AYREON mastermind Arjen Lucassen (also ex-BODINE, VENGEANCE) is hard at work on what will become a new STAR ONE album. The instrumental demos are completed, and Arjen is now working on lyrics and melody lines.

A few weeks ago, Arjen's former manager Yvette graciously hosted a demo listening party for the people on Arjen's message board. It was an open invitation, although because of limitations of space, attendance was limited to the first few people who confirmed they could make it. The nine attendees got to listen to the demos, munch on assorted goodies, and fill in feedback forms to catalog their reactions to the songs for Arjen.

Keep in mind that they heard rough demos — no vocals, no solos. These are the first demos that Arjen puts together just to get the structure and feel of the songs down before starting serious work on lyrics and vocal melodies.

Yvette kindly edited a very short video clip that gives an idea of what happened that day. In the video below, not only do you get to SEE what happened, you get to HEAR some snippets of the demos as well.