''The Final Experiment'' (originally ''Ayreon: The Final Experiment'') is the debut studio album by the Dutch progressive metal project

Ayreon 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, electr ...

, 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 Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) 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 t ...

's Ayreon project.Ayreon Chronology
/ref> In 2004, Arjen moved to a new record label, Inside Out - with this move came re-issues of all the previous Ayreon releases, including ''The Final Experiment''. This re-issue includes a bonus CD featuring nine re-worked recordings of tracks (or segments of tracks) found on the original album with different singers and all acoustic instrumentation. ''The Final Experiment'' introduces several concepts which appear in future Ayreon albums, such as humanity's propensity for war ("Waracle"), polluting earth's environment ("Listen to the Waves"), or the gratuitous use of technology and computers in human society ("Computer-Reign (Game Over)").The Final Experiment at Ayreon.com
features lyrics, album personnel, and storyline. The latter concept appears overtly in the tracks "Computer Eyes" from ''

Actual Fantasy ''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 d ...

'', and "Web of Lies" from ''

01011001 ''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''. ''01011001'' is a concept album that tells the story of aliens c ...

'', as well as "Evil Devolution" from ''

Into the Electric Castle ''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 ...

''.

Creation

After leaving Vengeance in 1992, Arjen began working on writing and recording some solo material, with his newfound creative freedom. Finding motivation to commercialize the new music from his record company, Arjen released his first solo album in 1993 under his middle name, Anthony, entitled ''Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy''. The album lacked a musical direction, and became a

heterogeneous Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...

mixture of styles and genres. While the album was not commercially successful, it formed the groundwork for the

project to come. A number of albums from the 1960s and 70s featuring common stylistic threads made a lifelong impact on Arjen. The dynamic and exciting music, emotionally driven lyrics, and an ensemble cast found in albums such as Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' and The Who's ''

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

'', commonly referred to as

rock operas A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

, inspired Arjen to create one of his own. Working in an environment where he could develop an album exactly as he wanted, Arjen intended to create his vision, making no compromises along the way. His vision manifested itself in ''The Final Experiment'' and, after being rejected by several different record labels, was picked up by a small Dutch record label. The project was financially burdensome, but through some subsidization from his father, it was seen through to completion, and was successful enough to warrant another Ayreon release.

Concept

Prologue

In the year 2084 scientists have found a way to send messages back into time using time telepathy. With the Earth nearly destroyed by many different causes, they have one hope for the experiment: warn the past of the future to avert the fate of Earth.

Act I

The receiver of the telepathic messages is Ayreon, a blind minstrel living in 6th century Britain. He’s lived his life in darkness from the day he was born, but one fateful day everything changes — Ayreon can see images. The minstrel believes these visions are sent to him by the Lords of Time. Unaware of how much time there is left before Earth is destroyed Ayreon sets out to tell the tale of Earth’s demise singing songs of wars, natural disaster, and computer technology. The terrifying tales frighten the villagers who run him out of town.

Act II

Alone, and cast out of his village, Ayreon goes to King Arthur’s castle, and, being a famed minstrel, he is allowed to sing of his visions in the King’s very own court.

Act III

Jealous of his ability to foresee the future, Merlin, the court’s wizard, isn’t pleased with Ayreon’s message, convincing the court the minstrel must be a fake.

Act IV

Merlin believes it is necessary to silence Ayreon forever and curses him. With the curse completed Merlin realizes his error, but it is too late. The wizard then predicts that the message will arrive in the mind of another minstrel at the end of the 20th century…

Track listing

Personnel

; Ayreon *

- vocals (tracks 7, 10, 11 & 15),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

, keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic ...

, sleeve design &

photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...

; Vocalists * Barry Hay on "Sail Away To Avalon" *

Edward Reekers Edward Reekers (born 24 May 1957, in Hengelo) is a Dutch singer and voice actor. Most notable is his work as lead singer for Dutch progressive rock band Kayak. Having been a fan of the band for years, Reekers joined Kayak in 1978. He replaced ...

as Merlin on "Prologue," "The Awareness" and "Ayreon’s Fate;" as Ayreon on "The Awareness" and "Ayreon’s Fate" * Ian Parry as Nobleman on "Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy", "Computer Reign" and as Merlin on "Ayreon’s Fate" * Jan-Chris de Koeijer on "The Banishment" * Jay van Feggelen of Bodine as Merlin on "Ayreon's Fate" and "Waracle" * Lenny Wolf on "Eyes Of Time" * Leon Goewie as Merlin on "Merlin's Will" and "Ayreon's Fate" * Robert Soeterboek as Villagers on "The Banishment" and as Merlin on "Ayreon's Fate" * Ruud Houweling as Ayreon on "The Charm Of The Seer" * Lucy Hillen on "The Charm Of The Seer;" as Chorus on several tracks * Debby Schreuder as Merlin, Women and Villagers on "Ayreon's Fate;" as Chorus on several tracks * Mirjam van Doorn as Merlin, Women and Villagers on "Ayreon's Fate;" as Chorus on several tracks * Irene Jansen (bonus) * Marcela Bovio (bonus) *Peter Daltrey (bonus) *John Cuijpers (bonus) *Esther Ladiges (bonus) *Rodney Blaze (bonus) *Astrid van der Veen (bonus) *Valentine (bonus) ; Keyboards * Cleem Determeijer (tracks 2-6, 14) * Rene Merkelbach (tracks 4, 6, 11, 12) ; Drums * Ernst van Ee (tracks 2-4, 6-10, 12, 15) * Davy Mickers ; Bass * Peter Vink - acoustic bass (tracks 3-4, 7-8) * Jolanda Verduijn (tracks 4, 6, 15) * Jan Bijlsma (track 11) ; Cello * Marieke van der Heyden * Dewi Kerstens ; Artwork * Ruud Houweling * Richèle Nijst * Jacoby Peters ; Designs *Richele Nijst - additional *Jacoby Peeters - additional *Ruud Houweling - sleeve ; Miscellaneous * Ewa Albering – flute * Lori Linstruth – electric

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

solos * Jeroen Goossens – assorted

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s * Valentine –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

, vocals * Oscar Holleman –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

*Sjoerd Kops - photography *Peter Brussee - mastering *Oscar Holleman - production, mixing & engineering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Final Experiment, The 1995 debut albums Ayreon albums Science fiction concept albums Rock operas Transmission (record label) albums