something-quiet:

Courtesy of this facebook page. So excellent.

MSTIES TAKE NOTE! 3/03 IS “IT STINKS!” DAY

(image taken from http://fuckyeahmst3k.tumblr.com/post/3397655002/it-stinks)

Every Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan knows the image above and the meme associated with it: The immortal episode 303, Pod People, starring the furry and fabulous Trumpy and some nonsense about poachers and pop groups. Last year, I saw somebody on Twitter with an “It Stinks” avatar and it hit me: Why don’t we all get together as MSTies and have March 3rd be “It Stinks!” day?

Here’s the idea: Get a picture taken of yourself (or a drawing or whatever) doing the “It Stinks!” pose and make it your avatar for March 3rd. That’s all there is to it.

I personally intend to go through with this, and it’d be cool to see others do so as well. Spread the word, folks! I’m hoping to see at least a dozen of my twitter buddies with “It Stinks!” as their avatar!

gastrophobia:

This cute pokémon comic/pin-up I drew appeared in the Lifemeter video game anthology 2 years ago.

I wish they’d make an evolution of eevee that could use fly because then I could play an entire game using just eeveelutions. Maybe you could make it evolve by feeding it pegasus milk or making it lose a beauty contest to a bird-type and getting jealous or something.

Actually. you know how Horton sat on that bird egg and it came out half-elephant? Maybe they could do that with eevee. That sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Last night, I dreamed that my mom and I were taking a road trip that lead us through Georgia. We were heading towards a small town when we passed a field that was being excavated and was revealed to be a mass grave filled with African-American bodies. We stopped in town to get a newspaper, and as we were leaving, I saw a man kill a family of African-Americans with a shotgun and fled back into the building, where I spent the remainder of the dream, utterly terrified. I woke up briefly, calmed myself down as much as I could, then went back to sleep, where I had a continuation of the dream in which I was convinced that we were being followed by the mass-murderer and so I tried to find the most convoluted route possible to our next destination.

I don’t know what prompted this dream or what this means. All I know is that my mind produces some very unpleasant things when I’m asleep.

Here is my excessively-long (26:31:33!) Halloween playlist. Some of it is obviously halloweeny, some of it’s spooky, some of it is just sort of bizarre.

