Ayreon’s 1998 album Into The Electric Castle is to be reissued later this year to mark its 20th anniversary.
The band’s mastermind Arjen Lucassen has remixed the entire album and it’ll launch on October 26 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group.
It will arrive on 3LP, 5-disc Earbook and a limited edition box set.
The box set will include a framed 3D-sculpture of the cover, 4CDs containing the remixed album and an instrumental version, a DVD with a 5.1 remix of Into The Electric Castle plus documentaries, 3LPs on gold marbled vinyl, a download card and a certificate of authenticity, signed by Lucassen.
Into the Electric Castle was Ayreon’s third album and featured guests including Fish, Sharon den Adel, Damian Wilson, Edwards Reekers, Anneke van Giersbergen and Jay van Feggelen.
Lucassen says of the remix: “It was a particularly daunting task. My goal was to give it a bit more of a contemporary feel, without losing the charm of the original.
“As chance would have it, I even found a few little surprises on the original tapes that hadn't been used on the original. To make this re-release even more special, I didn't stop after finishing the stereo mix, but went on to do a 5.1 mix as well.
“This album was practically begging to be mixed in the 5.1 format because of all its spacey effects, weird sounds and strange voices!”
He adds: “I did my best to make the listener feel like they are a part of the whole experience, as if they had physically entered this ‘new dimension’.”
Into The Electric Castle is now available for pre-order.
