After hearing the dark vocals first it was a big difference to hear the other guy sing. Usually I like it when there’s a difference between vocals, but for my taste the difference was too big with Whispering Gallery. The slower and dark songs didn’t do much for me, but that’s because it isn’t my genre. The faster songs were much more enjoyable.

AFTER FOREVER
Dutch gothic band After Forever released their debut album ‘Prison of Desire’ in 2000. This one turned out to be quite a success. The follow up of that one became the excellent ‘Decipher’ and that was released not long ago. Time for me to see if this young band can perform these albums live.

Before the concert started there was a meet and greet with After Forever at metal store ‘State of Art’. The couple of dozens people who attended that saw a symphatic band that seem to be able to make it in the musicbusiness.

On to the show now… This was the first time for me to see them live and I have to admit that I was afraid that they weren’t going to be as good live as they are on the albums. The reason I felt this way is due to the female singer Floor Jansen. Her opera-like voice (soprano) sounds so strong on the albums that I doubted she could do the same thing on stage, show after show. And to my amazement, she was able to do that… and more. If possible, she sounded even better live than on the albums. I couldn’t detect a false note during the entire set.

The set had a good mix of both the albums, with the new album represented a bit more of course. Songs from the debut album included ‘Semblance of Confusion’, ‘Leaden Legacy’, ‘Beyond Me’, ‘Silence From Afar’ and ‘Yield To Temptation’. The new album was represented by ‘Monolith of Doubt’, the two-parter ‘My Pledge of Allegiance’ (played seperately), ‘Emphasis’, ‘Intrinsic’, the fast paced ‘Estranged’, ‘The Key’ and my personal favorite ‘Forlorn Hope’.

Even though Floor stole the show, After Forever doesn’t depend on her. The guitars/screams of Mark Jansen and the guitars/grunts of Sander Gommans make sure that the music doesn’t sound the same all the time. They also add to the power of After Forever, for example during the heavy ‘Estranged’.

It was the first time for After Forever to play at Doornroosje and judging from the warm response of both the band and the audience, I’m positive it won’t be the last time…

(Review: Frank Alders
Pics: Dennis S )