Band:	Ayreon
Album:	The Universal Migrator Part II: Flight Of The Migrator
Style:	Progressive metal, Progressive rock
Release date:	July 20, 2000
Guest review by:	Spyroid

01. Chaos [Feat. Lana Lane]
02. Dawn Of A Million Souls [Feat. Russell Allen & Damian Wilson]
03. Journey On The Waves Of Time [Feat. Ralf Scheepers]
04. To The Quasar [Feat. Andi Deris & Lana Lane]
    1 - The Taurus Pulsar
    2 - Quasar 3C273
05. Into The Black Hole [Feat. Bruce Dickinson & Lana Lane]
    1 - The Eye Of The Universe
    2 - Halo Of Darkness
    3 - The Final Door
06. Through The Wormhole [Feat. Fabio Lione & Lana Lane]
07. Out Of The White Hole [Feat. Timo Kotipelto]
    1 - M31
    2 - Planet Y
    3 - The Search Continues
08. To The Solar System [Feat. Robert Soeterboek]
    1 - Planet Of Blue
    2 - System Alert
09. The New Migrator [Feat. Ian Parry & Lana Lane]
    1 - Metamorphosis
    2 - Sleeper Awake

Looking at the list of guest singers, this could possibly be the best album ever for a power/heavy/progressive metal fan. This is not the case, although the second part of this double album about the "Universal Migrator" is worth checking out. When composer Arjen did these twin albums, he decided to split his music in two parts - metal and not metal. This is the metalpart, and the only "pure" metal album Ayreon has ever released. Although there are a lot of influences from rock and progressive rock there's also some power metal in almost every track. The music reminds mostly of Star One (another project of Arjen), otherwise like nothing else.

The intro is an instrumental track, and it's just total mayhem of power/progressive madness. It was actually written and recorded with digital drums long ago by Arjen (the original can be heard on the compilation Ayreonauts Only) but this new version features an intro and the great Ed Warby on drums, also providing a solo. All the other tracks have their own singer, and the guest list is stunning. Or what do you think about power singers Andi Deris, Timo Kotipelto, Ian Parry, Ralf Scheepers and Fabio Lione? Prog singers Damian Wilson and Russel Allen? Previous Ayreon singer Robert Soeterboek? Queen of symphonic rock - Lana Lane as a narrator? And finally Bruce Dickinson himself! But actually I'm afraid to disappoint you - this is actually an average album, the "worst" Ayreon release; I've heard Arjen himself is not very happy with it either. Altough there are some outstanding tracks which are enough for me to give this album a relatively high rating. The intro Chaos is marvelous. Dawn of a Million Souls sung by Russel Allen is also a great, way above the average track. To the Quasar is odd with a nice psychedelic touch, heavy riffs and probably one of the best songs here, although Andi Deris' voice sounds very strange with this music. The best track is absolutely Into the Black Hole sung by Bruce Dickinson. This is one of the best Ayreon songs and in my opinion the best song Bruce has ever recorded. It's epic, a great piece of metal and it also contains a lot of "non-metal" - it's just marvelous! The other tracks are usually not bad at all but not very interesting. Often the voices don't fit with the song, and they are not memorable amongst other Ayreon songs.

If you want to start listening to progressive metal this can be a great start. If you want to start with Ayreon, don't get this one.