1. Metallica & Michael Kamen - Master of Puppets (live) (8:54)
2. Alice Cooper - Devil’s Food (3:35)
3. Alice Cooper - The Black Widow (3:37)
4. Dio - Lock Up the Wolves (8:32)
5. Sculptured - Suspiria (4:56)
6. Led Zeppelin - No Quarter (7:00)
7. Phil Collins - I Don’t Care Anymore (5:06)
8. The Doors - Strange Days (3:06)
9. 2 Unlimited - Maximum Overdrive (3:40)
10. Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down to Georgia (3:38)
11. Black Sabbath - Am I Going Insane (Radio) (4:15)
12. Dokken - Into The Fire (4:27)
13. Yasunori Mitsuda - Lavos’s Theme (5:10)
14. Scorpions - Bad Boys Running Wild (3:55)
15. Oingo Boingo - Flesh ‘n Blood (4:17)
16. Mick Smiley - Magic (4:21)
17. America - Sandman (4:08)
18. Symphony X - King of Terrors (6:19)
19. Yasunori Mitsuda - Ruined World (3:24)
20. Blue Öyster Cult - Veins (3:58)
21. Blue Öyster Cult - Black Blade (6:29)
22. Dio - Evil on Queen Street (6:04)
23. Symphony X - Incantations of The Apprentice (4:22)
24. Joe Covenant - Skullcrusher Mountain (4:23)
25. Bad Company - Evil Wind (4:21)
26. Black Sabbath - Iron Man (5:56)
27. Dio - The Last in Line (5:47)
28. Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains (4:31)
29. Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh! (5:09)
30. Ozzy Osbourne - Shot in the Dark (4:16)
31. Dio - Rock ‘n’ Roll Children (4:34)
32. Alice Cooper - He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) (3:43)
33. Mummy Calls - Beauty Has Her Way (3:58)
34. Onry Ozzborn - S.S.S. (4:03)
35. Alice Cooper - Poison (4:28)
36. Metallica & Michael Kamen - The Memory Remains (live) (4:42)
37. Tears for Fears - Shout (6:35)
38. Symphony X - Thorns of Sorrow (3:54)
39. Tears for Fears - Shout (6:35)
40. Electric Light Orchestra - Fire on High (5:30)
41. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Maneater (4:25)
42. Magica - Bittersweet Nightshade (4:09)
43. The Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years from Home (4:46)
44. Star One - Perfect Survivor (4:46)
45. Butthole Surfers - They Came In (4:42)
46. Alphaville - Never Get Out Of The Boat (Live Intro Piece) (2:17)
47. Ween - Buckingham Green (3:18)
48. Blue Öyster Cult - Tattoo Vampire (2:41)
49. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Born on the Bayou (5:15)
50. Gerard McMann - Cry Little Sister (Theme from the Lost Boys) (4:47)
51. John Fogerty - The Old Man Down the Road (3:32)
52. Dio - Eat Your Heart Out (3:50)
53. Rush - Freeze (Part IV of “Fear”) (6:21)
54. Metallica & Michael Kamen - Enter Sandman (live) (7:39)
55. Agalloch - A Fragment (2:03)
56. Dio - Evil Eyes (3:38)
57. Apocalyptica - Cohkka (3:20)
58. Symphony X - Inferno (Unleash the Fire) (5:32)
59. The Bus Boys - Cleanin’ Up The Town (2:59)
60. Led Zeppelin - Gallows Pole (4:56)
61. Blue Öyster Cult - I Love the Night (4:24)
62. Genesis - Tonight Tonight Tonight (4:28)
63. Blue Öyster Cult - In the Presence of Another World (8:07)
64. Dio - Night People (4:08)
65. Symphony X - The Eyes of Medusa (5:26)
66. Rush - Secret Touch (6:34)
67. Heaven & Hell - Atom and Evil (5:13)
68. Symphony X - Of Sins and Shadows (4:58)
69. Dokken - Heaven Sent (4:53)
70. Symphony X - Rapture or Pain (5:05)
71. Dio - One Night in the City (5:16)
72. Michael Jackson - Thriller (5:57)
73. Alice Cooper - Years Ago (2:51)
74. Alice Cooper - Steven (5:46)
75. Alice Cooper - The Awakening (2:30)
76. Dio - Sunset Superman (5:47)
77. Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman (4:19)
78. György Ligeti - Lux Aeterna (6:02)
79. The Gathering - Broken Glass (4:59)
80. Voltaire - Dead Girls (4:12)
81. Symphony X - The Turning (4:44)
82. Rush - Ghost Rider (5:41)
83. Nightingale - Shadowman (5:07)
84. Evergrey - Fragments (5:37)
85. Black Sabbath - Lady Evil (4:24)
86. György Ligeti - Aventures (unaltered) (10:57)
87. Bad Company - Burnin’ Sky (5:02)
88. Blue Öyster Cult - After Dark (4:25)
89. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (6:58)
90. Arkade Funk - Tilt (6:05)
91. Def Leppard - Foolin’ (4:38)
92. Metallica & Michael Kamen - The Thing That Should Not Be (live) (7:26)
93. Metallica & Michael Kamen - -Human (live) (4:19)
94. Blue Öyster Cult - Godzilla (3:41)
95. Scorpions - Alien Nation (5:45)
96. Blue Öyster Cult - Nosferatu (5:27)
97. The Doors - People Are Strange (2:10)
98. Rush - Nocturne (4:49)
99. Black Sabbath - Shadow of the Wind (5:39)
100. Blue Öyster Cult - I Am the One You Warned Me Of (6:41)
101. Blue Öyster Cult - Mes Dames Sarat (4:06)
102. Dio - Sacred Heart (6:30)
103. Finntroll - Trollhammaren (3:32)
104. Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe (4:24)
105. Blue Öyster Cult - Morning Final (4:30)
106. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (4:57)
107. Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein (3:23)
108. Metallica & Michael Kamen - Of Wolf and Man (live) (4:18)
109. New Edition - Supernatural (4:34)
110. Blue Öyster Cult - Les Invisibles (7:06)
111. Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now? (3:23)
112. MC Hammer - Addams Family Groove (3:58)
113. Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (17:02)
