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The Human Equation

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Untitled

The Human Equation is the sixth album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released under the name Ayreon. It was released on May 25, 2004. As with other Ayreon albums, it features guest appearances from several musicians previously unrelated to the project, including James LaBrie of Dream Theater, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine, and Devin Townsend, performing music arranged and written by Lucassen.

Plot

Template:Spoiler

Day One: Vigil

The story begins with the narrator ("Me", portrayed by James LaBrie) lying comatose in a hospital bed. His "Wife" (Marcela Bovio) and Best Friend (Arjen Anthony Lucassen) are speaking about his condition, while Wife hints that there is something that she and Best Friend are hiding.

Day Two: Isolation

On the second day, slipping deeper into the coma, Me discovers that he is isolated from the world and facing his very own emotions. The sudden fear of Me, his fear of being alone provokes Fear (Mikael Åkerfeldt), confirming Me's suspicions. Then, in his internal struggle, Me faces Reason (Eric Clayton) and through this, Passion (Irene Jansen) surfaces. As Me drives to despair, Pride (Magnus Ekwall) encourages him otherwise. Love (Heather Findlay) comforts Me, in attempt to ready him to his first ordeal.

Day Three: Pain

On the third day, Me encounters Agony (Devon Graves). Agony pushes Me further into despair, telling him he's alone and he had always been so. This provokes Rage (Devin Townsend) to arise, talking about a lie.

Day Four: Mystery

Meanwhile, on the fourth day, in the hospital, Wife and Best Friend are contemplating the situation; it becomes apparent that Me had crashed his car into a tree in broad daylight, with no other car in sight, no distraction evident. They contemplate whether he will die or not; while his desire for life brings Me face-to-face with Passion one more time; concluding that he is as lost as Wife and Best Friend are.

Day Five: Voices

On the fifth day, Me discusses with his emotions the voices of his Best Friend and Wife from day four.

Day Six: Childhood

On the sixth day, Agony returns Me to his childhood, wherein it is revealed that his Father (Mike Baker) left home one day and never returned. Also, Fear and Me allude to the fact that Father always held Me to unreachable standards and treated him cruelly, going as far as to physically abuse him and tell his mother that he had "tripped and hurt his head" and talk about "how he would always be a loser".

Day Seven: Hope

Meanwhile, it is the seventh day, and Best Friend decides to make an attempt to reach Me through his position, and decides to take Me back to the days when they were young, when they didn't have a worry in the world. Best Friend calls to Me, telling him to come back to the real world, in pain. Me feels as if he is trapped, and tries to shout, but something holds him back; as if his quest was not yet complete.

Day Eight: School

On the eighth day, Fear resurfaces and decides to take Me and make him face his worst fears. Fear takes Me back to his first day at school, reminding him that he was ridiculed and made fun of, lived an isolated life in school throughout. This awakens Rage, and Rage reveals that these ordeals made Me into someone who cared only for "the profit of the competition". Agony alludes to the fact that Me was bullied during school; which made him swear that he would take his revenge. Pride and Reason intervene there and then, and get into an argument. While Pride encourages Me to give in to his hate and wreak havoc, prove to everyone he is the best, Reason, on the other hand, tells Me that it's enough he knows who he is, and should try to reach out instead of shutting himself out. Passion betrays Reason, and tells Me to "savour the moment", taking Pride's side; telling him not to think, but to act. Me recalls the way he eventually got revenge on those who bullied him at school. However, after he did this, he found that he didn't want to relent, after he'd gotten even with them.

Day Nine: Playground

On the ninth day, Me briefly stands over his childhood (it is an instrumental piece).

Day Ten: Memories

On the tenth day of his coma, Wife and Best Friend are mystified at the hospital; since there is nothing physically wrong with Me, he should have awakened. In their own way of reaching out to Me, they start to talk about the memories they had experienced together. While Best Friend counts on their friendship (mentioning the day they had showed off their new bikes, the way they had climbed to the highest tower), he is accompanied by Pride, a shadowy indication of what is to come. Meanwhile, Wife trusts on their bond of marriage and love, and Love accompanies her as she tries as well. Passion, this time betraying Pride, tells Me that his Wife is reaching out, but asks what holds him back. Reason encourages Me not to resist and let them fill him with memories.

