AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), have announced the guest singers who will appear on the semi-acoustic bonus disc that will go with "The Final Experiment" re-issue. The singers and the tracks they will appear on are as follows: Astrid van der Veen (THE ENDORPHINS) – "Dreamtime" Ruud Houweling (CLOUD MACHINE) ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED have announced the addition of singer Paul Adrian Villarreal to the group's ranks. "Paul is currently residing in the USA in San Diego (California) but he will be moving to Europe soon," the band write on their web site. "He is a very talented singer and has a wide range ...
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Holland's Lords of Metal webzine has published a special article regarding illegal music downloading and metal musicians' thoughts and opinions on the subject. Commented writer Eddy Meuwese: "Since I joined forces with Lords of Metal I came across a lot of interesting bands and artists. I interviewed a lot of them, and one ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED are still searching for a singer following the departure of Andre Vuurboom earlier in the year. "We have some good options," the band write on their web site. "Things are looking positive currently and we hope to announce the news pretty soon." In other news, SUN CAGED are busy writing ...
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IMPERIA, the new band fronted by former TRAIL OF TEARS singer Helena Iren Michaelsen, recently shot videos for the tracks "Into Paradise" and "Angelchild". Check out pictures from the video shoot at this location. "Into Paradise" and "Angelchild" come off IMPERIA's debut album, "The Ancient Dance of Qetesh", available now on Ebony Tears. ...
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A bunch of high-quality photos of IMPERIA, the new band fronted by former TRAIL OF TEARS singer Helena Iren Michaelsen, performing at Aalst Rockt in Aalst, Belgium on September 18 have been posted online at Datapix-Designs.com. As previously reported, IMPERIA will release their debut album, "The Ancient Dance of Qetesh", in the Benelux ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), are planning on reissuing their second album, "Actual Fantasy". "Arjen wanted to experiment with releasing his music as a 5.1 surround remix, and 'Actual Fantasy' — a little bit of a 'forgotten' album in the AYREON collection — is sonically and electronically the most extreme ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED have announced the addition of keyboardist Rene Kroon to the group's ranks. "Rene is a very good player with a lot of technical abilities, and he managed to figure out the audition songs with no errors," the band write on their web site. "Also his sounds came very close to ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED have been forced to postpone their previously announced appearance at the ProgPower pre-party show on September 16 in Atlanta, Georgia. "The main reason [for the postponement] is that the band is still having auditions to find the right [singer and keyboardist] for the band and time is running short for ...
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Norway's Imhotep zine recently asked more than 100 guitarists to choose their own dream G3 lineups. "The respect that the guitar players have for Joe Satriani and Steve Vai is a proven fact," writes the magazine's Thiago Pinto Corrêa Sarkis (also of Brazil's Whiplash). "Anyway, talking with some musicians, I could realize that the G3 ...
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Former BLACK SABBATH vocalist Tony Martin, who appeared on such albums as "The Headless Cross" and "Tyr", proved a bit out of Arjen Anthony Lucassen's price range when approached for the new AYREON project, "The Human Condition". Lucassen, who has made a name for himself with his robust operatic metal releases, explains how he filters ...
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AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen will appear on the "Swijnenstal" radio program on 3FM, the Dutch national pop radio station, this Friday, June 25. He will be interviewed and will play one acoustic track with Irene Jansen and Peter Vink. You can tune into the program starting at 7:00 p.m. CET and you can stream the ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), will be releasing an alternative version of the song "Day Sixteen: Loser", simply called "Loser", as the next single from their "Ayreon: The Human Equation" CD. "In this version Joost van den Broek (ex-SUN CAGED, AFTER FOREVER) and Arjen Lucassen battle it out in a ...
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After the star-studded AYREON project overseen by Dutchman Arjen Lucassen, rock operas now seem to becoming de rigueur in the metal marketplace — and god only knows how, because they must be an absolute nightmare to assemble. In Daniele Liverani's case, he might only be a minor leaguer in his regular role as multi-instrumentalist with ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED, who feature in their ranks STAR ONE keyboardist Joost van den Broek, won the April 2004 monthly band competition on the popular Dutch radio station 3FM. "People could vote for the competing bands on the Internet and there was also a professional jury who gave the bands a rating," reads ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), have revealed the cast of characters included in the storyline on the group's forthcoming CD, "Ayreon: The Human Equation", and the singers performing them. They are as follows: James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER): "Me" Marcela Bovio (ELFONÍA): His "Wife" Arjen Lucassen: His "Best Friend" Mike Baker ...
