Alarion: Waves of Destruction

Waves of Destruction is the debut album of Alarion, a project by Dutch guitarist Bas Willemsen, and it is an album to be reckoned with.

Waves of Destruction contains an hour of melodic, symphonic and intense music.

For each listener, there will be a different part of the album that stands out: be it acoustic and mellow or heavy and fast, a short track or a 10+ minutes long epic, male or female vocals. Throughout all the tracks on the album, the listener will discover the scope of the sound that is Alarion.

Mastered by Peter van ‘t Riet, who is known for mastering Epica, Pain of Salvation, Steve Howe (Yes) and many others.

Waves of Destruction features appearances by many great musicians:

Bas Willemsen
Lead, rhythm & acoustic guitars, keyboards & orchestration, bass
Damian Wilson (Threshold, Headspace, Rick Wakeman, a.o.)
Vocals
Irene Jansen (Ayreon, Gary Hughes, Star One, a.o.)
Vocals
Paul Glandorf (Arjen Lucassen (live), A Day's Work, Semistereo, a.o.)
Vocals
Tineke Roseboom (Blaze Bayley, Hollywood Scoring, a.o.)
Vocals
Ben Mathot (Epica, Revamp, Ayreon, a.o.)
Violin
Erik Laan (Silhouette, Tumble Town)
Piano & moog
Tom Gorissen (Hymir)
Piano & keyboards
Nico Lammers
Acoustic & rhythm guitar
Ronald van Schaik
Bass
Jeroen Nagel (Blind Justice)
Drums
Marinus van Grootheest
Bass choir vocals

Alarion

Alarion is a project by Bas Willemsen. Whether it concerns writing songs, recording guitars, bass or keyboards, approaching guest musicians, conceiving artwork or anything else concerning the project, Bas is at the start and finish of all that is Alarion.

Bas has a broad interest in music, and is especially attracted to music with melody and diverse arrangements. Bas likes classical symphonies, folk, jazz and fusion, besides many kinds of instrumental guitar music, of rock and of metal, including a particular love of progressive rock and metal from the 1970s to this day. The music of Alarion is therefore influenced by a wide variety of artists.

Alarion was founded as Alerion by Bas in 2005 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. A demo (‘Fledgling’) was released in 2007, followed by a promo (‘Turn of Fate’) in 2009, of which the title song Turn of Fate was included on the compilation album ‘Melody and Malice’, by Femme Metal Records in 2011.

Bas became the sole driving force of Alerion, picking up ever more tasks and realising his vision by writing all the songs, recording guitars, keyboards and bass.

In the spring of 2014, Bas made the natural decision to continue Alerion as his solo project, making use of all things learned and loved during the previous years. The spelling of the name was changed to Alarion to distinguish Alarion from the many new artists who followed it with the name "Alerion".

Driven by his vision of Alarion, Bas set out to create and release the album ‘Waves of Destruction’. The album was to be something special: featuring some of Bas' favorite musicians as guests, and mixed and mastered by high quality studios.

Alarion photos, logo, cover

Photo of Alarion - Bas Willemsen #1
Photo of Alarion - Bas Willemsen #2
Photo of Alarion - Bas Willemsen #3
Alarion LOGO - transparent
Alarion LOGO - on black
Alarion - Waves of Destruction - Album cover

Photos: Erwin van Dijk
Styling: BySmeej Fashion and Styling