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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 draws on science fiction and fantasy films for inspiration, as well as stories written by Arjen himself. In 2004, Arjen moved to a new record label, Inside Out Germany. With this move came re-issues of all previous Ayreon releases, including ''Actual Fantasy''. The re-issue came with a bonus DVD featuring a 5.1 remix of the entire original album, a video clip for "The Stranger from Within," and a video featurette showing the 2004 recordings of drums, bass, and guitar for the remix. ''Actual Fantasy: Revisited'' After remixing "Star Child" from his Star One album '' Space Metal'' in Pro Logic, and "Day 11: Love" from ''The Human Equation'' in 5.1, Arjen was very motivated and excited about making an entire album in 5.1. With a switch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon's albums are dubbed "rock operas" (or "metal operas") because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist. Each Ayreon album tells a different story, but all, with the exceptions of ''Actual Fantasy'', '' The Theory of Everything'', and ''Transitus'', take place in the same fictional, science fiction universe; additionally, Lucassen's solo album ''Lost in the New Real'' is also set in the Ayreon universe. Ayreon's music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music (guitars, bass guitar, drums, analogue synthesizers, electric organs) mixed with instruments more na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Metal (Star One Album)
''Space Metal'' is the debut studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive metal project/ supergroup Star One, released on the recording label Inside Out in 2002. It was issued in two versions, a standard version containing just the first CD and a limited edition version with more elaborate packaging and both CDs. The album mixes progressive metal and space rock, and many of the songs are linked conceptually by having cult science fiction movies, novels or TV series as their subjects, mainly adventures on space. The album features a guest vocal performance by Dave Brock of Hawkwind on the track 'Hawkwind Medley'. Track listing Album Themes The themes of the album's songs are based on the following works of fiction: On CD 1 *Set Your Controls – ''Doctor Who'' *High Moon – '' Outland'' *Songs of the Ocean – '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' *Master of Darkness – ''The Empire Strikes Back'' *The Eye of Ra – ''Stargate'' *Sandrider – ''Dune'' *Perfect Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Albums
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on board; Eight people die in a blizzard on Mount Everest; Dolly the Sheep becomes the first mammal to have been cloned from an adult somatic cell; The Port Arthur Massacre occurs on Tasmania, and leads to major changes in Australia's gun laws; Macarena, sung by Los del Río and remixed by The Bayside Boys, becomes a major dance craze and cultural phenomenon; Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crash-ditches off of the Comoros Islands after the plane was hijacked; the 1996 Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta, marking the Centennial (100th Anniversary) of the modern Olympic Games., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 Centennial Olympic Park bombing rect 200 0 400 200 TWA FLight 800 rect 400 0 600 200 1996 Mount Everest disaster rect 0 200 300 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammond Organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier to drive a speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with the Leslie speaker. Around two million Hammond organs have been manufactured. The organ was originally marketed by the Hammond Organ Company to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, or instead of a piano. It quickly became popular with professional jazz musicians in organ trios—small groups centered on the Hammond organ. Jazz club owners found that organ trios were cheaper than hiring a big band. Jimmy Smith's use of the Hammond B-3, with its additional harmonic percussion feature, inspired a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Max Werner, who became the band's drummer. With Reekers as the new lead singer, Kayak immediately scored their biggest European hit single: "Ruthless Queen". The accompanying album Phantom of the Night reached gold in the Netherlands. Reekers was with Kayak from 1978 until the split in 1982. He sang on three studio albums, and on the live-album "Eyewitness". During live concerts he played occasional keyboards and electric guitar. He was not involved in the 1999 reunion of the band, but he did make guest appearances at some concerts in 2003. He even replaced Bert Heerink (Kayak's singer at that time) for an entire concert in 2003, when Heerink had other commitments. In 2005, Reekers re-joined Kayak as one of the singers on their "Nostrad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Warby