Day Eleven: Love

On the eleventh day, upon Reason's suggestion, Me gives in, which takes him to the day where he met his Wife. It was a Friday night in a dance party of some sort. Me and Wife dance, while Passion and Love allude to the fact that it was love at first sight. However, there are morbid indications from Agony ("Remember your father, you're just like him") and Fear ("Nobody loved you, nobody will"; however, Fear is more hopeful in this aspect). Passion and Pride, throughout, in their own way, encourage Me.

Day Twelve: Trauma

On the twelth day of Me's coma, while Reason decides it is enough, and he can, if he concentrates, get out of his isolation, Fear, puts up a resistance and tells Me they will not let you go, and drag him down, further, into the deepest, darkest crypts of his soul. He also doesn't forget to add his comment "Locked inside your head; you're better off dead!" to it. Together, the emotions take Me to his greatest trauma; his mother's death. Agony alludes to the fact that, after her father left, his mother had withered in grief and had counted on her son to reach out and comfort her. Passion reveals that, in his hot-headed self, Me thought his mother would hold him back. Agony alludes to his mother's suicide, and that, Me wasn't even nearby to witness it, or attempt to stop it. Reason states that this incident could have been an opportunity to break free of introversion, and advises Me to let go. Reason tells Me that, even though he feels guilty, he wasn't the one guilty; his Father was ("your mother died the day your father left"). Fear speaks of Me's nightmares about him hearing his mother's voice from beyond her grave, asking, "Where were you son, when I needed you?". Fear also clarifies the Father's place as Me's nemesis, as Father had stated "You worthless fool, you let her die!". Fear completes the cycle by stating there is no justification of his actions. Pride reveals that after his mother's death, Me buried all of his emotions and became obsessed with success; but not without hinting at the waste it is going to be ("It's your life!")

Day Thirteen: Sign

Thirteenth day is when Love states the disapproval of Me's treating of his Wife, and that he should realize how lucky he is. Me eventually accepts this, and regrets it, asking if it's too late to mend his ways. Also, on the thirteenth day something happens in the real world; Me first sheds a single teardrop, and then clenches his fist. Wife and Best Friend wonder if it's something to be happy or sad about; they mention that his pain might be their doing, again, hinting at the secret mentioned on the first day.

Day Fourteen: Pride

On the fourteenth day, Pride takes Me to the harsh zenith of his life. Me and Pride have a clash of opinions; Me claims he was more sensitive, more creative, more compassionate and Pride corrects Me's opinions about himself firmly. Pride and Reason, for the first time, agree, and encourage Me to give in further, and let his emotions guide you.

Day Fifteen: Betrayal

The fifteenth day is marked with a revelation; the reason why Pride went alongside with Best Friend on the tenth day is revealed to be a brief competition between them to become the Director of a business firm. Best Friend had confided in Me and had admitted to doctoring the accounting books when he lost a business deal. Me, in order to succeed, and knowing that Best Friend is superior (no matter what he may think of himself) exposed this act and won the position. While Fear alludes to the inner struggle of Me upon this act and the aftermath, Agony points at the pain this act, no matter how justifiable it may have been, has brought to Me. Passion and Agony encourage him to confess and apologize. Me admits that his Best Friend was and is superior, and accepts to tell him.

Day Sixteen: Loser

The sixteenth day is marked with a rather strange event; Father, Me's nemesis comes to visit Me. Calling him "Loser", and bellitling him as always, it is later revealed that the Father is the true loser, having married more than once and with lawsuits against him by each of those wives, while half of the many neglected children he has with them are in jail. Rage reawakens and refuses Father's words, reflecting upon the intensity of Me's hatred towards him. ("You're killing it from afar, go tell it in a bar/You're killing it from afar my father!")

Day Seventeen: Accident?

On the seventeenth day, the emotions take Me back to the day of the "accident". Reason sets the stage, the environment of the events. Me had been driving home at One PM, as Me is trying to get over his betrayal and find his Wife to soothe him. On the way, through the window, he sees his Wife smile at another man; and that the man was holding Wife in his arms. Agony states that at that point, pain is all Me had left, but he didn't even care when he turned the wheel to crash against a tree; unable to cope with his life, the way he treated his Wife and the hatred towards his own Father. Wife, at this point, alludes to the identity of the man: "It was only us, please understand.". Passion turns morbid and tells Me he has nothing left at all. Pride alludes that his love left him, taking along "me" (Me's pride). In the end, Agony makes his statement: that pain is the oldest friend Me has known.

