Ayreon Actual Fantasy Revisited, re-issue

2017, Ayreon is in a class of its own. You might call Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Ayreon studio albums ´rock operas`. Or, to be more precise, you may prefer a description like, ´ambitious studio projects combining progressive rock, metal, and folk over intricate storylines, brought to life by countless famous guest singers from all over the world`. But no matter how you categorize it, the Ayreon album collection offers highly creative rock music with a quality in composition and production rarely heard in the last twenty years. Ten years with hardrock band Vengeance brought Lucassen recognition in not just the Netherlands, but in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, the UK and the USA, as well. When he started writing and recording on his own in the early 90s, it was the funding of a Japanese record label that got the ball rolling. THE FINAL EXPERIMENT was Ayreon's first album, released in the Netherlands in 1995. It set the tone for the project, with intricate sci-fi/fantasy storytelling and timeless progressive.