Part 1: The Dream Sequencer

This is the best album I've ever heard from a "metal" act, that's it. No more - no less!!! With "The Universal Migrator" the Dutch multiinstrumentalist mr.Arjen Lucassen (ex-Vengeance) and his Ayreon project, has made something that can not be topped in years, and something that I can't recall ever having been done before. A double album (actually two single albums...) including a list of top-names within the metal and progressive rock scene that exceeds all my expectations of what is possible to unite, and with a sound and originality that simply transcends this World and beyond. Part I, "The Dream Sequencer" is my personal fave of the two, and honestly is my favorite "metal" cd of all time, (yeah, I know it's BIG WORDS, but that's the truth), as it is a wonderful journey through gothic, progressive and symphonic orchestrated rock/metal songs, that all are so damn ear-catching, that it's beyond belief. From the Pink Floyd-inspired "My House On Mars" (w.Tiamat-vocalist Johan Edlund), through the poppish "Temple Of the Cat" (w.17 yr old Jacqueline Govaert on vocals) to the fantastic Beatles'esque "The First Man On Earth" (w. Spock's Beard singer Neal Morse), this is so awesome that words can not describe it. My personal faves are the "Beatles meets Pink Floyd"-inspired "The Shooting Company Of Captain Frans B. Cocq" with John Lennon-soundalike Mouse on vocals, and the brilliant "One Small Step" with Edward Reekers on vocals. "One Small Step" immediately takes the number one spot on my list of all-time favorite songs, metal or not! Well, this cd includes a host of other brilliant vocalist and instrumentalists, a.o. Erik Norlander, Damian Wilson, Clive Nolan and Lana Lane, and it is so fantastic how all of these comes together as one united band. The production is superb, and I can't find one single place to put my critical finger down and say that "this isn't good" or "this could have been done better". I just LOVE this cd.