Cristina Scabbia > Floor Jansen > Amy Lee > Tarja Turunen
Floor Jansen >> Amy Lee > Tarja Turunen > Cristina Scabbia
The four most well known female vocalists in the current goth metal scene I should say, the first line ranks them in order of “hot”-ness. The second, more important one is how kick a** they are as vocalists and I think not many people will refute me on this one. Floor Jansen, lead singer of the band under review, After Forever, is the most eclectic and female vocalist among the four and she and her band, possibly one of the most refreshing bands in power/prog metal today.
After Forever is a Netherlands based band. Doesn’t stop them from rocking hard though. Coming into the spotlight at the turn of the century, they have already undergone several lineup changes. But now, with an average age of about 24, and hopefully many years of music still ahead of them, they are set to take the world by storm with their most eagerly anticipated album (or at least was back in ‘05) Reimagine.
After Forever are:
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Floor Jansen - Vocals (1997-)
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Bas Maas – Guitar, clean male vocals (2002-)
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Sander Gommans - Guitar, grunts (1996-)
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Luuk van Gerven - Bass (1996-)
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André Borgman - Drums (2000-)
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Joost van den Broek - Keyboards (2004-)
Reimagine is an album steeped heavily in goth influences with a healthy dosage of both power metal and prog… even some electronica. Good musicianship that doesn’t get unnecessarily technical, great atmosphere and fusion of (dare I say it) pop based electronica and synthesizers, beautiful vocals all combine to translate into songs ranging from emotional to pure energetic, slow to fast, soft to hard.
Personally, I have not really been a big fan of the whole power metal, symphonic metal scene. There are exceptions though.
Kamelot is one of my favourite bands of all time and
Angra has been a recent crush but other than that precious little else. I got this cd from a friend who’s been trying to get me into symphonic metal for some time now. I was less than enthusiastic initially. But then all that changed.
The highlight of the cd is undoubtedly Floor. With vocals that range from pure powerful like Cristina’s to actual opera stylings of Tarja, she pulls off both with an uncanny ease. The amount of emotion her voice carries is amazing, and an absolute pleasure to listen to. The vocals also get soft at a few points on the album, which too she pulls off very well. Overall, one of the best technical vocal performances I’ve heard in a long time.
The rest of the band doesn’t falter either. Guitars chugging away with some really great riffs, solid rhythm backing and synth lines that turn a song from good to great. One of the main reasons power metal gets tiring for me is the use of double bass blastbeats as staple for most songs. While it does make it exciting initially, it becomes old and tires very easily and quickly. That doesn’t happen here. Double bass here is used for effect, for contrast, and not throughout songs. The same philosophy goes with all instruments. They all add in making the songs sound more sleek than heavy which is a great thing.
Songs here range from really fast, almost thrashy speeds, to slow driving tempos with a lot of variation throughout. The album starts with
Enter, more or less a filler opener with some chanting with some electronic (?) beat in the background and a piano fades in, continuing into the first real track on the album
Come. A groovy riff with a simple but effective beat with some electronica in the background starts the song. Things slow down in the prechorus and in the chorus we get a sample of the operatic vocals Floor is capable of. An incredible bridge follows after the second chorus, with a choir joining in and the pace of the song really picking up. There’s a beautiful almost haunting piano ending taking us into the next song
Boundaries Are Open which basically has more of the same as the last song. A good synth filled bridge really adds a lot to the song.
The following track
The Living Shields, has possibly the best intro on the whole album and is worth listening for it alone. With a fast tempo high energy beat and the choir singing with its full power, the feeling is truly epic. The song goes from fast to faster into a thrashy verse, slowing down in the prechorus with the intro repeating as the chorus. The vocals are the male growls in the verses and prechoruses here which is actually well done transitioning to a very passionate bridge and has one of the few guitar solos on the album. The synth is ever-present in this song as with much of the album, acting almost like the lead guitar.
The next song
Being Everyone, slows things down initially, with Floor’s soft vocals really shining through. The pace picks up as the song goes along finally reaching a peak two thirds through the song, after which only vocals with a piano emerge, as the rest of band comes in for the final chorus. All very well done. This leads into
Attendance, starting out with a melodious synth line over a slow driving electronic beat, followed by the emergence of a guitar with a weird sounding line over the synth to produce an almost unsettling effect. The verse has the growling male vocals leading into a very haunting chorus. The electronic beat adds a brilliant effect to the song making the song sound even more sinister. An oddly uplifting bridge, with Floor’s soaring vocals with the choir as the background over a double bass blastbeat comes in ending with a verse and chorus. Strangely beautiful.
Free of Doubt starts out at a fast tempo to pick up from the slow driving of the previous song. A killer intro with the strings and drums ends with a line played by both synth and guitar over a fast beat going into the verse and pre-chorus. More opera vocals comes in the chorus. Constant changes between 1/4, 2/4, 4/4 and 8/8 signatures keep the song (just like others) from getting monotonous. A very Metallica’s S&M sounding bridge occurs with strings section over a riffing guitar and ending with the chorus. Most songs do not really change around the general song structure here.
The next track
Only Everything enters with an acoustic guitar and some electronic effects as Floor starts singing. Some effect laden guitar enters and the acoustic part and effects part alternate till the whole band comes in. This is one of their more prog sounding tracks on the album and definitely possibly the most technical track on the album. More growling vocals in the verses with more of an interplay between male and female vocals takes place here. The choir also comes back in making this almost an overture of the band’s capabilities. Brilliant musicianship on the whole and one of the more outstanding tracks of the album.
After this things take a sudden turn to the softest song on the album
Strong. The happy sad synth in the beginning really set the stage for the softer side of Floor’s vocals to come and take over. Her vocals really shine through here since instrumentation is minimal. But still ironically, not one of album’s strong points, till the guitars come in. They really help redeem the song to a large extent IMO.
The album just refuses to let up with the next song
Face Your Demons, coming in with an almost dark yet with spunk. The music box background helps add to the dark feel of the song. The synth takes a slight backseat on this song. This is one of the weirder songs on the album, with strange chord progressions and vocals; all in tune with the variation to keep you listening. The following
No Control has a more thrashy feel, and tends very strongly towards symphonic death, only very much faster. A weird synth lead that sounds something like Dream Theatre would pull off follows. So late into the album you’re not expecting anything new, when lo and behold for the first time, clean male vocals make an appearance. This possibly has the least contribution by Floor on the album (in fact no contribution).
The final track
Forever starts beautifully, with an almost oriental tune that Floor emerges with midway into the intro. The oriental feel continues someway in, after which things change around and operatic female and clean male vocals juxtapose in the verse to again give us something we’ve not heard on the whole album. There is a very prog-esque transition in the middle of the song and clean male vocals dominate. This is the other very prog sounding track on the album and is beautifully done.
Overall, this is an album full of variation and energy not letting up till the end, an album that flows very well together and doesn’t feel like something put together carelessly or in a hurry. Good production, excellent musicianship and just overall kick a** make it an almost heavy (too much to take in, like with
Tool) but utterly enjoyable album.
My rating – 4.5/5
