Now Playing
Quick Review: After Forever - Prison of Desire
One Word Review: Dawn
 
Favorite Songs: Leaden Legacy, Semblance of Confusion, Follow in the Cry, Yield To Temptation

On their 2000 debut album the Dutch band After Forever experiment with the marriage of female soprano and deathly growls to good effect. Prison of Desire shows signs of being a debut. Some tempo changes and melodies feel awkward while others work better. Leaden Legacy is an example of a song where a radical shift in tempo in the last part diminishes the impact of the slow and intensely built up atmosphere. Through the album the music moves back and forth from beautiful and atmospheric to heavy and angry and these two opposite expressions keep the album varied but some glue is missing to make the whole experience soar.
 
Floor Jansen has a stunning voice. I could listen to her sing all day. The growls and screams by Sander Gommans and Mark Jansen respectively, not so much. Combined, however, the different vocal deliveries does give the album a special mix of melancholy and sadness. I've had a long love/hate relationship with the "oh so evil" growling singers. Some of them I find unintentionally funny while others, those who really have the voice to pull this off, make a grand impression (Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt comes to mind). Sander Gommans resides in the better half most of the time and delivers the goods in a way that is convincing but Mark Jansens screams never feel quite right, fortunately they are few and far between.
 
Overall a promising debut with songs that often shine but have failed to make a lasting impression.

Style: Soprano Metal

Rating: 5.5/10

Posted by Steen - Monday, January 17, 2011



RevelationZ Comments


Comment by Craig (Member) - Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Profile picture

View Profile


Comments: 134
Ratings: 29
This is a pretty good album, not by any means a classic but quite good. I actually think it works better if you think of it as an early Epica album rather than After Forever considering how much they changed their style after Jansen left.

Posted by Craig
Tuesday, January 18, 2011




Cover

More Information:

Band Page




Daily Spotlight
Elegy - Labyrinth of Dreams (Reissue)
CoverHaving sold more than a quarter of a million albums in their career, it often seems that the Netherlands pro....
Read full review















Retro Reviews

(Tommy)
Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider
CoverThere are a number of bands that have created a sound and style so unique that they eventually will be looked back on with a certain innovative consideration. To me Iced Earth is already what I would ....
Read full review






(Michael)
Enuff Z'nuff - Enuff Z´Nuff
CoverEnuff Z'Nuff was formed in Chicago suburb, Blue Island, by bass player Chip Z'Nuff and singer Donnie Vie. When listening to the self-titled debut album it's obvious that main songwriters Chip and Donn....
Read full review








Archive
 · Albums of the month
 · Retro Reviews
































Back to the top - © 2002-2011 RevelationZ Magazine - Back to the top