Is Arjen still sick? I heard he had lost his taste and smell senses.

No, he's doing much better. He was pretty depressed for a while, but now he's happily working on the new Ayreon record. Hurrah.

I'll probably have to fuck off after saying this...

I found The Human Equation to be waaay too long. And, I think flute is just not metal.

Parts of that album are freaking awesome. Others make me all bummed out. And, I can't listen to it all in one sitting.

Now, Ziltoid on the other hand... pure genius.

The human equation epic. There's only one song I don't like, 'playground'. The rest is pure genius. I'll agree there are not so metal parts in it. It doesn't always have to be metal for me to like something though.

Arjen rules! I recently got the Stream of Passion album and love it.

Nice avatar! Anneke is awesome!

Thanks! And yes she does!

And she quit The Gathering!

Arjen rules! I recently got the Stream of Passion album and love it.

Nice avatar! Anneke is awesome!

Thanks! And yes she does!

And she quit The Gathering!

That`s really bad news!! Anneke`s one of my favourite singers, I once saw them live and she was just unbelievable. I don`t think there`s any singer who can take her part in The Gathering, it`s so connected with her voice.

@Ayreon
No wonder Arjen digs Zilly, he likes Concept Albums. The Human Equation is perfect just the way it is, and even if playing the flute isn`t "metal", it sounds great, and that`s the most important thing. Anyone ever seen the making-of-DVD? There`s also an interesting (but short) part about Devin in it, where Arjen says when he asked him to be on the record, Dev said he doesn`t want to sing other people`s lyrics and melodies, so he offered him to create his own. Pretty awesome, and "Pain"`s one of the best songs on the whole album!
And pretty cool of Arjen, too!

I thought that Ayreon was more prog rock than metal