After Forever Blows My Mind II

After Forever Blows My Mind Part 2
3 more songs that convinced me Ive been listening
to the wrong music for too long.

  There is a moment when, as a fan of a particular band, you begin to become aware of the artist's limitations, tendencies, or shortcomings. After repetitive listens you begin to breakdown what you like, don't like, what you admire or even perhaps what you would change. I could look at a band for example, Rage Against the Machine and use many terms to classify or describe stylings, influences and bright moments. But to turn to the critical, in most cases really boils down to personal likings. If I would say the guitar player (Tom Morello) plays too basic, that would be my own interpretation of what he is playing vs my own personal preferences. To wish he played more like another guitar player (insert random Guitar God)  is such an elitist mentality, such short-sightedness, that it actually takes away from the listening experience. To custom mold every band into your personal accepted level of virtuosity or styling, would in essence make every band sound exactly the same.
  The main thing we as fans should keep in mind is the end result which we listen to is the cumulative effort from a group of musicians at a certain point in time. I find timelines pretty important when lending a critical eye in music. And also pureness. I had written a few short essays on the state of the modern music industry and pureness of artistry. I may one day link those essays here, which were just before I began to fall in love with symphonic metal. Which in my timeline, occurred one night when  I listened to the songs Transitory and Who I Am from After Forever (see previous posting: Blown Away by After Forever, Forever). The following links in this post are 3 more songs from After Forever that blew me away and aided in my desire to discover and fall in love with more songs like this. That is where the problem begins. I want everyone to sound like them and honestly there is only one Floor Jansen on vocals.
   I wish I was writing this blog at the time I began to listen to these songs, since my descriptions that will follow will be affected by time, by re-listens and by my own critical ear from everything else I listen to (which certainly has grown since then). I do know I am certainly not treading on undiscovered territory here. If you are a fan of what I call the sister genres (Symphonic, Power and Gothic Metal) you would know of After Forever. I didn't at the time I began this Endless Search though, and as I discuss more and more with my friends and even the random music lover, I find that 99% of them do not listen to the sister genres nor have even heard of Symphonic Metal, let alone Epica or a band like After Forever.
   I write this blog in a manner to treat these bands not as an elitist wishing for the perfect band in every release. But as a fan who trys to keep an open mind to possibilities and to encourage others to research through the internet, and resources like this blog that essentially allow anyone the ability to begin their own Endless Search for the widest range of stellar moments and performances from nearly any genre. Its this, my love for these performances, that I wish to share and perhaps convince a few people- no matter what form of music they currently listen to- that there is a whole world of new (to them) music waiting for them.
   Breaking down what After Forever is about to the typical Metal listener is quite simple. There is a little variance in their long career (1999-2009) but the main style does persist. They were indeed a phenomenal band with an outstanding vocalist Some people do refer to AF as following instep with what Nightwish (FIN) was doing. Mixing a level of classical and operatic stylings with full-on Metal attack and variance, with the addition of progressive stylings, and some speed of Power Metal. I would not call them Gothic Metal one bit though a huge portion of their fanbase considers them from that genre. I believe its the mix of the progressive element here (and Floor's voice) which sets them apart from the majority of bands of this style. Floor Jansen has since moved on with her own band ReVamp, after the breakup of After Forever, which is a good thing so we can continue to be amazed by her abilities- which apparently are only getting better. So lets get to my 3 choices in this update. They are 3 classic examples of what this band was capable of and are certainly are great songs to add to your own playlists, even if you have never heard of this thing called Symphonic Metal ever before, which is where I was just about 2 years ago.


After Forever (NL)
Emphasis (Progressive and Symphonic Metal 2002)
  From their second full length release, this is a perfect example of their progressive influence. The band is at top notch here, syncopated rhythms, double stops, double bass drums, great bass lines, tight guitar work and even more amazing a stellar performance on both drums and vocals. Reading back through my blog I have noticed I dont talk enough about the drummers' performances and there is a lot of great ones so I must put an emphasis on this one. There are accents just about anywhere a jazz drummer or a progressive drummer could think of, the pace quickens when the song picks up in intensity and overall is really imaginative. As a guitarist I actually listen more to the drums and Andre Borgman is hauling ass on this one. As an example of why After Forever means so much to me, it showcases 100% what is possible - Operatic and Symphonic sounds mixing with a very metal performance, with progressive phrasings and all this going on. Its a feast for my ears. Add in another phenomenal performance by Floor, specially during the mind melting middle breakdown. There are times I listen to this one and it simply takes me to a time when I was excited about music, about playing it, learning it, catching every nuance and there is plenty to catch with this one.


Monolith of Doubt (2002)
 From the same CD (Decipher) Its just songs like this arent everywhere- not even within the standard Symphonic Metal entries. This is one of those songs which makes everyone's playlist no matter what. It has all the bells and whistles and with Floor, you get the wide landscape of her voice here at times spoken and soft, and softly soaring during a few quiet piano moments. Somehow even though the pace matches most Power Metal this doesn't have a PM feel. It does remind me though, that I am not here to list every song in my playlist or bookmarks, or every single After Forever song, that I am being diligent in selecting only the ones that represent to me the best of what it is that I love so much about these genres. I have picked it as a representative since it shows a change in the landscape somewhat, it shows there is artistic decision, direction and a quantity of imagination occurring within the band. Also note that founder Mark Jansen was still in the band at the time, but would leave AF after this release to form Epica.


De-Energized (Beauty & Beast, Symphonic Progressive, 2008)
Now to kick things into high gear. This song is from their final-Self Titled release and its hard to imagine any band would consider to stop writing together when they have the ability to write this - and perform it at such a mind melting ability. But as history goes, it is what it is - which is a standout moment in time, for us to enjoy forever. This song is a downright aura assault - in a good way- where all that production (not over production), arrangement, and imagination all come together and obviously inspired performance. It is simply an awesome moment that rivets me today, still makes me head-bang and revel in all that ecstasy of full-on metal as much as it did the first time I heard it.
  Beauty and Beast vocals (a big time strength on this CD), classical breakdowns, insane choirs, a very talented band performing at full throttle. Then there's the middle section - amazing progressive styled breakdown lead-in by a radical jamline on bass. Followed by textural keyboard lines from Joost van den Broek and its all just overload. Eargasm, if you will. The breakdown follows with more frantic operatics before it falls back for the final verse and final verse at which the best part, you can hear Floor actually holding back, taking her time with the words as her vocals fill out to the last second.
  For me its moments like these 3, after each, which I stared amazingly, at my computer screen and just thought to myself, that without the internet, without some of the resources Ive been using, like Amazon, youtube, wiki, last.fm, and eventually Pandora, I wonder if I would have ever heard and experienced these songs like I had. It all added up to, eventually my desire to write this blog. And its 100% certain I would have never fallen in love with the songs I will put into my next update...

Next Update: The Angel Anneke