(Review from progarchives.com, allmusic)

Into the Electric Castle is a complicated story involving eight individuals who are pulled from out of their timeline and brought together by an entity called Forever of the Stars. They are given the task of finding the Electric Castle and entering it to find out what’s inside. The storyline is actually a lot more complex and covers several levels of concepts.

The historical characters include the Roman played by Edwin Balogh (Omega), the Indian played by Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), the Barbarian played by Jay van Feggelin (Bodine), the Highlander played by Fish (Marillion), the Egyptian played by Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering), the Hippie played by Anthony Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon’s creator), the Futureman played by Edward Reekers (Kayak), and the Knight played by Damian Wilson (Threshold, Landmarq). In addition, Peter Daltrey (Kaleidoscope) is the voice of Forever of the Stars. In addition to all these vocalists, a number of guest instrumentalists appear on this album, including Clive Nolan (Arena), Ton Scherpenzeel (Kayak), Thijs van Leer (Focus), Ed Warby (Gorefest), and others. Lucassen really gathered together a wonderful group of performers.

The musicianship on this album is superb incorporating elements of symphonic progressive rock, progressive metal, psychedelic, electronica, and occasionally some blues and jazz. The production is amazing, the mix is perfect. Lucassen is clearly a skilled studio technician in addition to his musicianship.

The concept and characters are based on old sci-fi TV shows and B-movies. They still reflect on so many levels of human perception, such as how each character perceives what the Electric Castle might be. The Highlander perceives it as Hell, the Knight as the Island of Avalon where the Holy Grail is, the Roman perceives it as the Underworld, the Egyptian perceives it as the Afterlife, the Hippie thinks he’s in a drug-induced stupor, and the Futureman perceives it as a virtual reality. The conflicts between these different personalities from different eras of civilization adds a whole additional layer. Lucassen may have been inspired by B-movies, but he has the making of a compelling storyline for a full-blown science fiction novel.

This campy rock opera spawned a devout cult following for Ayreon.

Line-up:
- Arjen Lucassen / guitars, mandolin, bass, Minimoog, Mellotron & keyboards, vocals
with
- Fish / vocals
- Damian Wilson / vocals
- Sharon Den Adel / vocals
- Edward Reekers / vocals
- Anneke van Giersbergen / vocals
- Edwin Balogh / vocals
- Jay van Feggelen / vocals
- Peter Daltrey / narrator
- Roland Bakker / Hammonds
- Jack Pisters / sitar
- Robby Valentine / pianos, synth solos on IIa, IIIa (disc 1) and IV (disc 2), mellotron on VIa (disc 2)
- Erno Olah / violins
- Clive Nolan / synth solos
- Rene Merkelbach / synth solos, harpsichord
- Ton Scherpenzeel / synth solos
- Ed Warby / drums
- Taco Kooistra / celli
- Thijs van Leer / flute

Track List:
CD1
01. Welcome To The New Dimension – 3:06
02. Isis And Osiris – 11:11
03. Amazing Flight – 10:15
04. Time Beyond Time – 6:04
05. The Decision Tree (We’re Alive) – 6:23
06. Tunnel Of Light – 4:05
07. Across The Rainbow Bridge – 6:19
CD2
01. The Garden Of Emotions – 9:41
02. Valley Of The Queens – 2:24
03. The Castle Hall – 5:49
04. Tower Of Hope – 4:53
05. Cosmic Fusion – 7:27
06. The Mirror Maze – 6:34
07. Evil Devolution – 6:30
08. The Two Gates – 6:28
09. ‘Forever’ Of The Stars – 2:02
10. Another Time, Another Space – 5:20

Link in comments.