"01011001" is the 7th album from multi instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen´s Rock Opera Ayreon, this is a 2 disc set with a running time of 102 minutes. It´s been 4 years since his last Ayreon album "The human equation" but in between he was involved in the band Stream of Passion and their release "Embrace the storm" in 2005. The Dutch space metal captain Arjen devours the listener of symphonic songs like a meteor rain falling down on earth, there´s no hiding from his bombastic and overproduced armada of Eloy meeting Dream Theater progmetal songs. Don´t get me wrong, I love many of his work but even layers of guitar and keyboard tracks may tire you when you don´t get time to breath. There are however moments when he lets the melody speak over the massive wall of music which saves the album from being boring, but I´m saddened to say it´s not one of his best albums.
Ayreon Discography: The final experiment (1995) Actual Fantasy (1996) Into the electric castle (1998) Universal Migrator Part.1 The Dream Sequencer (2000) Universal Migrator Part 2.Flight of the migrator (2000) The Human Equation (2004) 01011001 (2008) Other projects: Star One - Space metal (2002) Stream of Passion - Embrace the storm (2005)
Musicians: Arjen Lucassen - Keyboards, Guitar, Bass, Drumprogramming, Vocals Hansi Kursch - Vocals (Blind Guardian) Jonas Renkse - Vocals (Katatonia) Daniel Gildenlow - Vocals (Pain of Salvation) Bob Catley - Vocals (Magnum) Jorn Lande - Vocals (ex.Masterplan) Steve Lee - Vocals (Gotthard) Anneke van Giersbergen - Vocals (ex.The Gathering) Tom Englund - Vocals (Evergrey) Simone Simons - Vocals (Epica) Ty Tabor - Vocals (Kings X) Floor Jansen - Vocals (After Forever) Liselotte Hegt - Vocals (Dial) Derek Sherinian - Keyboards (ex.Dream Theater) Tomas Bodin - Keyboards (The Flower Kings) Ed Warby - Drums (Gorefest) Michael Romeo - Guitar (Symphony X)
Highlights: "Age of shadows", "Connect the dots", "New born race", "The earth extinction"
The leadvocalist from Virgin Woll, Jordan Pouzzner begin recording a solo album, tentatively titled Happy Bleeding, before his passing in a car accident in 2005.
