of Mystery & Imagination" for example then you should give Ayreon a listen, the production quality on every album is excellent, the musicians too, I could fill a page with my appreciation of Arjen's creation, but I'll settle for just introducing him for now.
My Collection:
The Final Experiment
Actual Fantasy
Into The Electric Castle
Universal Migrator Pt. 1 & 2
The Human Equation
01011001
The Awareness from "The Final Experiment"