Kev Rowland To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the final album by After Forever it has just been reissued by Nuclear Blast on vinyl and CD along with an additional bonus cut and new notes by the band members themselves. They may have only released five albums, but there is no doubt the band had a huge impact on the progressive metal scene, with founder Mark Jansen leaving after the second album to create Epica while singer Floor Jansen has of course now cemented her place as frontwoman of Nightwish. Having not played this album for some considerable time I had forgotten just how good it is. Floor has long been one of the most incredible singers around, and here she is involved with music which is complex but more metallic than her current outfit. When guitarist Sander Gommans comes in with the harsh vocals it is absolutely brutal, providing huge contrast.

Some songs, such as “Withering Time” do contain more operatic and classical sections, but they are a band who originally started playing much heavier music and it is the metal which often shines through. “De-Energized” is metal to the core, with just a few symphonic overtones, and when Floor finally makes her entrance, she has a driving metallic gothic core to place her vocals against, while Sander is most definitely making his presence felt on this one. With the very high profile these days of Floor and her performances with Nightwish, there is no doubt that this reissue will get far more attention than the original did when it came out all those years ago, and rightly so. I first came across them with their second album, ‘Decipher’, back in 2001 and never felt they gained the respect they deserved. Perhaps fifteen years down the track the time is now right for their music to be re-evaluated, and this is a definite goodie.

arcane-beautiful I love this album, it's just one of the most perfect symphonic metal albums (well orchestral metal, although this band does have it's moments). This is one of the best albums of this fantastic and quite popular genre.

To be honest, when I first got this album, I thought it was going to sound like a lot of faux paux symphonic metal bands trying to get big in the music industry (unaware that they have been going since the late 90's). Boy, was I wrong.

It's a shame this band have broken up and this was their last album, because this really is a genre defying moment,

The prouduction and authenticity of the album is amazing, but the real attraction is the powerful voice of Floor Jansen. Extremely powerfull and amazing. Sometimes I have a hard time picking a favourite female vocaist out of her and other contending Dutch, Epica's Simone Simmones. I do prefer Floor slightly, but Simone does have a better operatic voice than her, and Floor has alot more power. Simone is the better looking one, so their evenly matched.

1. Discord - What an epic song. From the moment the orchestra hits hit you in the face, and Floor's voice gains your attention, it just makes every hair stand up. The most epic bit is the middle 8, her voice just excels so much power. 10/10

2. Evoke -Great mixture of epic symphonic stabs and synths. Great chorus. 10/10

3. Tranistory - Probabbly the weakest song on the album, but still a great song, nontheless. 8/10

4. Energize Me - The perfect song for a single. Infectious catchy. The song that got me into them. 10/10

5. Equally Destructive - Great chorus, and a very rocking song. 9/10

6. Withering Time - Great lyrics and some amazing use of a choir. 10/10

7. De-Energized - This song has the most growling in it. Sanders really is one of the most underlooked growlers, because he really knows how to produce and create certain pitches (being a well known grunter and screamer myself). Just very heavy, and some amazing instrumental work. 10/10

8. Cry With A Smile - Great arrangement. Almost ballad like. 9/10

9. Envision - Another slightly weaker song. Again, better than most symphonic metal bands top songs. 8/10

10. Who I Am - I have never really been interested in Doro that much, but she is actuallyagreat singer (although Floor does put her to shame). Great song, with an odd but amazing chorus. 10/10

11. Dreamflight - The 11 minute epic. Wow, very dramatic, with some amazing twists and turns. The arrangment is amazing, focusing on orchrestras, solo ambient keyboards, Floors many advanced vocal ranges, and some amazing growling. Epic as hell. Best song on the album. 10/10

12. Empty Memories - A nice slow based ballad. 9/10

13. Lonely - This is a bonus track, but I'm wondering why they didn't put it on the album, it is so beautiful. With just a piano accompaniment, and the power of Floors voice, it's a shame it's only on the special edition (Nuclear Blast albums at times but some of the best artists material as bonus tracks.)

CONCLUSION: Not many people like this genre, but if you want to get into it, I strongly advise you to get this album, it will change your perspective completely.

AtomicCrimsonRush Aggressive, haunting symphonic metal.

A fantastic symphonic metal band headed by the awesome vocal talents of Floor Jansen. It does sound similar to Nightwish though not as operatic and the orchestration reminds me of Epica or Within Temptation. However, After Forever stand their ground as taking an original approach to their sound. Each track has a different feel and atmosphere. At times beautiful and haunting, and at other times brutally aggressive.

