Timeline (Ayreon album)
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| Compilation album by Ayreon | ||||
| Released |
   7 November 2008 17 November 2008North America - January 13, 2009 |
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| Recorded | March 1995-September 2007 (The new track was recorded in June 2008) | |||
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| Length | 227:30 | |||
| Label | InsideOut Music | |||
| Producer | Arjen Lucassen | |||
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| Arjen Anthony Lucassen chronology | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Timeline is the second compilation album by Dutch progressive metal project Ayreon. It was released in November 2008 in Europe. It was also released in North America in early 2009. The album features three CDs containing selected songs from all Ayreon albums, and a DVD featuring live performances, video clips and behind-the-scenes.
The third CD also features a song, called "Epilogue: The Memory Remains", specifically written for the release, which provides further insight into the final chapter of the Ayreon concept and the probable future of its characters. Jasper Steverlinck, singer of Arid, made a guest appearance as the vocalist of the song. He would later be invited by Arjen to sing on his new side project Guilt Machine.
Many songs were remastered for this release. Apart from the CDs and DVD, a timeline poster illustrating the Ayreon universe and a booklet containing new photos, lyrics, and notes on the story are also available in the Timeline package.
Arjen A. Lucassen said that he hasn't released a compilation album before because he didn't want to reunite random chapters of a whole history in a single album. However, after connecting all other Ayreon releases in the album 01011001, he changed his mind and decided to create the album, which can be described as a timeline outlining the entire story. As the album will feature a summarized version of Ayreon's concept, one can deduce that the concept has come to an end. Therefore, concerning Ayreon's future, Arjen stated: "I don't see this as the end of Ayreon, but rather as a new beginning. I'll definitely be recording some side projects before I even start thinking about re-inventing Ayreon. To keep things fresh for myself I've got to come up with a completely new concept for both the music and the lyrics. I hope I can do it...it will definitely be quite a challenge!"
The brand new track, "Epilogue: The Memory Remains", adds further detail to the fate of the Forever alien race and the New Migrator, the soul of the Mars Colonist. After the last human dies, his spirit becomes the new Universal Migrator and begins traveling along the original Migrator Trail. As it does, it passes by Planet Y and breathes new life into its dormant, immortal race, rekindling their emotions as it does. The saga ends with mankind's brief existence serving a purpose after all.
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Wikipedia