Trivia / Ayreon

• Acting for Two: Most guide vocals for Theory of Everything were sung by Wilmer Waarbroek so, in a way, he played every character before they were actually cast. Quite gloriously, on Wilmer's youtube channel, you can listen to a version of the entire album (four parts/phases) sung by him.
• Creator Breakdown: After Arjen lost his senses of taste and smell, the poor man went into a depression for some time. Hence the Darker and Edgier sound of 01.
• Out of Order: Listening to the albums out of order won't spoil anything. Listening to the storyline from beginning to end, however, requires some skipping around between the albums. The timeline of events in the Ayreon universe is described on a poster◊ that came with the Timeline compilation. With this in mind, plus updates, the chronological order of the albums and songs goes something like this:
  • The Source
  • The first disc of 01011001 (excluding "Connect the Dots" and "Web of Lies"), "The Fifth Extinction," "Waking Dreams," "Unnatural Selection," "Connect the Dots," and "Web of Lies"
  • Into the Electric Castle
  • "The Truth is in Here," "River of Time," and "E=MC^2" from 01011001
  • The Final Experiment
  • "The Sixth Extinction" from 01011001
  • The Human Equation
  • Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream Sequencer
  • Universal Migrator Part II: Flight of the Migrator
  • "Epilogue: The Memory Remains" from Timeline
• What Could Have Been: Roy Khan had initially accepted an invitation to be a guest vocalist, but had to back out due to a minor throat injury that he did not want to agitate.
  • According to Word of God, Steven Wilson was offered a spot on an album, but turned down the offer.

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