AMBEON

"Fate Of A Dreamer"

(Transmission, 2001)

 

New project of Arje Lucassen, leader of Ayreon, next to vocalist Astrid der Veen.

One of the most interesting characteristics in the proposal of Ayreon is the combination of passages of subtle reminiscent atmospheres of the best Floyd beside near more energetic moments to the hard prog. This you ended up evidencing in such a way that Lucassen published two disks simultaneously with each one of those styles in brillants albums.
And surprisingly this new parallel project finds it deepening its style more imaginative, next to the small vocalist Astrid, fourteen years old.
The singer's album soloist, "Beatiful Red", it impacted in such a way that Lucassen called it to work together and the result is this beautiful one I dial "Fate to Dreamer".
The same one Van der Veen she wrote the melodies, the letters and the argumentational line of the disk, being based their music slightly on certain patterns of old themes of Ayreon. But as the arrangements they are an enormous percentage of the identity of the compositions, these have a completely new personality. The voice to the Tori Amos and Kate Bush of Astrid is one of the decisive factors of the attractiveness of the disk, at the same time that the themes go for a walk for different climates and styles, as the Celtic, Gothic, dark ambient, electronic, hard and progressive, with a remarkable fluency.
The inclusion of Stephen Van Haestreg in acoustic and electronic drums, Walter Latupeirissa in bass, the same Arjen Lucassen in acoustic and electric guitars and John and Pat Mc Manus of the fabulous Celtus in flutes, bagpipes and violins, they grant him an identity even more grupal that that of some works of Ayreon, since in these Lucassen arms kind of a collage with several musicians and invited vocalists. The combination electro-floydian of the instrumental "Fate" is one of the most interesting moments in the disk, the same thing that "Lost Message" Celtic futurist or the Celtic ambient of "Estranged" and "High", with the epic "Cold Metal" being one of the big tracts of the album next to "Surreal", maybe the best topic in the work.
"Fate to Dreamer" is another evidence of the interesting and wide of the current scene post-prog, with a constant search of synthesis of the varied styles and artists with a lot of talent like to achieve excellent artistic results.

Andrés Valle
andresvalle@interlink.com.ar