Adriano Bernard

Ayreon are a kitschy band composed of: LaBrie, Devin Townsend, Akerfeldt from Opeth, Devon Graves leader of Dead Soul Tribe, Mike Baker from Shadow Gallery, Eric Clayton from Saviour Machine, Magnus Ekwall (The Quill). They quote and reinterpret every second; each of their songs is a fried mix of past bands. One moment they sound like and/or reference Pink Floyd, the next they resemble Rush, and a minute and a half later they sound like King Crimson. Absolutely DISMISSIBLE. Fake operatic, gothic, ambient, Celtic attitudes, quotes from Pink Floyd—there are at least 10 REASONS TO DECAPITATE EACH OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND.

I don’t care about the aestheticism of these guys; I’m not interested if they create a 30-minute song where they manage to pose as an ambient, funk, and jazz group while still maintaining their prog setup: it’s all smoke and mirrors, as the saying goes. If the base of the music is superficial and clichéd, hyper-melodic, it’s pointless for them to embellish it with refined guitar and funky quotes (there's even that!), because the substance isn’t there! There are just 30 minutes of pompous, virtuosic arrangements with neither head nor tail: the songs are neither meat nor fish. "We All Need Some Light" is IDENTICAL TO BRYAN ADAMS, SAME TONE OF VOICE (with some variations that remind one of the Backstreet Boys; if you don’t believe it, check out the song "DRAWNING" by the B.B.); for a song like this, just hearing the chorus once is enough for a group of girls to sing it in tears at the stadium: sickly sweet melodies, horrific. Yes, we must admit it, the acoustic guitar in the interlude is beautiful and so is the other acoustic one, but the essence of the piece, the melody, the structure of the song, is banal. Before learning to play, a band should learn to conceive, to compose, to be original, in short, TO BE ARTISTS. Music is not just technique; indeed, technique is almost always secondary.

Ah really, shoot? Aside from the fact that if I had one of those KISS clowns as my profile picture, I would be very careful to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid embarrassing situations; according to the banal melodies used by these "artists," they are the same ones flaunted by our Bryan Adams. Try listening to something like "Here I Am" by Adams and try to deny that they are the same banal and bush-like melodies woven by these guys here (that they are bush-like is just my impression; you may not agree, but it’s undeniable that the melodies are banal). What you guys don’t seem to understand (and I’m speaking about the DT as well) is that it's not enough to know how to play excellently and very quickly if the core and essence of the music is a hyper-melodic and banal crap. These guys only showcase perfect technique imitating the great bands that Malashi rightly mentioned but without having the ideas, originality, and compositional greatness of the melodies. To make an album a good album, you need not only technical skill but also the skill to compose new, non-banal, and NOT TACKY melodies. Because if Britney Spears were to learn how to play the guitar excellently and make some terrifying solos like Gilmour but WOVEN INTO A SONG LIKE TOXIC, that song, even if the girl (while demonstrating her technical guitar skills) would still remain a banal commercial crap, right?!!!

Manalisci, sorry* Already from your profile you have a guilty look! In my opinion, you also have the eyreon at home....you're suspicious :-)))

green malashi, you’ve been caught red-handed like a schoolboy hiding a porn magazine under the desk. :-)))))))

...luxino caaaaaro:D

But what more complex melodies?!?!?! If anything, simpler and more commercial melodies....

Yes, but come on, be more natural! All these big words you're using can confuse your listener. It's not that I don't understand your language; it just feels like a history dialogue between a student and a teacher—I'm feeling like I've gone back to high school! :-)))) And frankly, it really seems like a copycat in the sense that it feels just like our nicky :-): acoustic guitar always moving through the same dear 4 chords, a voice that's oh so acoustic and nostalgic, and sometimes the usual old strings that never hurt. But this doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the album: it's a beautiful work, pleasant, relaxing, and at times sad. Let's say it lacks originality... PS: tell me the truth, did I manage to sweeten you up with the 4, huh? :P

Oh, who would have thought... besides being a jerk, you're also cultured...

For the record: ABBA are also Swedish, but their music is some of the worst American sentimentalism.