The 5th album of the Dutch metal band After Forever is self-titled, and this is absolutely the right title: this album has everything After Forever stands for. The expectations of this album were quite high, but the result was definitely worth the wait. In 2006 the band broke with their record company Transmission and signed a new deal with Nuclear Blast early 2007. In the transition period the band took their time to write the new material for this album. It seems that After Forever is now ready for their great breakthrough.

The album ‘After Forever’ has become an album that shows all different aspects of the band, from emotional power ballads to agressive songs, and from straight metal to a bombastic epic masterpiece. At the same time the band shows it’s still growing; the album is the most guitar oriented album they have made so far. The most heard minus point of previous albums was the lack of guitar solo’s. At this point they have made a lot of progress. What minus point does the album has, to be in short: none; After Forever is the best After Forever album ever.

Although the album is one huge climax, there are still a few songs of such a outstanding quality that they deserve a separate mention.

‘Empty Memories’ is a beautiful power ballad with great emotional atmosphere and fantastic symphonic influences. ‘Let it flow’ fits in the new heavy metal direction the band took in 2005; it actually sounds like a follow up to ‘Face Your Demons’, and this time the demon has grown up. ‘De Energized’ is an amazing song, comparable to Annihilator, with the weird solos played by Jeff Waters himself. German metal queen Doro is also one of the guest musicians, on ‘Who I Am’ she sings a duet with Floor, and their voices appear to match very well.

Last but not least there is the epic symphonic metal song ’Dream Flight’, which lasts over 11 minutes. In this one song, the band puts the music of the old After Forever period and the new one into one song with an amazing result. This is a song I just can’t describe since it has so many different musical influences; listen and enjoy.

All in one: BUY THIS RECORD! It is a must for all metal collections.