Ambeon
Fate Of A Dreamer

...then I closed my eyes...sweetly rocked by a sulfurous and mellifluous symphony...the darkness slowly descended while contrasting sensations put me in a state of anxiety...then once again the faint, cold light came to meet me, dragging me through a journey into my subconscious...

A distant voice, yet so close, guided my steps...something omnipresent watching me...and a landscape so strange...wonderful and terrifying...comforting and heart-wrenching...

Lost and confused...where am I?

I began to understand...but forgot shortly after, swept away by beating drums with such a rhythm that I thought I was listening to my own heart...

I opened my eyes...back again in this world...so synthetic, so false...is this perhaps a nightmare?...no, it's just reality...
Sad...misunderstood...disappointed...suffering...my eyelids lower slowly and I return to my place...it's my destiny...The Fate Of A dreamer

This album hit me straight to the heart and although I sometimes forget about it, just a brief listen suffices and here I am enchanted again...bewitched...in love with this jewel of rare beauty.
The music on this work was entirely composed by Arjen Lucassen, known by many under his stage name Ayreon (his numerous works include the most recent Star One), and it's his project meant to be instrumental called Ambeon (a name born from the fusion of Ayreon and ambient).
Then the discovery of such a young talent as the "Alice" Astrid Van Der Veen so impressed him that only two out of the 10 tracks composed remained purely instrumental.
I dare say that Arjen's choice was more than correct given the work Astrid did (who was only 14 years old when she wrote/sang the vocal lines).
Inspired mostly by singers such as the phenomenal Tori Amos first and foremost and Bjork, the young lady delivers a truly touching and enchanting performance without any drop throughout the duration of the album, surprising even for her confidence and naturalness in tackling the songs, but above all for the truly moving interpretation.
In addition to the winning card of the talented German singer, it's also worth highlighting the masterful performance of Arjen himself (acoustic and electric guitars, analog keyboards, samples, and weird noises) who excels in creating icy, majestic, dreamy, and generally evocative atmospheres accompanied by an excellent bassist (normal and fretless bass) such as Walter Latupeirissa (Snowy White, Steve Lukather, Pat Travers) by the technical-drummer Stephen Van Haestregt and by two boys from the band Celtus, John and Pat McManus, who played flutes, bagpipes, and violins.
The music offered by Ambeon is music close to gothic, although very different in themes and atmospheres, rather simple on a technical level that aims to charm the listener more for the ambient created and the "mystery" rather than the complexity of the pieces.
There is certainly a certain dark component, but also a warmer and enveloping, albeit sad, one (see Lost Message and the subsequent Surreal); strong is also the dreamy and mysterious component (see Estranged and Ashes) created by particular sounds carefully chosen by the mastermind of this project, namely Arjen Lucassen alias Ayreon.

The artwork of the album is simple but effective. There are the lyrics of all the songs with a kind of written introduction to Astrid's journey "fantastic" and some photos of her (she seems just like a modern Alice in Wonderland, doesn't she?) and only one of Arjen on a dark background creating a notable contrast between him and her.