Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer
| The Dream Sequencer | ||||
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| Studio album by Ayreon | ||||
| Released | 20 June 2000 | |||
| Recorded | March - November 1999, The Electric Castle Studio | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 70:14 | |||
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| Producer | Arjen Lucassen | |||
| Ayreon chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (sometimes simply referred as The Dream Sequencer) is a progressive rock album released in 2000 by Dutch multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Arjen Lucassen, and is the fourth album of his Ayreon project.
The Dream Sequencer features a musical style quite disparate from its counterpart Flight of the Migrator, telling the story of a trip through time from a variety of perspectives, it features a prog-infused atmospheric feeling, with a softer and more melodic sound than that of Flight of the Migrator.
Both albums were released simultaneously, sold well and were received positively. In 2004, Lucassen moved to a new record label - InsideOut Music - and with this move came re-issues of all the previous Ayreon releases, including The Dream Sequencer. The special edition re-issue merged both albums into a single release, titled Universal Migrator: Parts I & II. The album was also released on vinyl in December 2012.
After the success of the previous Ayreon release, Into the Electric Castle, Arjen felt he had to create an album that was a worthy release all on its own, without being derivative or treading on similar ground. To this end, he made some fundamental changes to his previous composition process. Arjen decided to have each vocalist only sing one track each, as opposed to the almost conversational, rock opera-style singing which was utilized in previous albums.
As Universal Migrator had enough content to form a two-CD album, Arjen made a key decision to sell each disc as a separate release. He believed his fans to be fundamentally divided into two groups by genre of choice, being either progressive rock or heavy metal fans. The Dream Sequencer was meant to appeal to the prog enthusiasts, and Flight of the Migrator to the metal fans, so that each could simply purchase the album of their choice, if so inclined, but to his surprise, fans bought and loved both albums.
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