Musicians:
Astrid Van Der Veen - vocals and backing vocals
Arjen Lucassen - acoustic and electric guitars, analogue keyboards, samples
and weird noises
Stephen Van Haestregt - acoustic and electronic drums and percussion
Walter Latupeirissa - bass- and fretless bass guitar

Guest musicians:
John McManus - low flute and Uilleann pipes
Pat McManus - fiddle
Erik Norlander - additional synths
Lana Lane - reversed backing vocals

Track Listing:
Estranged (2:47)
Ashes (5:29)
High (4:12)
Cold Metal (6:50)
Fate (7:39)
Sick Ceremony (3:44)
Lost Message (4:30)
Surreal (4:37)
Sweet Little Brother (6:06)
Dreamer (5:17)

The Dutchman Arjen Lucassen is best known under the moniker Ayreon. Now he has released an ambient prog metal album together with a 14-year-old girl named Astrid Van Der Veen.

Arjen has written the music, and the lyrics and melodies are written and performed by Astrid. A very successful combination!

Astrid has a very strong and beautiful voice, and her singing together with the music makes you think of a mix between Shakespeares Sisters, Lana Lane, Blackmore's Night, Nightwish, Tori Amos and Kate Bush.

There are also two interesting guest musicians on this album: Erik Norlander on additional synths and Lana Lane on reversed backing vocals.

This album is a perfect mix between ambient, folk, Goth, prog metal and symphonic rock. It's recommended to Ayreon followers as well as Tori Amos, Kate Bush and Blackmore's Night fans.

Released by TRANSMISSION RECORDS: TM-030

Contact & Info:

Transmission Records
P.O. Box 2078
3140 BB Maassluis
The Netherlands
Fax: +31-(0) 10-5926170
E-mail: double@caiw.nl

Ayreon Discography:
The Final Experiment (1995)
Actual Fantasy (1996)
Into The Electric Castle (1998)
The Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)
The Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight Of The Migrator (2000)
Ayreonauts Only (2000)

Ayreon homepage: www.ayreon.com
Astrid's homepage: listen.to/astridvanderveen

Date: 2001-10-27
Reviewer: Greger Rönnqvist
greger.ronnqvist@infodata.sema.se