Awesome Music / Ayreon

Being an expansive Rock Opera series regularly featuring many of the most notable musicians in Progressive Metal, this group naturally produces some truly awesome music.

The Final Experiment

• Sail Away to Avalon, a triumphant Folk Metal track about the Knights of the Round Table preparing to quest for the Holy Grail mixing nice riffs, mediaeval instruments and samples for an epic feel, and some synthesizers for texture, this should be in any self-respecting Dungeons and Dragons music collection.
• Although the original "Eyes of Time" was great, the gentler version that is Dreamtime turns an awesome metal song into a beautiful folky peace.

Actual Fantasy

• "Abbey of Synn". If you're not into Ham-to-Ham Combat, this might as well be a breather.

Into the Electric Castle

• "Cosmic Fusion" shows you how amazing Sharon den Adel is as a singer. Her One-Woman Wail contrasting with Death and his growls raises goosebumps decades on.

The Dream Sequencer

• "2084". Among Lana Lane's appearances in this album, this may as well be her best one.

Flight of the Migrator

• "Dawn of a Million Souls" is without a doubt the song that God played when the universe was born.
• "Into the Black Hole". Bonus points for getting Bruce Dickinson to sing in there. "We surrender to its might... Gazing into the eeeeeeeeeye of the Univeeeeeeerse!!"

01011001

• The Sixth Extinction, particularly the spectacular final chorus that starts off with a duet between Hansi Kürsch and Floor Jansen.
• "Ride the Comet" is an awesome track with a catchy electronic beat, a haunting choir and lush, smoky main vocalist singing what amounts to a ballad about the Panspermia Theory.

The Theory of Everything

Everything. Seriously, if you find a copy or stream where the tracks flow seamlessly into each other, it would be one of the best listening experiences you'll have in your life.

• "String Theory", an orchestral arrangement of Phase III's recurring theme that could as well be the score to the Prodigy and Rival doing a bank heist.

The Source

• "The Day that the World Breaks Down". Lengthy as it may be, it sets the atmosphere for just about the entire album with 11/12 of the guest singers making their first appearance here!

Transitus

• "Hopelessly Slipping Away", one of the first two tracks released, is a haunting Tear Jerker which seamlessly blends a marching snare reminiscent of "Mars, Bringer of War" into its melancholy atmosphere, beautifully complemented by Cammie Gilbert and Tommy Karevik's vocals.
• "Get Out! Now!", released at the same time as "Hopelessly Slipping Away", is an aggressive rocker with Dee Snider turning in a killer performance as Daniel's cruel father^note as noted by many fans, there's also an element of irony here, as "Get Out! Now!" is practically the inverse of Twisted Sister's arguable Signature Song, "We're Not Gonna Take It", and Joe Satriani contributing an epic guitar freakout (during the video, Arjen drops a speech bubble that simply says "WOW!").

Others

• "Elected". As in Alice Cooper's "Elected". Who would have known this was how Arjen Lucassen would take on the media framing him and Tobias Sammet as arch-enemies?