...and to commemorate my finally getting around to buying it and to waste time waiting for it to arrive in the mail, I have written an album review which is as follows:
I don’t usually feel compelled to do album reviews. The only other review I wrote was for Nightwish’s “Once”, which I still find to be an amazing album. However, I think I’ve found an album that is even more of a masterpiece, and pretty damn near perfect. That album is After Forever’s self-titled fifth release, which may not necessarily be better musically than the amazing second album, Decipher, but it is more polished, more full, and overall extremely enjoyable.
It’s also an album that many fans have been waiting for. With the departure of Mark Jansen after Decipher, many people (I’ll admit - myself included) were disappointed in the EP Exordium, and wouldn’t see Invisible Circles as very good if not for the EP’s release. Remagine seemed to be a step in one direction, though whether or not it’s the right one remains unclear (I’ve always been slightly disappointed in Remagine, though I can’t for the life of me discover why). But this - After Forever - is perfect. The band describes this as a mix of the sounds on all their previous releases, and to be honest, I don’t give a damn. The music is perfect. I don’t need to know why. And to be honest, I’d rather I didn’t know why, because it makes me wonder where some of the past elements are that I didn’t like in past albums. Why? Because they’re not there. After Forever has got it right this time - and they’ve made a masterpiece.
Don’t think that I don’t like some of their past CDs at all - in fact, I prefer Exordium over any other band, like Within Temptation or even Nightwish any day. That’s because After Forever is just so good that the standards I have for them are almost impossibly high. But - guess what? They’re not impossible anymore. Because this CD has attempted and succeeded in reaching those standards.
Enough rambling about the history of the CD. I’ll give some overall highlights and then - yes - I’ll do a track by track analysis.
Overall? I think Floor Jansen’s a goddess or something because there is no way any mortal can sing that amazing. She’s got power, she’s got beauty, and she can do them both at the same time. She’s even got it live, which is more than I can say for some bands that try and fail. The orchestras - real ones! - are used just at the right moments, the choir is blended nicely and has wonderful arrangements - it is these reasons why the intro and outro of the album give me shivers constantly. And I really like the overall theme of the album, which Floor says is energy. Positive, negative, dream, atmospheric... But enough of this, onto the more important stuff.
1. Discord - 5/5 - The intro here is wonderfully mixed. I especially like the effect of the orchestra to make the first few measures sound old and cracking - it’s supposed to do that, it’s not my earphones, right? Whatever, I like it. Floor sings a few opera notes from the second chorus on. And - oh, can I say how much I love the dueling vocals? I love them. And what’s not to love about the title? I love stuff that’s discordant. Definite high point of the album - one of many.
2. Evoke - 4.5/5 - I’m not too fond of this song, but it’s still absolutely amazing. That’s AF for you. Okay, so Floor’s vocals are always amazing, but here I’m not too terribly impressed and I think it’s because I’m not fond of the harmony on the chorus. But that’s okay, because the rest of the song is very good.
3. Transitory - 5/5 - This is another high point of the album. It’s easily one of the heaviest on the CD and also very electronic, though it doesn’t detract at all from the overall feel of the song. An interesting use of the speakers during the vocal line of the bridge - not your standard mixing, that’s for sure. I really really like the harmony on the chorus this time. The first line (“Ohhhhhhhhh, transitoooooryyyyy”!) always gives me shivers. Good ones, too!
4. Energize Me - 5/5 - I’m not one for real commercialized songs, but this is damn catchy. And I like the phrases because they’re not too terribly cliche. Floor’s vocal delivery right before the key change is impeccable. And the guitar solo is really fun!
5. Equally Destructive - 5/5 - I really really like the words and the theme for this one. Or I think I would if I knew them. From what I catch, it’s really good. Anyway, the whole song is really tightly done and fast, and I enjoy the intro on this one, too.
6. Withering Time - 5/5 - This song probably has most of the elements that After Forever likes to use - orchestra, choir, opera vocals, grunts... and it’s amazing. I think I overlistened to it, though, because I can’t appreciate as much as I used to. But believe me - it’s another high point.
7. De-Energized - 5/5 - Wheee @ another orchestral intro! And then it gets supersuper heavy and it’s very nice. I like the words to this one, too. “I see a world at war because of pride and might”... yesyesyes, very nice. This isn’t a big highlight for Floor’s vocals (which I’ll admit is my primary reason for listening to AF), but the song is still great. The choir in the middle and end is very nice, too.
8. Cry WIth a Smile - 5/5 - This is one of two real ballads on the album, and the stronger one at first listen (though the two really equalize by the time you’ve heard them a few times). The orchestra on this is really catchy, and Floor’s lower register really shines here. I don’t usually compliment the low vocals because I was always trained as an alto (incorrectly, too - I’m actually a soprano) and am used to hearing lines much lower than what singers in this genre typically sing, but I’ve got to hand it to her here - to be able to sing that without sounding like a clomping elephant is admirable. Anyway, the emotion on this song really shines, too, especially in the last chorus. I don’t usually try to mention emotion in songs not in bands’ native languages, but Floor manages it nice in all the songs on the disc, and this is a highlight of that.
9. Envision - 5/5 - This is my personal favourite on the album. It’s heavy with a nice mix of guitars and vocals, all very powerful. However, the piano in the bridge with the chromatic scale as the key change is very interesting. And the chorus in the new key is very high, a lot higher than it sounds.
10. Who I Am - 5/5 - This is a duet with Doro Pesch, who I’m not terribly fond of. I prefer Floor’s crystal clear vocals and would like to hear the version that’s Floor singing all parts. (I know it exists because the videos of the studio recordings on the official site have a clip of it.) Anyway, I like the structure of the intro, with the rhythm guitar and the really high synth in contrast. And the harmony Floor sings with herself on the “Who I aaaaaaaaam... WHO I aaaaaam” is breathtaking, especially during the chorus after the second verse when the instruments stop. Very nice!
11. Dreamflight - 4.5/5 - You must think I’m crazy. I don’t blame you. I love long songs, but this one seems to drag on for me. The choir here is amazing mixed in with the grunts, though. I don’t know what to really say about this one. It’s After Forever, though, so it’s supersuper good.
12. Empty Memories - 5/5 - The other ballad. It seems odd that a ballad would be placed last, but it really works, especially since the outro is about a minute of choir. But the whole amazing part of this song is Floor’s vocals. Again. They’re not the best on the album and she ends up sliding quite a bit at times, but the moment near the end at the end of the second time through the chorus - “No no no no alone!” or whatever it is - gives me chills. Always.
So overall, 12 X 5 = 60. I subtracted one point, so 59/60. That’s... ummm... 9.83/10.
High Points (this is supersuper hard to narrow it down!): Discord, Transitory, Withering Time, Envision
Low Points: Are you kidding? Bad stuff by After Forever? You must be crazy! Maybe it’s that Lonely and Sweet Enclosure aren’t on the album...
What else? Oh, the artwork! Yes, the cover is stunning. And the website design is amazing too. I’m not talking about good by After Forever standards (because we all know sometimes the artwork is a bit strange), I’m talking good by everyone standards. So, we’ll add the missing points from this.
Overall score = 10/10. Perfect.
So, when people compare After Forever to bands like Nightwish or Within Temptation, I have only one response - switch them around first. Because it’s Nightwish and Within Temptation that need to be compared to a standard like After Forever. And they fall far short of the masterpiece that After Forever has just created.
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