Originating in Holland,
After Forever represent a distinctly new-millennium breed of
heavy metal band -- one rooted in familiar styles such as doom, Gothic and
power metal, but utilizing the seemingly contradictory element of a sweet, female voice to offset the music's reigning aggression. In their case, this vocalist is operatically trained soprano
Floor Jansen, whose contributions bring bands like
the Gathering,
Tristania, and
Nightwish to mind. Alongside guitarists
Sander Gommans and
Mark Jansen, bassist
Luuk van Gerven, keyboardist Jack Driessen, and drummer Joep Beckers, she helped transform mid-'90s metal band Apocalyps into
After Forever while most members were still in their teens. Signing with Transmission Records, the band issued their debut album, Prison of Desire to great acclaim in the year 2000, then quickly followed it with 2001's more refined Decipher (featuring new keyboard player
Lando van Gils, and drummer
Andre Borgman). With their profile now rising fast (at least domestically), two singles, "Emphasis" and "Monolith of Doubt," were extracted from the latter album to title E.P. releases, and
Floor also found time to lend her talents to
space-metal composer
Arjen Anthony Lucassen's vaunted
Star One project. 2003 saw the release of an EP/DVD named Exordium & Insights, and after replacing original guitarist
Mark Jansen with
Bas Maas,
After Forever released their third full-length album in 2004's Invisible Circles. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
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After Forever