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Brazilian hard rock magazine Whiplash has compiled an **updated** list of more than 140 hard rock/heavy metal stars' favorite albums of 2003 and has posted it online at this location (scroll down the page). Some albums from 2002 were allowed, and the artists were asked to list anywhere from one to ten releases, ...
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Former STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto has set "Coldness" as the title of his second solo album, due this spring through Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2002's "Waiting For The Dawn" (which was issued under the KOTIPELTO banner) reportedly features "more or less the same" recording lineup as that on the debut, which included contributions ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), have inked a new deal with Inside Out Records. Lucassen's first release for Inside Out under the AYREON banner will be the band's much-anticipated new CD, "The Human Equation", tentatively due in May. In other news, URIAH HEEP's Ken Hensley and IQ keyboardist Martin Orford ...
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Former STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto has completed work on his second solo album, tentatively due in the spring through Century Media Records. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2002's "Waiting For The Dawn" (issued under the KOTIPELTO banner) reportedly features "more or less the same" recording lineup as that on the debut, which featured contributions from Mike ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), have invited the following guest instrumentalists to contribute to the group's new album, "The Human Equation", due in May 2004 through an as-yet-undetermined label: Oliver Wakeman on keyboards: "Arjen has played guitar on some of Oliver's work, and they've been good friends ever since," reads ...
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AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE) has confirmed the final three vocalists confirmed to appear on the new AYREON CD, "The Human Equation", tentatively due in May 2004 through an as-yet-undetermined label. According to a post on Arjen's official web site, "an odd chain of events brought a premature end to the guessing game, but ...
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OPETH frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt has been officially confirmed as one of the guest performers on the new AYREON CD, "The Human Equation", tentatively due in May 2004 through an as-yet-undetermined label. According to a posting on AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen's (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE) web site, "fans and journalists alike kept telling Arjen to check out Mikael ...
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AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE) has set "Ayreon: The Human Equation" as the title for the group's forthcoming CD, tentatively due in May 2004 through an as-yet-undetermined label. Among the guest vocalists scheduled to appear on the album are James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER), Devon Graves (a.k.a. Buddy Lackey, DEAD SOUL TRIBE, ex-PSYCHOTIC WALTZ), Magnus ...
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DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie has been officially confirmed as one of the guest performers on the new AYREON CD, tentatively due early next year through an as-yet-undetermined label. "LaBrie has known AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen's (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE) music for a long time and did not hide the fact that he would love to be ...
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AYREON, the brainchild of Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen (ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE), are currently recording their sixth studio album, tentatively due in early 2004 through Transmission Records. Among the guest vocalists set to appear on the album are the following: Devon Graves (DEAD SOUL TRIBE) Magnus Ekwall (THE QUILL) Heather Findlay (MOSTLY AUTUMN) Eric Clayton (SAVIOUR MACHINE) ...
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Dutch progressive metallers SUN CAGED, who feature in their ranks STAR ONE keyboardist Joost van den Broek, have posted a full-length MP3 of the track "Hollow" at this location. "Hollow" comes off the group's self-titled debut album, due on October 22 through Finland's Lion Music. "Sun Caged" was mixed by AYREON/STAR ONE mastermind ...
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A brand new STRATOVARIUS track, titled "I Walk To My Own Song", has been posted online in MP3 format at this location (file size: 3.6 MB). "I Walk To My Own Song" comes off the Finnish neo-classical metallers' forthcoming CD, "Elements Part 2", due on October 27 through Nuclear Blast Records. The album, ...
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Century Media Records have licensed the new CONSORTIUM PROJECT III album for worldwide release. Gaining lengthy experience from fronting activities with acts like HAMMERHEAD, VENGEANCE, ELEGY and also appearing on Arjen Lucassen's AYREON, Ian Parry's third and latest rendition to the realms of symphonic, progressive power metal is realized with CONSORTIUM PROJECT III's "Terra Incognita ...
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STRATOVARIUS vocalist Timo Kotipelto has completed the songwriting process for his second solo album with only "some lyrics [left] to be written," according to a post on his web site. Timo will enter the studio in September to begin recording the as-yet-untitled follow-up to last year's "Waiting For The Dawn" album (issued under the KOTIPELTO ...
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