114. Metallica & Michael Kamen - The Call of Ktulu (live) (9:34)
115. Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps (5:32)
116. Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (4:54)
117. Voltaire - When You’re Evil (4:38)
118. Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare (5:20)
119. Doreen Edwards & Mike Harding - Count Duckula (1:02)
120. Black Sabbath - I (5:13)
121. Blue Öyster Cult - Career of Evil (4:00)
122. David Bowie - Panic in Detroit (4:28)
123. Rush - Red Sector A (5:11)
124. Virgin Black - And the Kiss of God’s Mouth (6:22)
125. Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again (5:01)
126. David Bowie - Time Will Crawl (4:20)
127. Oingo Boingo - Weird Science (3:49)
128. Voltaire - BRAINS! (5:14)
129. Butthole Surfers - Cherub (6:20)
130. Apocalyptica - Ruska (4:39)
131. Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight (5:29)
132. The Doors - Riders on the Storm (7:10)
133. Blue Öyster Cult - (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (5:08)
134. Dokken - Dream Warriors (4:48)
135. Evergrey - Visions (6:02)
136. Genesis - Keep It Dark (4:32)
137. Ayreon - Computer-Reign (Game Over) (3:24)
138. Blue Öyster Cult - E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) (3:42)
139. Blue Öyster Cult - Shooting Shark (7:11)
140. Yaz - Situation (3:44)
141. Dog Fashion Disco - Worm in a Dog’s Heart (3:45)
142. Butthole Surfers - Dracula from Houston (3:43)
143. Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) (5:00)
144. Lou Gramm - Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys) (6:36)
145. Evergrey - Blinded (4:34)
146. Ulver - Vowels (6:26)
147. Heaven & Hell - Eating the Cannibals (3:34)
148. Electric Light Orchestra - Showdown (4:11)
149. Blue Öyster Cult - Astronomy (remake) (8:47)
150. Yngwie Malmsteen - Evil Eye (5:14)
151. Mostly Autumn - Caradhras the Cruel (2:32)
152. Jonathan Coulton - Creepy Doll (4:00)
153. György Ligeti - Requiem (6:33)
154. Yaz - Don’t Go (3:00)
155. Threshold - Consume to Live (acoustic) (5:03)
156. Symphony X - In the Dragon’s Den (3:58)
157. JAM Project - The Gate of the Hell (6:04)
158. Antimatter - The Art Of A Soft Landing (4:34)
159. The Eagles - Those Shoes (4:54)
160. Apollo 440 - (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (5:28)
161. Blue Öyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars (4:50)
162. Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Spirit (4:14)
163. Metallica & Michael Kamen - Devil’s Dance (live) (5:26)
164. Dio - Don’t Talk to Strangers (4:54)
165. The Gathering - Red is a Slow Colour (6:25)
166. Kelly Bailey - Party Escort (4:21)
167. Blue Öyster Cult - Astronomy (6:28)
168. Genesis - Mama (5:18)
169. Dio - Rainbow in the Dark (4:14)
170. Kelly Bailey - Stop What Are You Doing (4:00)
171. Blue Öyster Cult - Cagey Cretins (3:16)
172. Laura Branigan - Self Control (4:08)
173. György Ligeti - Jupiter and Beyond: Requiem/Atmospheres/Adventures (excerpts) (15:15)
174. Dog Fashion Disco - Love Song for a Witch (4:13)
175. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Cathedral (5:41)
176. Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave (5:17)
177. Deep Purple - Hush (4:26)
178. Joseph LoDuca - Building the Deathcoaster (1:58)
179. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps) (3:34)
180. Focus - Hocus Pocus (6:29)
181. Alphaville - Duel (3:53)
182. Blue Öyster Cult - Tenderloin (3:39)
183. Ayreon - Waracle (6:44)
184. Yasunori Mitsuda - Battle with Magus (3:30)
185. Evergrey - End of Your Days (4:39)
186. Dokken - The Hunter (4:08)
187. Electric Light Orchestra - Stranger (4:29)
188. Bond - Oceanic (6:42)
189. Symphony X - The Witching Hour (4:15)
190. Apocalyptica - Resurrection (4:07)
191. The Cars - All Mixed Up (4:14)
192. Blue Öyster Cult - Wings Wetted Down (4:12)
193. Blue Öyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths (5:19)
194. Elmer Bernstein - Main Title Theme (3:01)
195. Michael Sembello - Maniac (4:12)
196. Yasunori Mitsuda - Confusing Melody (1:40)
197. David Bowie - Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (4:13)
198. Rainbow - Tarot Woman (Los Angeles Mix) (6:06)
199. Kelly Bailey - Self Esteem Fund (3:30)
200. AC/DC - Highway to Hell (3:28)
201. Helios Creed - The Point of No Return (4:28)
202. Mortiis - World Essence (5:58)
203. Black Sabbath - Warning (10:35)
204. Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put a Spell on You (4:32)
205. Rush - Witch Hunt (Part III of “Fear”) (4:45)
206. Rush - Lock and Key (5:09)
207. The Ramones - Pet Sematary (3:34)
208. Ween - Demon Sweat (4:10)
209. Genesis - Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:11)
210. Helloween - Hocus Pocus (6:43)
211. Alphaville - Waves (3:42)
212. Rush - Distant Early Warning (4:57)
213. Dio - Shoot Shoot (4:18)
214. Atlanta Rhythm Section - Spooky (4:58)
215. Peter Schilling - The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime) (3:46)
216. Black Sabbath - The Devil Cried (6:00)
217. Dargaard - Dark Horizons (5:50)
218. stellastarr* - In the Walls (3:51)
