The US version doesn't come out until this fall. All legal versions out their are the European version.
It's easily one of their best. They're going to be great this year at PPUSA!
I am bringing this thread back from the dead because I just listened to the new After Forever album, and the bottom line is this: clear off a space beside The Gathering's "Mandylion" and Lacuna Coil's "Unleashed Memories," because After Forever's self-titled album is as good as this style of metal gets.
I have to eat my words somewhat because I've ragged on the spoken word parts on "Invisible Circles." Yes, I am beating a dead horse, but after that episode I lost track of After Forever. I appreciate what they were saying with that album, but death metal style vocals and a story of a little girl growing up just didn't gel for me. It just didn't. I have "Prison of Desire," but other than those two, I hadn't heard their other releases.
And I am also tired of this entire atmospheric/symphonic metal with female vocals genre. There are bands I like, but mostly they are bands I've liked for years, but the sudden boom of these kinds of bands turned me off.
But a lot of these bands don't write memorable songs, and they don't have Floor Jansen. With this album, Floor proves that she is the best female vocalist I have ever heard in this genre. I prefer female metal vocals to be more "rock" oriented, and Floor manages to do those well - and she also manages to do the power-opera vocals as well. I have never heard a vocalist have as much finesse switching between the two as Floor does.
I mentioned memorable songs, and "After Forever" has them in spades. In this crowded marketplace, a band better have the songs or I am going to pass them over. The songs have their own identities, and in a just world Floor would be getting the attention that a certain other band gets. Yeah, songs like "Energize Me" may sound like a bid for radio play, but you know what? They are the kind of songs that would raise the bar for radio. And criminy, listen to Floor's vocals on these songs. I've listened to "Equally Destructive" about 6 times now, and listen to that hook. It just raises the bar.
The symphonic thing has gotten way overblown, but again, After Forever shows how it is done. The orchestral parts aren't there to distract from the songs, they work with the rest of the music. And AF remembers that they are a metal band. I love the new Within Temptation album, but it is about as far from metal as a metal album can get. "After Forever" keeps its roots in metal.
"After Forever" is not breaking any new gorund, it is just taking the best of the symphonic-metal-with-female-vocals genre and combining them into a freaking bulldozer. Heck, a couple of parts remind me of my longtime friend Lennon Murphy (especially the bonus track "Lonely").
I'm a convert.
But this is still not "goth."
I have a hard time saying that about many people because those guys are my idols. With that said, Floor deserves to be ranked with the best. I can't wait to tell her that in person. 
I am bringing this thread back from the dead because I just listened to the new After Forever album, and the bottom line is this: clear off a space beside The Gathering's "Mandylion" and Lacuna Coil's "Unleashed Memories," because After Forever's self-titled album is as good as this style of metal gets.
I have to eat my words somewhat because I've ragged on the spoken word parts on "Invisible Circles." Yes, I am beating a dead horse, but after that episode I lost track of After Forever. I appreciate what they were saying with that album, but death metal style vocals and a story of a little girl growing up just didn't gel for me. It just didn't. I have "Prison of Desire," but other than those two, I hadn't heard their other releases.
And I am also tired of this entire atmospheric/symphonic metal with female vocals genre. There are bands I like, but mostly they are bands I've liked for years, but the sudden boom of these kinds of bands turned me off.
But a lot of these bands don't write memorable songs, and they don't have Floor Jansen. With this album, Floor proves that she is the best female vocalist I have ever heard in this genre. I prefer female metal vocals to be more "rock" oriented, and Floor manages to do those well - and she also manages to do the power-opera vocals as well. I have never heard a vocalist have as much finesse switching between the two as Floor does.
I mentioned memorable songs, and "After Forever" has them in spades. In this crowded marketplace, a band better have the songs or I am going to pass them over. The songs have their own identities, and in a just world Floor would be getting the attention that a certain other band gets. Yeah, songs like "Energize Me" may sound like a bid for radio play, but you know what? They are the kind of songs that would raise the bar for radio. And criminy, listen to Floor's vocals on these songs. I've listened to "Equally Destructive" about 6 times now, and listen to that hook. It just raises the bar.
The symphonic thing has gotten way overblown, but again, After Forever shows how it is done. The orchestral parts aren't there to distract from the songs, they work with the rest of the music. And AF remembers that they are a metal band. I love the new Within Temptation album, but it is about as far from metal as a metal album can get. "After Forever" keeps its roots in metal.
"After Forever" is not breaking any new gorund, it is just taking the best of the symphonic-metal-with-female-vocals genre and combining them into a freaking bulldozer. Heck, a couple of parts remind me of my longtime friend Lennon Murphy (especially the bonus track "Lonely").
I'm a convert.
But this is still not "goth."
