Review: After Forever - After Forever [Metal]

After Forever promised great things with their newest album. The self titled release was said to be a mixture of their earlier material, with their more melodic recent releases. Following the dissappointing Remagine, the band have a lot to prove, but does After Forever prove anything at all?

The album opens with the gothic anthem 'Discord'. Choirs in tow, along with the epic orchestra, the band really have gone back to their roots. Not truly, ofcourse, as ex-member Mark Jansen was highly responsible for the orchestral antics provided on debut album 'Prison Of Desire' and 'Decipher'. However, this fresher, heavier gothic sound really suits After Forever, and is a splendid opener, and should be a cracking live track also.

'Evoke' hints back to the more mainstream leanings of Remagine, with touches of Exordium-era After Forever to add a nice touch. Floor Jansen really shows she is the Queen of metal, with her impressive vocal skills. Elegantly yet forcefully, she leads the song along, particularly in the chorus 'Let It Flow. This Endless Beauty Will Evoke'. It's also worth noting how keyboardist Joost Van Den Broek has influenced the bands sound too, with his beautiful keyboard arrangements.

The third song is likely to be a live favourite. 'Transitory' is fast, simple and heavy, to the point of exhaustion. It's amazing beat, topped off by Floors strong vocals, entwining with the deep grunts of Sander Gommans. The vocal lines are insanely catchy, and the keyboard effects are vital in making this song as perfect as it is. Those expecting After Forever to be an airy female fronted band, that never passes funeral pace, will be surprised by this powerful track.

Lead single 'Energize Me' is a catchy, mainstream track, reminiscent of the recent After Forever releases. However, Energize Me manages to be interesting, and typically After Forever, aswell as radio-friendly and appealing. Highly commendable first single, especially the powerful vocals in the later choruses.

'Equally Destructive' may appear to be the heaviest track on After Forever, but the novelty soon wears off, and you are left with a generic rock song. However, the lyrical themes are very interesting, dealing with earthquakes and natural disasters. The song still manages to be interesting in places, particularly the last chorus when Floor does some beautiful multi-vocals.

Get ready for another fusion of old and new After Forever with track 6 'Withering Time'. The amazing orchestra and powerful heaviness bombard the listener on the first hearing. Around the 2 minute mark, the orchestras begin to sound like a devilish movie soundtrack, before throwing itself into a metallic feast, with grunts screams and fast guitar action. Definitly one of the heaviest After Forever songs. The chorus is also a well thought out catchy choir-fest, lead, ofcourse, by the seductive Floor Jansen.

'De-Energized' opens fiercly like a movie trailer. The epic opening leads into a battle of grunts and keyboard-lead metal. Sander Gommans is on top form with his fine-tuned growls, as Floor puts in her best performance to date, striking down a stunning note towards the end of the chorus. around 2.5 minutes, she goes almost acapella, backed only by a few effects, and pulls it off spectacularly. Her amazing skill as a vocalist really shines through on every track. The choirs, although not used as often as usual, still perform very well, and appear at the perfect times. They sound anxious and angry, with their sudden notes, a perfect supplement to a great song.

Power-ballads are often a tragic affair, with the vocalist yelping at the wrong times. However, sometimes they are done with such effort and precision, that the artist has to be applauded. As you can probably guess 'Cry With A Smile' despite the god-awful title is an epic, melancholic ballad that is the band at their best. Not much more can be said, other than the band are on fine form, each member playing their part perfectly, creating a wonderfully beautiful song.

'Being Everyone' from 2005's Remagine was a very strange foray into melodic pop metal. It may worry fans to hear that 'Envision' is not much different. But this track offers so much more, the interesting, yet catchy vocal lines, to the beautiful keyboard effects, 'Envision' actually turns out to be a highlight of the album. A single release would have been perfect, as this is a great example of After Forevers amazing songwriting skills.

'Who I Am' is a duet with rock goddess Doro. On paper it sounds perfect, two of the greatest vocalists working together. True, they both add a unique and flawless vocal performance but the song itself is dreadfully boring. Nothing outstanding in the slightest, on the musical front. Thank goodness it wasn't an instrumental... Perhaps the wekaest track on the album.

The album continues with the beautiful 'Dreamflight'. The album opens just as graceful as its title, with a short string segment, fading into the voice of Floor. Bas Maas makes his first, and only appearance on this track with his effortless voice. The song switches between strong, metallic passages and calmer, serene segments. Not the greatest epic ever written, but surely an interesting and commendable track.

The album concludes with the electronic influenced 'Empty Memories'. This is a perfect ending, especially with the calm choral passages, and the final 'No No No' that Floor spits venemously, ths is truly among After Forevers best work. The lyrics, also are nothing less than amazing.

