Tracklist front / back album covers
CD 1
Chronicle 1: The 'Frame
1. "The Day That the World Breaks Down" 12:31
2. "Sea of Machines" 5:08
3. "Everybody Dies" 4:42
Total length: 22:21
Chronicle 2: The Aligning of the Ten
4. "Star of Sirrah" 7:03
5. "All That Was" 3:36
6. "Run! Apocalypse! Run!" 4:52
7. "Condemned to Live" 6:14
Total length: 21:45
CD 2
Chronicle 3: The Transmigration
1. "Aquatic Race" 6:46
2. "The Dream Dissolves" 6:11
3. "Deathcry of a Race" 4:43
4. "Into the Ocean" 4:53
Total length: 22:33
Chronicle 4: The Rebirth
5. "Bay of Dreams" 4:24
6. "Planet Y Is Alive!" 6:02
7. "The Source Will Flow" 4:13
8. "Journey to Forever" 3:19
9. "The Human Compulsion" 2:15
10. "March of the Machines" 1:40
Total length: 21:53
Aureon Band Members / Musicians
Vocalists
James LaBrie (Dream Theater) as The Historian
Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder) as The Opposition Leader
Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me) as The Chemist
Simone Simons (Epica) as The Counselor
Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind) as The Prophet
Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia) as The Captain
Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) as The Astronomer
Mike Mills (Toehider) as TH-1
Russell Allen (Symphony X) as The President
Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) as The Diplomat
Floor Jansen (Nightwish, ex-After Forever, ex-ReVamp) as The Biologist
Will Shaw (Heir Apparent), Wilmer Waarbroek, Jan Willem Ketelaars, and Lisette van den Berg (Scarlet Stories) as The Ship's Crew[1]
Zaher Zorgati (Myrath) as The Preacher1
Instrumentalists
Joost van den Broek (ex-After Forever) – grand piano and electric piano
Mark Kelly (Marillion) – synthesizer solo[25] on "The Dream Dissolves"
Maaike Peterse (Kingfisher Sky) – cello
Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) – guitar solo on "Star of Sirrah"
Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats, ex-Asia) – guitar solo on "Planet Y Is Alive!"
Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged) – guitar solo on "The Dream Dissolves"
Ed Warby – drums
Ben Mathot – violin
Jeroen Goossens (ex-Pater Moeskroen) – flute, wind instruments
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – electric and acoustic guitars, all other instruments
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – production, mixing, recording
Brett Caldas-Lima – mastering
Pieter Kop – mastering
Yann Souetre – cover art and artwork
Lori Linstruth – creative consultant, filming and editing of "Behind the Scenes" and "Interviews" for bonus DVD, management
Jos Driessen – co-recording of Ed Warby
Braeden Kozy – recording of James LaBrie
Thomas Gieger – recording of Hansi Kürsch
Sascha Paeth – recording of Tobias Sammet
Dick Hodgin – recording of Russell Allen
Jamie King – recording of Tommy Rogers
The Source is the 9th studio album from Ayreon, a progressive metal/rock opera project by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on 28 April 2017. It is Lucassen's first album under his new label, Mascot Label Group.
As with every Ayreon album, it is a concept album with each character being portrayed by one singer. Unlike the previous album The Theory of Everything, it marks a return to science fiction and the Ayreon storyline; it acts, in particular, as a prequel to 01011001, making it the first album in the storyline's chronology. In The Source, the Alphans, ancestors of humanity, try to prevent the extinction of their race from machines who took control of the entire planet Alpha, by sending a select few Alphans into space so they can attempt to start anew on a distant world.
In the typical style of the project, the album features several guest singers to portray the characters across the album; although Lucassen usually prefers to work only once with each singer in Ayreon, he mostly cast returning performers for The Source, including James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, Seventh Wonder), and Russell Allen (Symphony X), together with newcomers such as Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me), for a total of eleven main vocalists.