219. Helloween - Halloween (13:18)
220. Symphony X - Church of the Machine (8:57)
221. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Knife Edge (5:09)
222. Kelly Bailey - Procedural Jiggle Bone (4:34)
223. Pet Shop Boys - Vampires (4:42)
224. Cabaret Voltaire - A Touch of Evil (3:11)
225. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (6:06)
226. Evergrey - The Great Deceiver (4:20)
227. Black Sabbath - After All (The Dead) (5:41)
228. Barry De Vorzon - The Flight (1:20)
229. Alphaville - Montego Bay (Live) (6:54)
230. György Ligeti - Overture: Atmospheres (2:51)
231. Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night? (Tate Or Tot Mix) (5:33)
232. Dokken - Tooth And Nail (3:42)
233. Symphony X - Fallen (5:51)
234. Rush - The Weapon (Part II of “Fear”) (6:24)
235. Alice Cooper - No More Mr. Nice Guy (3:08)
236. Dog Fashion Disco - Dr. Piranha (2:50)
237. Classics IV - Spooky (2:50)
238. Stone Temple Pilots - Plush (5:13)
239. Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon (4:18)
240. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run Through the Jungle (3:06)
241. Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell (3:12)
242. Jonathan Coulton - Skullcrusher Mountain (4:16)
243. Christopher Franke - Z’ha’dum (12:21)
244. Alice Cooper - Pick Up the Bones (5:14)
245. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Nightmare on My Street (4:58)
246. David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes (4:25)
247. The Gathering - Monsters (4:18)
248. The Eagles - Journey of the Sorcerer (6:37)
249. The Doors - The End (11:41)
250. Barry De Vorzon - Theme from “The Warriors” (3:57)
251. Golden Earring - Twilight Zone (7:52)
252. The Eagles - Witchy Woman (4:10)
253. Blue Öyster Cult - Burnin’ for You (4:30)
254. Blue Öyster Cult - Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl) (5:08)
255. Black Sabbath - Falling off the Edge of the World (5:04)
256. Blue Öyster Cult - Take Me Away (4:30)
257. Apocalyptica - Grace (4:10)
258. Bobby (Boris) Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers - The Monster Mash (3:15)
259. The Doors - Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) (3:19)
260. Walter Carlos - Timesteps (excerpt) (4:18)
261. Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused (6:25)
262. Mostly Autumn - Overture - Forge of Sauron (4:08)
263. AC/DC - Night Prowler (6:27)
264. Dio - Shame on the Night (5:18)
265. Ayreon - The Stranger from Within (revisited) (7:33)
266. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Private Eyes (3:29)
267. Blue Öyster Cult - Joan Crawford (4:54)
268. Black Sabbath - Voodoo (4:34)
269. Barry De Vorzon - Baseball Furies Chase (2:28)
270. Blue Öyster Cult - Sole Survivor (4:05)
271. Heaven & Hell - Bible Black (6:27)
272. Skinny Puppy - 200 Years (4:45)
273. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Barbarian (4:31)
274. Scorpions - Coast to Coast (Live) (4:52)
275. Quiet Riot - Metal Health (5:20)
276. Oingo Boingo - Dead Man’s Party (6:22)
277. Symphony X - Wicked (5:32)
278. Blue Öyster Cult - Magna of Illusion (7:25)
279. Evergrey - Your Darkest Hour (6:15)
280. Chumbawumba - Mary Mary (Stigmata Mix) (4:19)
281. William Steinberg - Mars, the Bringer of War (6:37)
282. Air - Talisman (4:16)
283. Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (4:06)
284. Blue Öyster Cult - The Seige and Investiture of Baron Von Frankenstein’s Castle at Weisseria (8:30)
285. Onry Ozzborn - Metalmouth (5:39)
286. Badmarsh & Shri - Sitar Ritual (6:20)
287. Star of Ash - Death Salutes Atropos (5:32)
288. Black Sabbath - Turn Up the Night (3:42)
289. Arthur Brown - Fire (2:51)
290. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (6:17)
291. Bobby Brown - On Our Own (4:55)
292. Black Sabbath - Hole In The Sky (4:00)
293. Donovan - Season Of The Witch (4:56)
294. Billy Idol - White Wedding (Parts 1 & 2) (Shotgun Mix) (8:23)
295. Blue Öyster Cult - Harvester of Eyes (4:41)
296. Blue Öyster Cult - Searchin’ for Celine (3:36)
297. AC/DC - Hell’s Bells (5:12)
298. 2 Unlimited - Twilight Zone (5:52)
299. Blue Öyster Cult - Fire Of Unknown Origin (4:11)
300. Madder Mortem - Jigsaw (The Pattern and the Puzzle) (4:57)
301. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Bitches Crystal (3:58)
302. The Gathering - Third Chance (5:25)
303. Glenn Frey - Flip City (5:12)
304. Peter Gabriel - That Voice Again (4:53)
305. Symphony X - Savage Curtain (3:30)
306. Alessi - Savin’ The Day (3:23)
307. The Cars - Dangerous Type (4:32)
308. Dokken - Mr. Scary (4:0)
309. Electric Light Orchestra - Night Rider (4:23)
310. Stream of Passion - Deceiver (5:09)
311. Yasunori Mitsuda - Magus’ Castle (0:29)
312. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Living Sin (3:13)
313. Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio (4:00)
314. Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me (3:55)
315. Dio - Dream Evil (4:28)
316. Dio - Holy Diver (5:55)
317. Blue Öyster Cult - Workshop of the Telescopes (4:01)
318. Rush - Vapor Trail (4:57)
319. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising (2:20)