Overall, After Forever prove all doubters wrong by releasing a strong and honest album. I must state, they do hint at the earlier material, not as often as i would like, but they kept their promise. There is only 2 weak tracks on the album, and even those have their charms, and the strong tracks more than make up for their downfalls. After Forever is an astounding album that deserves to be heard by all fans of the genre, aswell as people who like their music heavy.

Review: Epica - The Divine Conspiracy [Metal]

Releasing a debut album, as amazing as Epica's release The Phantom Agony can be a blessing and a curse. The album brought them a mass of attention and success, but also raised them on a pedestal, and the second album Consign To Oblivion, although still succesful, was panned for being too generic, and straying too far from the sound that garnered their success. With a return to form due, is The Divine Conspiracy the album the fans expect...

The Divine Conspiracy is the first concept album by Epica. It deals with the theory that, as a test, God created all kinds of different religions and released those upon humanity to see if they would be able to find the true nature of them, realizing that in all religions it is actually the same. The main character is introduced in the prologue and can be found in the last songs.

The Divine Conspiracy opens with, as always, a slow build up. This time we are treated to the best intro yet; Indigo. Sure, it lasts a little longer than it should, but the amazing orchestra is so breathtaking, this isn't just metal, this is film music. Hans Zimmer would have been proud, that's for sure.

`The Obsessive Devotion' starts with heavy guitar riffs and orchestra. Immediatly it's clear how much Simone has grown between Consign to Oblivion and The Divine Conspiracy when she hits the first lines with her angry voice. The drums done by Ariën van Weesenbeek are great and make you want to headbang. Already a proven great life song, this song rocks just as much on the cd. The spoken segment by Amanda Somerville is very passionate and emotional, followed by amazing choirs and Marks angry grunts.

Symphonic Metal at its heaviest, describes 'Menace Of Vanity'. A surprisingly bombastic arguement between the guttural growls of Mark and the collective force of the skill of each participant. A truly strong song that has little, or no faults at all. Each portion is thought up wonderfully, ensuring everything works together to create such an exceptional song. This song on the live scene will definitly blow anyone away.


The 4th song of The Divine Conspiracy is `Chasing The Dragon'. We used to wonder, wow what's Epica got to do with dragons? But it didn't turn out to be a fantasy tale, instead this song deals with problems of drugs. The song includes an acoustic guitar, though abit drowned by Simone's powerful voice. Slowly getting heavier by adding drums and heavy orchestra, we come to the beautiful chorus. With Marks angry grunts, frantic violins, and a male choir the song comes to a heavy climax, reminding of `Run For a Fall'.

`Never Enough' is the most mainstream track on the album, and therefore a perfect candidate for lead single. Simone features promimently, showcasing her superb skills once again. Also, for a single release, this track is conciderably heavy, even including grunts towards the chorus. The final note hit by Simons is a perfect conclusion to a great song. Definitly not the best track, but by far a strong and interesting single.

`Le'petach Chatat Rovetz' is an instrumental intro for `Death of a Dream', featuring oriental instruments, with the title focusing on the Jewish religion. The score seems to have been a source for this song.

The first of the series of 'mbrace That Smother's section is `Death Of A Dream'. Perhaps one of the heaviest tracks, opening with an array of angry choral sections, talented drums courtesy of Arjen and a major guitar shredding. The vocal lines, as with most tracks, are very interesting, with Simone, as always, on fine form. The song also features a guest, in Sander from After Forever, lending his powerful grunts, to entwine with the powerful Epica sound. The song is likely to be a success on the life front also, alike `Menace Of Vanity', it's almost impossible not to bop your head with this track.

`Living a Lie (The Embrace That Smothers - Part VIII)' is probably the slowest song out of the The Embrace That Smothers series (which run back to After Forever's first album; Prisoner of Desire). A humming choir opens the song leading to the first verse by Mark, in turns verses are taken by the choir. The very slow and rather boring chorus is sung by Simone. A Latin segment featuring some religion aspects is terribly spoken without emotion or conviction. The only original and interesting part of this song is the end: Hebrew chanting leading into `Fools Of Damnation'.

The final of the Embraces is the best. `Fools of Damnation' is such a detailed, individual Epica song. Featuring a few details that make it 'Epica' but also incorporating new vocal lines, and new instrumentals such as the indian influence. The song begins, reminiscent of `Seif Al Din' from the debut, with Simone performing beautiful chants leading into a slow, mournful chorus, where she shows she can be emotional aswell as effortlessly amazing. The true hilight of this song is the astonishingly magnifiscent chorus. The way Simone serenades with the word 'Fools' is superbly catchy and will have you singing along for a while.

