After Forever is a Dutch symphonic metal band. He was formed in 1995 and dissolved on February 5, 2009. He is one of the major bands of the genre alongside Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica and others. Their musical style also includes progressive metal elements.
The band was originally formed in 1995, in the Netherlands, under the name Apocalypse, by two guitarists / metal singers: Mark Jansen and Sander Gommans. This project, which will later be called After Forever, really only materializes in 1997 with the recruitment of a classic singer by the name of Floor Jansen. At the time, the team is not yet called After Forever. They released a first studio album, Prison of Desire in 2000, after two demos recorded in 1999. The album is well received by the specialized press >>>.
This album is a hit in the Netherlands, a country that saw the birth of many bands of "metal with female voices" (The Gathering, Within Temptation, Epica), but also in the rest of Europe>. With this success, After Forever recorded a second album called Decipher in 2001, considered by many fans as the best of the group. Then follows a period of tension between musicians who have different visions of the future. In 2002, co-founder Mark Jansen leaves After Forever and creates Epica with singer Simone Simons>. The group then evolves its style and produced in 2003 an EP entitled Exordium, followed in 2004 by the concept album Invisible Circles, which is a huge success worldwide (24> Dutch rankings>).
In 2005, After Forever signed a new album: Remagine which, according to the members of the band, "pushes their musical limits even further". With this album, the Dutch want to move away from the current Gothic scene and conquer a new audience by launching their own style >>>. On March 3, 2006, the group announces that it leaves the Transmission Records label because of serious deficiencies in their promotion, in particular the fact that the label refuses them a DVD waited impatiently by many fans. The band, after joining Nuclear Blast, released in 2007 a new album named After Forever in a more traditional heavy metal style (started with Remagine).
