Ayreon releases new video for Into The Black Hole featuring Bruce Dickinson

A promo shot of Ayreon — (Image credit: Lori Linstruth)

Dutch proggers Ayreon have released a new lyric video for Into The Black Hole, featuring Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, which you can watch below.

The song is taken from a newly remixed and remastered reissue of Universal Migrator, Pt. I & 2, which will be released through Mascot Records on November 18.

"Into the Black Hole is one of my personal favourite songs on the Flight Of The Migrator album," says Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen. "Particularly because of the amazing vocal performance of the mighty Bruce Dickinson. It was a true honour and pleasure for me to record one of my favourite singers of all time in my studio. I love that his singing in this track is so different from the (often faster) Iron Maiden material. If you listen well, you can hear that in this remixed version, I used some vocal lines that I didn't use in the original version. Have fun exploring!"

Originally released simultaneously as Universal Migrator Pt 1: The Dream Sequencer and Universal Migrator Pt 2: Flight Of The Migrator in 2000, The Dream Sequencer continues the plot from 1995's The Final Experiment, starting in the year 2084 when the final world war wiped out all life on Earth. Flight Of The Migrator continues the story of the last living human being, the colonist on Mars and his decision to use the Dream Sequencer machine to travel back to before the universe was formed.

The two albums feature an array of guest musicians and vocalists alongside Dickinson including Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Edward Reekers (Kayak), Damian Wilson (Headspace/Threshold), Neal Morse, Russell Allen (Symphony X), Andi Deris (Helloween), Michael Romeo (Symphony X) and more.

Universal Migrator, Pt. I & 2 will be released on multiple formats, including a limited edition 56-page artbook including a 40-page comic, exclusive images of 'the process', five CDs (including previously unreleased audio) and a bonus DVD with 5.1 surround mix, two binaural headphone mixes and more, a vinyl box set with four LPs on marble vinyl in 2 gatefolds, a 40-page comic book, a bonus DVD, a double-sided poster and a sticker sheet. The vinyl box set is limited to 1000 numbered copies webshop exclusive), a two-CD with bonus CD.

Additionally, The Dream Sequencer and Flight Of The Migrator will be available separately on 180-gram orange transparent vinyl and digitally on all platforms. The bonus CD will feature an hour of previously unreleased material, ranging from versions of the tracks with different (guide) vocals to entirely new (well, old) tracks that didn't make the albums and were previously never released.

Pre-order Universal Migrator, Pt. I & 2.

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.