Ayreon

Medea is the solo project of excellent guitarist/keyboardist Henry Meeuws (Casual Silence). The music is very much close to another famous band from land of tulips Ayreon, but with their own twist and with a lot of great ideas. The debut is released in 2002 named "Individual Unique" and has an very intresting concept - is about a young ambitious artist in 18th Century from Florence who is visited by the spirit of Michelangelo. Lots of cast of characters, female/male singers, musicians and all perform and give life to the story.
Their second release, "Room XVII" (2005), is a concept album about dutch history, voyage of the Batavia and the lands conquered by tdutch in 17 century…

The genius of Progressive Rock on one fantastic free CD. Jethro Tull, Van Der Graaf Generator, Barclay James Harvest, Eloy, Hatfield And The North, Steve Hackett, Marillion, The Flower Kings, Riverside, Ayreon and more.

Welcome to the latest mix of new progressive sounds on this equally new Prog magazine cover disc. There's brand new Voyager, Big Big Train, Goldray, White Willow and Ayreon, all featuring highly anticipated tracks from their latesr releases. We also feature a track from Arkansas-based band Pallbearer. Traditionally known as a doom band, their love of progressive rock has seen them expand their sound on new album Heartless, hense the inclusion of "I Saw The End" on this CD. And of course there's Damanek, the project featuring Guy Manning, Sean Timms, Luke Machin, Dan Mash and Marek Arnold. "Long Time Shadow Falls" does not disappoint.

Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy is the debut solo album of Dutch composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released under the name Anthony. He sang leading vocals and played most of the instruments himself. However unlike most of his future works Lucassen doesn't play bass, with Peter Vink (future member of Lucassen's band Star One and future contributor of Lucassen's project Ayreon) playing all bass. The name of the album comes from the song "Across the Universe" (by The Beatles), one of Lucassen's favorite songs.

If you're a fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Rick Wakeman, this is definitely something for you. Big instrumental symphonic rock from the keyboardist most well known for his work with Lana Lane and Rocket Scientists. Backed by a bunch of experienced musicians, among them his wife Lana Lane, fellow Rocket Scientist member Marc McCrite and John Payne (Asia)…

Guilt Machine is a project by Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon among many other projects and bands. On this album he departs from the over the top complexity of Ayreon in favor of the simplicity of a relatively small line-up. Rather than putting together an ensemble cast of vocalists, Arjen recruited Jasper Steverlinck, singer of the Belgian alternative rock band Arid, as the sole vocalist of Guilt Machine. The talents of Chris Maitland (ex-Porcupine Tree) were enlisted for the drum parts. Arjen's partner and manager Lori Linstruth supplied the guitar solos. The rest of the instruments were played by Arjen himself, who also sings backing vocals. Musically, this album is a more mellow affair and may not be metal in the traditional sense. Instead it takes on an alternative prog direction that sounds a lot like a combination of bands such as Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Opeth's "Damnation," and Muse…

"Strange Hobby" is a cover album (Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Status Quo, The Who, Kaleidoscope, The Kinks, Bob Dylan, The Hollies, The Move…) by Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon), released in 1996.
In the mid 1990s Arjen Anthony Lucassen wanted a break from composing epic prog operas for his long-running Ayreon project and decided to record a bunch of his favourite tunes from the 60s. Strange Hobby was originally released anonymously and, after being out of print for a decade, here it comes again, beefed up with four bonus cuts.
Lucassen plays and sings everything himself and gives everything a heavy glam rock sheen, although the decision to put so much compression and to layer effects on the vocals renders everything a little inhuman.

Shadow Gallery is a progressive metal/rock band, which formed in Pennsylvania (USA) in the 1980's. Their name is taken from the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore. They have a reputation among fans for complex song structures and virtuoso musicianship and have been compared to contemporaries Dream Theater and Queensrÿche. Vocalist Mike Baker, only 45 years old, passed away on October 29, 2008 of a heart attack. Several members of Shadow Gallery have made their contribution to other projects like MullMuzzler, Ayreon, Explorers Club and Star One.
The band released their first album in 1992, with copies being sold in Europe and Japan aswell. In late 1993, the band recruited a new musician to their course - keyboardist and guitarist Gary Wehrkamp, and in 1994, added another virtuoso to their palette, drummer Kevin Soffera…