My favourite track is 'Equally Destructive' that has one of the best chunky metal riffs on the CD. It begins with the mesmirizing riff and the chorus builds to a grand operatic scale. The epic is the 11 minute Dreamflight with many time changes and very good guitar from Bas Maas throughout. At times there are soundscapes that seem to flow like a stream and they are broken by grand blasts of metal guitars.

I recommend this for those who like their prog heavy, laced with strings and quiet moments. The vocals from Jansen are floorless (no pun intended) and there are some trademark growelling vocals from other members to balance the tones of light and shade.

4 stars without hesitation.

Vobiscum Last official record of the Dutch "After Forever" that began in the "Gothic Metal", flirted with the "Prog Metal" and followed a variation between the "Heavy" and "Prog."

With an omega on its cover may already be the sign of the inevitable demise of the band. An unprecedented event for the band was able to keep the original formation of the previous album ("Remagine"), formerly a member always went out and got another with each new release.

This feature added to time the band itself suggests that this record is the most mature of these though not necessarily the best.

The vocals of "Floor Jansen" lavish technique as for her singing was as natural as breathing.

If "Andre Borgman" did not show much of its qualities to the album "Remagine," here he decided to venture further and point to it. In the track "Transitory" firmness in the markup, is definitely shown his ability. It is important when a musician is beyond their "obligation".

One of the highlights of this album is the track "Energize Me" by all that it represents in addition to the performance of "Floor Jansen."

"Equally Destructive" reminds us that the band liked the electronic moments from the previous album and decided in a more pleasant place them again.

"Whithering Time" rescues the band's two albums with the difference that much more heavy.

"Dreamflight" is the time "prog" this album. Their way the fifth and latest album honors itself with even distant memories of every moment of the band throughout their career.

Hard to know if it was premeditated the end, but in any case, for those who like the band somehow remains ...

Nuke Quite frankly, this is my favorite symphonic metal album, edging past anything by Nightwish and Epica, trumping anything by Within Temptation, and heck, it's even better than kamelot's albums, as hard as that is for me to say. This album absolutely dominates it's genre. Unlike the previous three albums, there is no restraint on this album. They took all of the elements that they worked on in remagine, invisible circles, and exordium, and threw them together in some great blender, and came out with what ought to be a cacophonous mess. The riffs on this album are really bouncy, in a very organic way. I know that probably makes no sense to you, so as an analogy, take Prong's thrash classic Beg to Differ, make the riffs faster with a bit more chugging underneath, and you get an idea of the riffwork, kind of. Make the rhythms a bit less predictable than the average metal album. Not as in Meshuggah, but just a bit more of the starting on off-beats, using notes with dots on the end, that sort of thing. Basically, this album uses dynamic rhythms. Everything about this album is dynamic. That's what makes it exciting. It doesn't repeat itself very much. It is an album of varied sounds and textures, flown fast but not obnoxiously fast, constantly grooving.

The use of the orchestra is very strong on here. It is somewhat cliche just like with most metal bands who use orchestra, but the cliche's are different cliche's than you hear on most metal albums, so it is tolerable. Besides, the orchestra parts are well written. The orchestra isn't used in the same way on any two songs, and provides tone colors to the songs, thus giving each song a different feel. On discord, the orchestra is a proud trumpet lead orchestra, wheras on withering time it is a quicker violin and flute led sound, thus making discord sound loud and proud but making withering time sound darker and more urgent. My only gripe about the orchestra is that it was mixed too far back. I wish it was more present. The performances on this album are the best of any After Forever album. Floor Jansen sings incredibly strongly, probably the most aggressive soprano vocals in metal. She wails like she thinks she's Rob Halford. Usually, with the beauty and beast vocal style, the growls are strong and menacing, and the singing is presented as a contrast, light and beautiful. Floor, on the other hand, overpowers the growls easily, making the grunts seem weak and pathetic (Dreamflight is a great example of this) in comparison. And they are good growls. The rest of the instruments are at their best. You even get to hear some guitar solo finally (but not enough). I kind of wish the drums had more personality, like on decipher, but they are very competently performed and often very complex. The songs are really catchy, but they don't wear out like many catchy songs do. The production is very clean, but not sterile. Although technical, this album is full of soul, and never wearying like Dream Theater can be. The last song on this album gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. It is everything I could hope for in a symphonic metal album.