After Forever

After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences.[1] The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts.

This article is about the band. For their 2007 album, see After Forever (album). For the Black Sabbath song, see After Forever (song).
After Forever
After Forever live at the Masters of Rock festival in 2007.
Background information
Also known asApocalypse (1995)
OriginNorth Brabant, Netherlands
Genres
Years active1995–2009
Labels
Associated acts
Websitewww.afterforever.com
Past members

In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded. Singer Floor Jansen and keyboardist Joost van den Broek both collaborated again in ReVamp and Star One, before Jansen eventually joined Nightwish as lead singer in 2013. Former rhythm guitarist Mark Jansen founded Epica in 2002 after his departure from After Forever and, in 2010, founded MaYaN, which included former After Forever members Sander Gommans and Jack Driessen. Floor Jansen has appeared as a session or live vocalist for both Epica and MaYaN.

History

After Forever was originally assembled in 1995, under the name Apocalypse. They were originally a death metal cover band with harsh male vocals.[2] With the joining of vocalist Floor Jansen in 1997, their style and sound shifted towards symphonic gothic metal, in order to give emphasis to her soprano voice, in contrast with the grunts and screams provided by Sander Gommans and Mark Jansen. Their line-up at this point comprised Floor Jansen, Mark Jansen, Sander Gommans, Luuk van Gerven, Jack Driessen and Joep Beckers. Soon, the band began composing their own songs, and then they changed their name to After Forever. In 1999, the band recorded two demos entitled Ephemeral and Wings of Illusion, which drew the attention of the Dutch Transmission Records label, with whom the band signed a contract.

Their debut album Prison of Desire was recorded in 2000, featuring the guest appearance of Sharon den Adel of the Dutch band Within Temptation on the song "Beyond Me". The album obtained very good reviews in Europe.[3][4] By the end of the year, drummer André Borgman and keyboardist Lando van Gils joined the band, replacing Joep Beckers and Jack Driessen.

During the year 2000, Floor Jansen was invited to guest sing in Ayreon's Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer album. Ayreon is the most successful of the many projects by Dutch guitarist Arjen Anthony Lucassen and that album is only the first of many other collaborations with Floor Jansen.

In 2001, the band released the album Decipher, which featured for the first time live classical instruments and a live choir. The complex arrangements of the new compositions pushed After Forever's music even more towards the symphonic metal genre.

In 2002 Mark Jansen, one of the main composers and founder of the band, was fired from After Forever and subsequently assembled the band Epica,[5] where he continued to pursue the combination of symphonic metal with death metal elements, already present in the first two albums by After Forever. He was replaced by Bas Maas, who had been a roadie for the band for years.[6] In 2003, the new line-up of After Forever released the EP and DVD Exordium.

In 2004, the concept album Invisible Circles was released. The album, that deals with childhood traumas and abuse, introduced progressive metal elements to the music of After Forever and the use of a clean male voice. The album reached No. 24 in the Dutch Top 100 musical chart.[7] In the same year, Lando van Gils also left the band and was replaced by Joost van den Broek, a keyboard player that Floor Jansen had met during her tour with Star One, another project by Arjen Lucassen.

In early September 2005, the band released their fourth album Remagine. The album was produced using pre-recorded drum tracks by André Borgman, who had to take a long leave of absence to cure his illness. The songs of the album are simpler and more straightforward than in the previous albums, preserving anyway the usual dual voice dynamic in the sound of the band.[8][9]

On 3 March 2006 the band left the Transmission Records label, due to the scarce promotion that the label was providing to their albums.[10] Following this departure, Transmission Records released the Mea Culpa compilation, with plenty of rarities and B-sides. By October the same year, After Forever had signed to the German label Nuclear Blast Records.[11]

In the end of 2006 the band recorded their final and only album on the Nuclear Blast label, self-titled After Forever. It features guest appearances from Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters and Doro Pesch. Videos of the recording sessions were available for download on the band's website. The album was released on 23 April 2007.

In January 2008, After Forever announced on their website, that the band would be taking a break of at least a year, mainly to assess the health problems of vocalist and guitarist Sander Gommans, who had been absent during most of the tour supporting the album After Forever.[10] In an interview with Ragnarök radio, Floor said the band would get together early 2009 to discuss After Forever's future.[12]

On 5 February 2009, After Forever announced that they decided to call it quits.[13] The long break, during 2008 and 2009, had made them realize that they did not feel the passion towards the band any longer.[14]

After the split up of the band, Sander Gommans published in 2009 the album System Overload with his solo project HDK and continues working as a high school art teacher. Floor Jansen started a new band called ReVamp and signed a contract with Nuclear Blast in 2010 for their first eponymous album,[15] then from late 2012 to summer 2013 she toured with Nightwish and later became the permanent lead singer of the band.[16]

Joost van den Broek collaborated with both Gommans and Jansen on their new musical projects, meanwhile producing the Christmas Metal Symphony shows in 2008 and 2009[17] and Stream of Passion's second album The Flame Within. Guitarist Bas Maas joined the live band supporting German hard rock singer Doro Pesch in 2008.