Edward R. Warby (born 7 March 1968) is a Dutch musician, best known as the drummer for death metal band Gorefest and progressive rock/metal project Ayreon. He also appeared in the band Agressor in 1982 and joined the Eindhoven-based metal band Elegy in 1987. Warby moved to Gorefest in 1992, where he replaced the former drummer just before the recording sessions of "False", he had to learn all themes and develop his work in just two weeks, which he managed to achieve in a matter so fast that producer Colin Richardson nicknamed him ''Fast Eddy''. After Gorefest split up in 1999, he took part in the re-united Gorefest in 2004. In 1998, Arjen Anthony Lucassen asked Warby to perform on his album ''Into the Electric Castle'', because Arjen was impressed with Warby's works with Gorefest. From that moment on, Warby had performed on Ayreon's every album, except for '' Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer'' and ''Transitus''. He also performed on the re-recording of ''Actual Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorefest
Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes in Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. History Within two months of existence Gorefest recorded their first demo. A Dutch independent label, Foundation 2000, signed them for one album. Before recording ''Mindloss'', they released another demo in 1990, which received positive feedback. As a supporting act for Carcass they traveled through Belgium and the Netherlands impressing the metal-scene also on stage. Colin Richardson was the producer of 1991's album ''Mindloss''. Before they toured with Revenant from New Jersey, guitarist Alex van Schaik was replaced by Boudewijn Vincent Bonebakker. Not satisfied with Foundation 2000, Gorefest signed a contract in 1992 with Nuclear Blast. Hoogendoorn quit because of incidents during the Mindloss-tour and drummer Ed Warby (who came from the power metal band Elegy) took his place two weeks before recording sessio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Human Equation
''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. As with nearly every Ayreon album, it is a concept album with each character being portrayed by one singer. However unlike previous albums, ''The Human Equation'' is not a sci-fi story but takes place almost entirely in the mind of a character called Me (played by LaBrie) who is in a coma after a car crash, with each song consisting of one day spent in coma. While his Wife (Marcela Bovio) and Best Friend (Lucassen) are at his side in the real world, Me, trapped in his own mind, encounters representations of his own feelings a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolby Pro Logic
Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo (also known as ''Dolby MP'' or ''Dolby SVA'') was developed by Dolby in 1976 for analog cinema sound systems. The format was adapted for home use in 1982 as Dolby Surround when HiFi capable consumer VCRs were introduced. It was further improved with the Dolby Pro Logic decoding system after 1987. The ''Dolby MP Matrix'' was the professional system that encoded four channels of film sound into two. This track used by the ''Dolby Stereo'' theater system on a 35mm optical stereo print and decoded back to the original 4.0 Surround. The same four-channel encoded stereo track was largely left unchanged and made available to consumers as ''"Dolby Surround"'' on home video. However, the original Dolby Surround decoders in 1982 were a simple passive matrix three-channel decoder: L/R and Mono Surround. The surround was li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star One (band)
Star One (also referred to as Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Star One) is a Dutch progressive metal supergroup/side-project of Arjen Anthony Lucassen of Ayreon fame. The band has released three albums to date: their first in 2002, their second in 2010, and most recently a third in 2022, plus a live album in 2003, and features four different singers: Russell Allen (Symphony X), Damian Wilson ( Threshold, Headspace), Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale), and Floor Jansen (After Forever, ReVamp, Nightwish). Unlike Ayreon, albums do not follow one storyline; instead, each song is a different story with a sci-fi concept, most of the tracks based on existing movies and series. The band takes its name from the second season finale of ''Blake's 7''. The band includes four singers alternating in all the songs, not including Lucassen, who sings occasionally, plays all guitars and keyboards and writes and composes all the songs. The third studio album deviates from this, having a differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter. One of these experimental examples introduced to modern metal was djent. The music typically showcases the extreme technical proficiency of the performers and usually uses unorthodox harmonies as well as complex rhythms with frequent meter changes and intense syncopation. While the genre emerged towards the late-1980s, it was not until the 1990s that progressive metal achieved widespread success. Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Tool, Symphony X,''AllMusic''Tool Retrieved on February 11, 2013. Shadow Gallery, King's X, and Fates Warning are a few examples of progressive metal bands who achieved commercial success. Soon after the rise of the genre's popularity, other thrash and death me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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