Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen recently checked in with an update on his next musical venture:

"Hi all! This year I’ve been working on a new album… with old songs! I’ll explain. In the early '90s I formed a band with singer Robert Soeterboek called Plan Nine. But those were the days of grunge, so it wasn’t the right time for us. But now, 30 years later, we have re-written and re-recorded 13 songs with the help of lots of great musicians that you all know. And, if I say so myself, it turned out really cool! The album will be called The Long-Lost Songs and it will be released early next year by Mascot. Robert will play live with Plan Nine next year. More updates soon! (Oh… sorry for the cheesy photo… hey, that was more than 30 years ago!)"

Pre-order Plan Nine here.

Formats for Plan Nine - The Long-Lost Songs
- LP - Brown vinyl
- 2CD: includes Bonus CD with original recordings + more
- Comic Book (Webshop only)

Release date: May 17th

All pre-orders will be signed by Lucassen and Soeterboek.

Below is the official video for the first single, "Before The Morning Comes", taken from the Plan Nine album aptly named The Long-Lost Songs.

Lucassen: "As Robert and I sifted through our 30-year-old cassette tapes containing our demos, we stumbled upon a bluesy, unfinished piece featuring just my guitar and Robert's voice. I had completely forgotten about it, but felt it had the potential to be something special. I'm glad we pursued it, because it turned out to be one of the album's highlights! 

Robert was actually quite ill when he recorded it, the raw pain in his voice is palpable, but that really works for this song. Given the positive reception from everyone we played the song for, we chose this track as the first single and the basis for our video clip. 

The concept is straightforward: a sleazy, smoky bar with a band performing, surrounded by a crowd of utterly disinterested people, essentially ignoring the band. And what an exceptional band it is – I'm incredibly proud of these musicians! And yes, those are indeed Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jimi Hendrix posters on the wall – that's no coincidence!"