`Beyond Belief' is a typical Epica song, which makes it slightly boring and predictable. The chorus however is very catchy with an amazing choral segment. Heavy guitar riffs make this a great live song, the solo on the other hand is overdone. Fragments of the news aren't very original and reminds of `Beneath' by After Forever. By fading heartbeats we slowly enter the afterlife..

`Safeguard To Paradise' begins with a slow, soothing piano intro, that never quite gets anywhere. It succeeds in being a boring ballad that, despite such serene lyrics, and a very nice melody, particularly the vocal lines of Simone, Safeguard To Paradise is nowhere near as beautiful as it had the potential to be.

Another typical Epica song, `Sancta Terra' opens with orchestra and slightly strange keyboard sounds. Simone sings most of the song, only joined by the choir in the amazing and catchy chorus. Once more you can hear the enormous progress in Simone's voice. This being a heavy and catchy song I can't wait to see this song live!

The finale of the album is this 'divine' epic, 'The Divine Conspiracy' is a 13-minute track that concludes the theme of the opus. The vocal theme is very smilar to that of `Consign To Oblivion', a large amount of duty rests on Mark Jansens screams/growls and the choirs. With Simone occasionally chipping in at the perfect time. The song is a grandeur track that needs a lot of concentration to understand its true beauty. Especially the intricate details such as the serene voilins and unique fusion of grunts and organs. My only complaint of this track is the fact that the orchestral segment seems to last a little too long. But to end such a strong album, this track is wonderful.

Overall, Epica have created another masterpiece, making up for their controversial last album, Consign To Oblivion. The Divine Conspiracy is a heavy, beautiful and epic album that delivers in every imaginable way.

Epica Official
Epica @ Myspace

Interview: To-Mera 'Transcending From Mars' [Metal]

To-Mera are a british band that specialise in an interesting mixture of Jazz, Progressive Metal and a variety of other genre's, topped with the serene tones of vocalist, Julie Kiss. The band have released one cd so far; Transcendental on Candlelight, i got the chance to speak to guitarist and composer, Lee Barrett about femme-metal, the success of Transcendental, and opening for Emperor.


Hey Lee! First of all, thanks alot for answering these questions! It means a lot!
No problem!

To-Mera's debut album 'Transcendental' was received very well by both critics and fans, do you feel any pressure to make the follow up even better?
Not really. We already know the next album will be better because the new songs are far more mature and written on a grander scale. Transcendental was the first 8 songs we ever wrote, and stylistically there were places where we were just basically dipping our toes in the water. We've got a lot more confidence as a band now, and more of an idea of what works and what doesn't for us.

You play a lot of shows in England, will you be visiting any other countries when the next CD is released?
That's the plan. It's difficult trying to get support slots, etc, when you only have one album out. But we have a good booking agent who will hopefully be pro actively pushing us onto a decent tour should the opportunity arise. We're happy to play everywhere and anywhere!

You've toured with a variety of bands, from the Gothic ambience of Octavia Sperati, to the utter brutality of Emperor. What is it like to perform to such wide audiences? What type of reception do you receive?
Well, the Emperor show was a strange one. 2000 people looking at us like we'd come from Mars :). We didn't get booed off or anything bad like that, but it was definitely a partisan Emperor crowd. I guess to a degree we could play with most types of bands, but we'd be more comfortable playing with progressive metal bands. Symphony X would be nice, someone like that.

Forgive me if i'm wrong, but i remember you said you recorded 2 videos? The video for 'Blood' was released a while ago, but what happened to the second video, for 'Phantoms'?
No, the original plan was to do two videos, but since very few TV stations bothered to play "Blood" we decided not to bother paying for another video.

Could you give us an explanation as to what the video for 'Blood' is about?
The director interpreted the lyrics in a slightly different way than the song intends, but it seemed fun to do it this way (even though not many people get it!). In the video, it's relating to the fact that it's difficult to escape your past. It's always around to haunt you. I can't really go much deeper than that, hehe.

Due to Julie Kiss being female [I'm pretty sure, anyway ;)] To-Mera get lumped into the Femme Metal category with bands such as Nightwish and Evanescence. Do you see this is a good thing? Or not?
We used to be annoyed about it, but now we don't care to be honest. It's impossible to stop people thinking in this way. We know we have nothing in common with these other bands, and a lot of other people realise this too. That's good enough for us.

Are you interested in the femme metal scene?
Not really, I have to say. There are some great individual bands, like Stolen Babies, Unexpect, Aghora, Diablo Swing Orchestra, etc, but I'd listen to them no matter who was singing. I've seen a few of the femme bands play live, and After Forever seem like a very tight and professional band. I wouldn't listen to them at home though.

