Timeline | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 7 November 2008 17 November 2008 North America - January 13, 2009 | |||
Recorded | March 1995–September 2007 (The new track was recorded in June 2008) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 227:30 | |||
Label | Inside Out Music | |||
Producer | Arjen Lucassen | |||
Ayreon chronology | ||||
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Arjen Anthony Lucassen chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Timeline is the second compilation album by Dutch progressive metal project Ayreon. It was released in November 2008 in Europe. It was also released in North America in early 2009. The album features three CDs containing selected songs from all Ayreon albums, and a DVD featuring live performances, video clips and behind-the-scenes.
The third CD also features a song, called "Epilogue: The Memory Remains", specifically written for the release, which provides further insight into the final chapter of the Ayreon concept and the probable future of its characters. Jasper Steverlinck, singer of Arid, made a guest appearance as the vocalist of the song. He would later be invited by Arjen to sing on his new side project Guilt Machine.
Many songs were remastered for this release. Apart from the CDs and DVD, a timeline poster illustrating the Ayreon universe and a booklet containing new photos, lyrics, and notes on the story are also available in the Timeline package.
Arjen A. Lucassen said that he hadn't released a compilation album before because he didn't want to reunite random chapters of a whole history in a single album. However, after connecting all other Ayreon releases in the album 01011001 , he changed his mind and decided to create the album, which can be described as a timeline outlining the entire story. As the album will feature a summarized version of Ayreon's concept, one can deduce that the concept has come to an end. Therefore, concerning Ayreon's future, Arjen stated: "I don't see this as the end of Ayreon, but rather as a new beginning. I'll definitely be recording some side projects before I even start thinking about re-inventing Ayreon. To keep things fresh for myself I've got to come up with a completely new concept for both the music and the lyrics. I hope I can do it...it will definitely be quite a challenge!" [2]
The brand new track, "Epilogue: The Memory Remains", adds further detail to the fate of the Forever alien race and the New Migrator, the soul of the Mars Colonist. After the last human dies, his spirit becomes the new Universal Migrator and begins traveling along the original Migrator Trail. As it does, it passes by Planet Y and breathes new life into its dormant, immortal race, rekindling their emotions as it does. The saga ends with mankind's brief existence serving a purpose after all.
1995: The Final Experiment
1996: Actual Fantasy (Revisited)
1998: Into the Electric Castle
1998: Into the Electric Castle
2000: The Universal Migrator parts I and II
2004: The Human Equation
2004: The Human Equation
2008: 01011001
2008: New previously unreleased Ayreon track
Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon's albums are dubbed "rock operas" because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.
Damian Wilson is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Wilson works in the progressive metal genre and was the lead singer of Headspace and Threshold. He sang and toured with bands and projects for Star One, Ayreon, Landmarq, Praying Mantis and with Rick Wakeman's English Rock Ensemble.
Anna Maria "Anneke" van Giersbergen is a Dutch singer, songwriter and guitarist who became known worldwide as the lead singer for the rock band The Gathering between 1994 and 2007. She also has a solo career. The project was originally called Agua de Annique, but now goes by her own name.
The Human Equation is the sixth album from the progressive rock project Ayreon by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on 25 May 2004 via Inside Out Music. As with other Ayreon albums, it features guest appearances from several musicians previously unrelated to the project, including James LaBrie of Dream Theater, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine, and Devin Townsend, performing music arranged and written by Lucassen.
Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator is the fifth album from Ayreon, a progressive metal/rock opera project by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released in 2000.
Into the Electric Castle – A Space Opera is the third album of the progressive metal project Ayreon by Dutch songwriter, producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Released in 1998, it was the band's first double album.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the guitarist and backing vocalist of Dutch band Bodine as Iron Anthony, before joining Vengeance in 1984. After eight years he left the band, wanting to go into a more progressive direction, and released two years later an unsuccessful solo album entitled Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy under the nickname Anthony.
The Final Experiment is the debut studio album by the Dutch progressive metal project Ayreon, released in 1995. Originally with no artist noted, at the suggestion of the record label the subject was later detached, and used as the name for what was to be Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Ayreon project.
Actual Fantasy is an album released in 1996 by Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen A. Lucassen and is the second album of his Ayreon project. It is the only Ayreon release that does not feature a single overarching story concept, but instead draws on science fiction and fantasy films for inspiration, as well as stories written by Arjen himself.
Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer is a progressive rock album released in 2000 by Dutch multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Arjen Lucassen, and is the fourth album of his Ayreon project.
Edward R. Warby is a Dutch musician, best known as the drummer for death metal band Gorefest and progressive rock/metal project Ayreon.
Lori Von Linstruth is an American lyricist, music manager and retired guitarist. She currently resides in the Netherlands where she lives with her partner and musical collaborator Arjen Anthony Lucassen.
01011001 is the seventh studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's long-running Ayreon project. "01011001" is the binary representation of the ASCII value of the letter Y.
Elected is the first EP by progressive metal project Ayreon, owned by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. It was released on 25 April 2008 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and on 28 April in the rest of Europe. It features the guest performance of German singer Tobias Sammet, from Avantasia and Edguy.
Lost in the New Real is the second solo studio album by Dutch songwriter, producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on 23 April 2012. It is Lucassen's first solo album since 1993's Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy, released 18 years earlier under the name Anthony, before he reached fame with his progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen wrote all the songs, sings lead vocals and performs most instruments himself, including all guitars, bass and keyboards.
Irene Jansen is a Dutch singer. She sang on the Ayreon album The Human Equation, portraying the character Passion. She was also the live backing vocalist of Star One during their tour in 2003, and played the character Morgana in two Gary Hughes concept albums. She was the lead singer of a power metal band called Karma. She made her first recordings in more than a decade for the Alarion album Waves of Destruction, released in 2016.
The Theater Equation is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon. The Theater Equation originally consisted of a four live performances, with cast, choir and small orchestra, of the 2004 album The Human Equation, as an actual rock opera, complete with mise-en-scène. It is the first Ayreon live release, although Ayreon songs had previously been featured on live albums by two of Lucassen's other musical projects, and marks the first time an Ayreon album was performed live in its entirety. The Theater Equation consisted of four shows, all played in Rotterdam between September 18 and 20, 2015, with the last performance being the one recorded for the album.
The Gentle Storm is a Dutch musical project by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, founder and leader of other musical projects such as Star One, Ayreon, Guilt Machine and Ambeon. The duo has previously collaborated in Ayreon albums Into the Electric Castle and 01011001. The project's debut album, The Diary, was released on March 23, 2015, in Europe, and the following day in the US.
Electric Castle Live and Other Tales is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon, released on 27 March 2020. It is a live version of the 1998 studio album Into the Electric Castle, performed as an actual rock opera, complete with mise-en-scène; it is a recording of one of four live performances between 13 and 15 September 2019 in Tilburg to celebrate the original album's 20th anniversary in a way similar to The Theater Equation, with songs from other Lucassen projects performed once the songs from the albums were all performed.
01011001 – Live Beneath the Waves is a live album by Arjen Lucassen's progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon, released on 17 May 2024. It is a live version of the 2008 concept album 01011001, which was filmed during a series of five concerts performed in September 2023 in the 013 venue in Tilburg, Netherlands.