Short Reviews [After Forever - 2007 - "After Forever"]

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.