At home what music would you listen to?
I have literally thousands of CDs, so anything from Abscess to ZZ Top. I have a rotation of random songs playing all the time, and once in a while I focus on particular band. Right now I'm crazy for Death Breath and Kansas with some Mats/Morgan, Anti-Cimex and Amon Amarth thrown in too. I'll listen to anything from emo to jazz to death metal to experimental noise.

Was it strange, to be picked up by the label you founded? ;) :)
It was to be honest. It's a long(ish) story, but I'll try and keep it short :)

I was involved for a short while with Earache records and my imprint label there (Elitist) had been cancelled (this is a story of it's own, hehe). Anyway, I had some bands in the studio or with finished albums that Earache were refusing to pay for. In desperation, I turned to Edward, the "new" owner of Candlelight to see if he could help to take some bands from me (he took Daylight Dies and Wolverine). When I sent the other band's CDs I also threw in a To-Mera demo. At this point we were already speaking to two other labels, but a week or so later I got an email saying that Candlelight were interested too.

It was obviously slightly strange for me considering my past, but Candlelight offered the best deal in terms of flexibility and artistic control and, as a band, we chose them over the other deals offered.

What is going to be happening with To-Mera in the next year?
The new album will be out early 2008. We hope we get the chance to support the record with plenty of shows.

To-Mera are currently recording the follow up to their debut CD; Transcendental.

To-Mera @ Myspace
To-Mera Official

Review: Nemesea - In Control [Rock/Electronic]

Nemesea have certainly changed over the past few years, from the mournful, yet beautiful brand of symphonic metal they produced on debut, 'Mana', to this, the opposite type of gothic metal. With more electronics, no more orchetras and no more choirs, vocalist Manda has even given her operatic vocals a rest. But the question is, was it worth it?

The album opens with the extremely radio-friendly, punchy track 'No More'. The verses are delicately whispered by Manda, before the band kick in for the powerful chorus. It's almost impossible to remember the bands darker past, when this catchy album is in your hands!

The title track; 'In Control' is less impressive. Sure, it has psychadelic undertones, catchy beats, and a simple verse-chorus-verse formula, but wait a second, so did 'No More'. 'In Control' is by no means a terrible song, it's not even remotely bad, it's simply forgettable.

'Home' is the third track, and opens in a rather predictable way, the same effects are hidden beneath Manda's beautiful voice [the saving grace of the CD, so far]. However, when the chorus lashes out, unexpectedly, i am made to eat my words, it all fits together, the chorus is extremely professional, beautiful vocal lines and a lovely melody intertwine, to create the standout track of 'In Control'

Fellow Sellaband-victor, Cubworld appears in the next song. Granted, the song is a refreshing change from the same old electronics, but i can't help but feel that 'The Way I Feel' could have been so much better, and more powerful. The positive note is the succesful merge of Cubworlds acoustic ambience, and Nemeseas beautiful arrangements, aswell as Manda's breathtaking vocals, once again dominating the attention of all who listen in.

The CD proceeds with 'Lost Inside'. The song would sure enough embed inside your brain, and after a few listens, it's easy to sing along, the repetition of the line; 'I Can't Tell You' is very powerful, and well thought out. The lyrics are once again, interesting, and forward, as with most songs on the CD, however, another feeling tells me, the song could have been so much better, if it wasn't so similar to the other tracks of 'In Control'.

'Remember' is one of the truly weak tracks on 'In Control'. It's hard to be so negative towards a lovely band, but this song truly is 'filler' material. A boring song, that has been done time and time again. The only positive comment i can muster for this track is the heavy electronics sounding not-too-bad.

Thank goodness for 'Believe', another great song, a heavy, mid-paced, easy on the ear track that is a nice change, and to hear Manda reach her true potential is great. One of the most enjoyable tracks from the album, sounding like a mix between Sheryl Crow and Korn.

'Like The Air' is a nice song, and i regret to say, i wished the album ended here. The song has the most beautiful lyrics of all the tracks, and the wonderful chorus has been a favourite of mine, since it's demo stages. Perhaps, not the most original song, but still incorporating Nemesea sound. A rare hilight of 'In Control'.

The final two tracks 'Broken' and 'Never', on first listen give you a strange sense of Deva Ju. Due to the severe lack of originality, despite the chorus of 'Broken' being slightly bareable, the two songs truly should have been left out of the album. They give nothing to the sound, and achieve even less. An anti-climax, for sure.

Overall, the latest Nemesea album, though it pains me to say it, is dissappointing. Nothing you haven't heard before, and could easily be re-enacted for free, by playing the latest Clubbers Anthems compilation over a Korn CD. Nothing special, and rather boring. By all means, download the standout tracks; 'Home', 'Believe', and 'No More'. But sadly, i've lost almost all my interest in Nemesea for the time being.

Nemesea Official
Nemesea @ Sellaband
Nemesea @ Myspace