Day Eighteen: Realization

The eighteenth day comes, and the emotions gather to face Me en-masse. First comes Reason, asking Me what he will do now that he knows the truth about his Wife's betrayal, then comes Passion, telling Me to retaliate; Pride follows, telling him that he can't take this lying down; and then Love, telling Me to forgive; followed by Agony, telling Me he is better off dead; followed by Fear, asking Me if he's strong enough. In the real world, Best Friend and Wife recognize the struggle and call out. Me snaps.

Day Nineteen: Disclosure

The nineteenth day is the final revelation; after losing the job, Best Friend had tried to ease his loneliness and the emptiness in his life, the feelings of failure by having an affair with Me's lonely Wife, who could not reach Me in any way. However, it was only a one-time-thing, and Best Friend tells Me that they were never in love, while Wife tells Me that her heart is his. They both ask for forgiveness. Passion and Love lead Me through the maze and into the real world, knowing Me is a changed man.

Day Twenty: Confrontation

The final day, the twentieth, Me wakes up and first off, admits his betrayal to Best Friend; whom, surprisingly, says that he knew, but didn't dwell on it. Me asks for forgiveness wherein Best Friend states they're even. Me's actions have damaged three lives, and now they must mend together. Love tells Me to go on, be bold; Agony, quite concordantly, welcomes Me first to the real world; Passion tells Me that he is NOW superior. Reason welcomes Me, Pride confirms Passion. On the final step, Fear comes along and asks Me if he's sure. Me says he is and returns to a new life...

...or perhaps not. It appears that the whole experience was a simulation commenced by the Dream Sequencer device (introduced in "Universal Migrator" double album), namely, "The Human Equation Program". Forever of the Stars, the shadowy being behind the experiment of "Into the Electric Castle" (whom, in that, had snatched few people out of various eras of time to understand their emotional responses, since his kind, one of the oldest races of the universe had lost all emotions eons ago) has prepared this program and launched it to remember emotions, in the end of which, success is evident.

Track listing

  1. "Day One: Vigil" – 1:33
  2. "Day Two: Isolation" – 8:42
  3. "Day Three: Pain" – 4:58
  4. "Day Four: Mystery" – 5:37
  5. "Day Five: Voices" – 7:09
  6. "Day Six: Childhood" – 5:05
  7. "Day Seven: Hope" – 2:47
  8. "Day Eight: School" – 4:22
  9. "Day Nine: Playground" – 2:15
  10. "Day Ten: Memories" – 3:57
  11. "Day Eleven: Love" – 4:18
  12. "Day Twelve: Trauma" – 8:59
  13. "Day Thirteen: Sign" – 4:47
  14. "Day Fourteen: Pride" – 4:42
  15. "Day Fifteen: Betrayal" – 5:24
  16. "Day Sixteen: Loser" – 4:46
  17. "Day Seventeen: Accident?" – 5:42
  18. "Day Eighteen: Realization" – 4:31
  19. "Day Nineteen: Disclosure" – 4:42
  20. "Day Twenty: Confrontation" – 7:03

All songs composed by Arjen Lucassen except:

Editions

This album is released as three different editions:

  • Regular Edition: 2 CDs
  • Special Edition: 2 CDs and one DVD with behind-the-scenes videos
  • Limited Deluxe Edition: 2 CDs and one DVD but also 36-page booklet

The Limited Deluxe Edition comes not in a regular CD case, but in a large cardboard book that opens up with the two CDs on the left inside cover, the DVD on the right inside cover, and 36 pages in between featuring the lyrics and a large illustration for each day.

DVD

  • Inside [45:27] - behind the scenes
  • Concept [3:05] - the concept of The Human Equation
  • Drums [3:32] - Ed Warby's drums
  • Video [3:49] - videoclip of Day Eleven: Love
  • Teaser [1:28] - teaser trailer

Personnel

File:Labire arjen.jpg
James LaBrie and Arjen Anthony Lucassen

Instruments

  • Arjen Lucassen - all electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, lap steele guitar, keyboards, synthetisers, Hammond
  • Ed Warby - all drums and percussion

Acoustic instruments

  • Robert Baba - all violins
  • Marieke van den Broek - all cellos
  • John McManus - low flute on Days 13, 16 and 18 and whisle on day 18
  • Jeroen Goossens - flute on Days 3, 5, 9, 14 and 18, alto-flute on Day 2, bass flute on Days 5 and 14, panpipes on Day 6, descant and treble recorder on Day 13, didgeridoo on Day 16, bassoon on Day 18

Additional keyboards and solos

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