askjoelrobinson:

Oh god no.

peaceroxi:

temenuga:

In 1808, Napoleon, running out of scenic holiday destinations to invade, somehow totally forgot about his neighbor to the south, Spain. So that year he dispatched his troops, kicking off the Peninsular War.

Only 20 years old and working as a barmaid in the town of Valdepenas, Juana Galan was not expecting a surge of French soldiers to come storming through her village. But on June 6, that’s exactly what happened. At that time, most of the men were fighting Napoleon’s forces elsewhere in the nation. Juana, unfazed by things like rifles and Frenchmen and French riflemen, began organizing the women in her village to form a trap for the approaching army.

When the army arrived, Juana and her friends were ready. They dumped boiling water and oil on the French troops, which by all accounts will instantly take the fight out of pretty much anyone. Then Juana, armed with only a batan, beat back the heavily armed French cavalry with her squad of village women, almost none of whom were armed with guns.

The French retreated, giving up on capturing not just Juana’s town but the entire province of La Mancha, leading to ultimate Spanish victory. Today, she is seen in Spain as a national hero, a symbol of resistance, strength, patriotism, feminism and hitting shit with a stick.

(x) 

oh my god i read about her yesterday

simply the most badass chick ever

Not only is she a badass lady, this is a fantastic painting of her.

