AYREON, progressive metal/rock project formed by Arjen Lucassen announced they will be re-releasing their 3rd album “Into the Electric Castle” in October 2018.
Statement by Arjen Lucassen: “In honor of the 20th anniversary re-release of “Into The Electric Castle” we proudly present you this cool lyric video for the newly mixed version of “Across the Rainbow Bridge”! It’s created once again by the amazing Wayne Joyner, I think it really captures the right mood. Hope you enjoy it too, despite that weird Hippie-dude. Although my first AYREON album, “The Final Experiment” released in 1995, was an (unexpected) success, my second album, “Actual Fantasy”, wasn’t received with the same enthusiasm. So I had to make sure that my third release would be absolutely mind-blowing, otherwise it could well have meant the end of AYREON.
The audio on the vinyl will be the original 1998 mix that we already re-issued on CD. The records are packaged in a triple gatefold. A downloadcard for a complimentary MP3 download of the new 2018 audio remix is included.
Short Biography:
The AYREON project was formed after Arjen Lucassen left his tenure in the Dutch metal act VENGEANCE and a failed attempt at a solo career. With nothing to lose he decided to record a “rock opera” featuring many guest vocalists, musicians and styles, something many of his friends and peers felt would be considered commercial suicide. After many record labels flat out refused to sign him and release the album due to what they felt was a lack of sales potential, he was finally able to get this work, “The Final Experiment” released, and over the years his and AYREON popularity grew.
All albums feature a variety of guest vocalists and musicians, though Ed Warby has been one of the longest-running performers.
Arjen’s side projects include AMBEON, STAR ONE, STRANGE HOBBY and lots of others.
After recording the “Timeline” retrospective, Arjen Lucassen had put the AYREONÂ project on hold to pursue other side projects. In late 2012, Arjen commenced work on a new AYREON album, thus making the project active again.