Personnel
Floor Jansen during After Forever concert on Masters of Rock 2007 festival in Zlín.
Final line-up
  • Floor Jansen - lead vocals (1997–2009)
  • Sander Gommans - lead guitar, vocals, screams (1995–2009)
  • Bas Maas - rhythm guitar, vocals, screams (2002–2009)
  • Luuk van Gerven - bass guitar (1996–2009)
  • André Borgman - drums, percussion (2000–2009)
  • Joost van den Broek - keyboards (2004–2009)
Previous members
  • Mark Jansen - rhythm guitar, vocals, screams (1995–2002)
  • Joep Beckers - drums, percussion (1995–2000)
  • Jack Driessen - keyboards (1995–2000)
  • Lando van Gils - keyboards (2000–2004)
Guests

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions
NLD
[18]		 GER
[19]		 FRA
[20]		 BEL (FL)
[21]		 BEL (WA)
[22]		 JPN
[23]
Prison of Desire
  • Released: 24 April 2000
  • Re-release: 5 June 2008
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD
 ——————
Decipher
  • Released: 27 December 2001
  • Re-release: 3 December 2011
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD, LP
 ——————
Invisible Circles
  • Released: 25 March 2004
  • Re-release: 11 November 2016
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD
 24——74—272
Remagine
  • Released: 8 September 2005
  • Re-release: 21 November 2015
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD, SACD, CD+DVD
 21——5596—
After Forever 6981058972234
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Compilation albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions
NLD
[18]
Mea Culpa
  • Released: 19 June 2006
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD
 69
Eccentric
  • Released: 8 November 2019
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming
 —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

EPs
Title Album details Peak chart positions
NLD
[18]
Exordium
  • Released: 17 October 2003
  • Re-release: 11 November 2016
  • Label: Transmission
  • Formats: CD
 56
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions Album
NLD
[25]
2000 "Follow in the Cry" / "Silence from Afar" — Prison of Desire
2002 "Emphasis" / "Who Wants to Live Forever" — Decipher
"Monolith of Doubt" —
2003 "My Choice" / "The Evil That Men Do" — Exordium
2004 "Digital Deceit" 41 Invisible Circles
2005 "Being Everyone" 54 Remagine
2006 "Two Sides" / "Boundaries Are Open" — Mea Culpa
2007 "Energize Me" 94 After Forever
"Equally Destructive" (DVD single) 89
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Music videos
  • "Emphasis" (2002)
  • "My Choice" (2003)
  • "Digital Deceit" (2004)
  • "Being Everyone" (2005)
  • "Energize Me" (2007)
  • "Equally Destructive" (2007)
  • "Discord" (2007)

Demos
Title Demo details
Ephemeral
  • Released: 1999
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: CD
Wings of Illusion
  • Released: 1999
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: CD

Interviews

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 17, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved July 5, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Betteiger, Paul (2003-04-05). "Review: After Forever - Prison Of Desire". The Metal Crypt. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  4. Elliot, R.W. (2004-06-16). "After Forever". Musical Discoveries. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  5. "Sahara Dust". Tartarean Desire Webzine. July 2002. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  6. "After Forever (1996 - 2009)" (in Dutch). Muziek Centrum Nederland. Archived from the original on 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  7. "AFTER FOREVER - INVISIBLE CIRCLES (ALBUM)" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts.nl. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  8. "Sander Gommans". FaceCulture.com. 2007-11-08. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  9. Grant, Sam (2005-12-11). "After Forever - Remagine". Sonic Cathedral.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  10. Vermeere, Ralph (2007-05-21). "After Forever with Sander Gommans". Rockezine.com. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  11. D., Zack (2006-11-07). "After Forever Sign to Nuclear Blast and Start Recording New Album". Metal Underground.com. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  12. "Episode 30 - Women In Metal Part One". Ragnarok Radio. 2008-12-12. Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  13. "After Forever quits". 2009-02-05. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  14. "After Forever disbands after nearly fifteen years". Drummerszone.com. 2009-02-06. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  15. Jansen, Floor (12 February 2010). "News: Floor Jansen signs up with Nuclear Blast for her new band 'ReVamp'". Revampmusic.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  16. "Press Statement". Nightwish official website. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  17. "Christmas Metal Symphony". MySpace.com. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  18. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  19. "charts.de". Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  20. Steffen Hung (2007-04-28). "Les charts français". Lescharts.com. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  21. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  22. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  23. "アフター・フォーエヴァーのCDアルバムランキング │オリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". ORICON STYLE. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  24. "iTunes - Music - After Forever by After Forever". iTunes. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  25. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
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