I, like many of my generation, was first introduced to TMBG via Tiny Toons. And only now, on this watching, did I realize that the bit with the hair and the violin was Hamton & Plucky as the actual duo. (To be fair, I think the last time I saw this one was whenever Tiny Toons was still in reruns)

pumamanredux:

Many people were first introduced to “Istanbul, Not Constantinople” from They Might Be Giants due to the syndicated cartoon Tiny Toons Adventures …

The video stars Plucky Duck, Hampton and Montana Max

A little bit of personal history: Star Trek II might have been my first exposure to Star Trek; certainly, it’s the first of it I distinctly remember seeing. I couldn’t tell you what year it was, but I know it was on TV, either on cable or a Beta tape. I mainly remember the Genesis cave, Spock’s farewell speech, and the funeral at the end. Oh, and the creepy, creepy ear-worms, which even now freak me out.

I couldn’t say the last time I saw ST2, but it has to have been well over a decade ago, more likely closer to 15 years. I have to say thanks to the Film Sack podcast for their review of this movie inspiring me to check it out again.

INTO THE ELECTRIC CASTLE, Ayreon, 1998

“There is danger ahead, but do not be afraid…”

WHAT IS IT?

Into the Electric Castle is the third album created by Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s progressive metal project Ayreon, and the second to present a storyline. Unlike the previous story album, The Final Experiment, this one is presented in a format much closer to the traditional rock opera format, which each part performed by its own distinct voice.

In contrast to other Ayreon albums, the story here is simple: A mysterious voice has summoned “eight souls of the flesh, chosen from different eras ancient and modern” of Earth’s history, and deposited them in a strange otherworld with a simple goal, to “enter the nuclear portals of The Electric Castle” and in so doing free themselves. Along the way, the characters encounter various challenges ranging from interpersonal conflicts to the dangers and deathtraps of the Castle itself and its environs. At the end, they encounter the voice in person, who gives them a surprising revelation about the origin and purpose of humanity.

THE CAST, in order of appearance:

Peter Daltrey of Kaleidoscope and Fairfield Parlour plays The Voice, a mysterious alien entity who created the Electric Castle and secretly manipulates his human captives.

Fish, formerly of Marillion, plays The Highlander, a gloomy Scottish warrior who is overwhelmed by the horrors he’s committed “on the side of right.”

Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation plays The Indian, a Native American who, though positive at first, grows suspicious of The Voice.

Damian Wilson of Threshold plays The Knight, a medieval seeker of Avalon who believes that the Castle holds the Holy Grail.

Edwin Balogh, formerly of Omega, plays The Roman, a level-headed warrior haunted by deep personal pain.

Anneke van Giersbergen, formerly of The Gathering, plays The Egyptian.

Jay van Feggelen, formerly of Bodine, plays The Barbarian, a violent braggart who believes only in might makes right and sees himself as mightiest of all.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen plays The Hippie, who at first believes the Castle to be a hallucination.

Edward Reekers of Kayak plays The Futureman, analytical and compassionate.

George Oosthoek of Orphanage and Robert Westerholt of Within Temptation play Death, who comes to claim one of the travelers…

THE GOOD:

The story is inspired by sci-fi films and goes along at a steady clip, feeling like a good role-playing game session. The musicianship is superb, the songs filled with beautiful synth and guitar work, and the singers put their all into every song. The songs are a joy to listen to, and provide many opportunities for those singing along to belt out and ham it up a little. Even the death metal grunts on one track are done well!

THE BAD(mild spoilers ahead):

Several of the characters don’t seem to do a lot; this is particularly true of the two female characters, who largely sing counterpoint to the male voices before each gets their own spotlight song, which ends in their deaths. This is problematic not only from a feminist standpoint but because van Giersbergen and den Adel have such beautiful voices and they feel underused on the album. Some may consider the storyline, and particularly the revelation in the penultimate track to be hokey or a rehash of played-out sci-fi concepts.

CONNECTIONS TO OTHER AYREON ALBUMS(more spoilers):

The Voice appears again in Flight of the Migrator and The Human Equation, and the Forever backstory is the primary focus of 01011001.

The Hippie appears again as the character “Mr. L” in the song “The Truth is In Here” on 01011001.

FINAL VERDICT:

One of my absolute favorite albums. If you love progressive rock and/or heavy metal and want a fast-paced double album with a rollicking sci-fi adventure story, you absolutely should listen to this album. It does, however, lose points for underusing the female singers. I give it an A-.