Sander Gommans

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Sander Gommans
Sander Gommans of After Forever at The Underworld in London, 14th September 2007.jpg
Gommans performing with After Forever in 2007
Background information
Born (1978-08-15) 15 August 1978 (age 45)
Reuver, Netherlands
Genres Symphonic metal, death metal, heavy metal
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1995–present
Labels Nuclear Blast, Seasons of Mist, Frontiers

Sander Gommans (born 15 August 1978 [1] ) is a Dutch musician and songwriter. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and performed the vocal grunting parts in the band. He managed the band and was the main writer of After Forever's music.

Contents

Career

After recording all guitars for the album Rise of the Warrior by Anna Phoebe, he began a project called HDK, which is signed to Season of Mist; HDK's debut album, System Overload , was released on 23 February 2009.

He is also the additional lead guitarist on Kiske/Somerville , an album by the German singer, keyboard player and guitarist Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) and the American singer-songwriter and vocal coach Amanda Somerville. In 2010, he co-wrote the album Scheepers , a solo album of Primal Fear's lead vocalist Ralf Scheepers.

Resulting from his partnership with Amanda Somerville on HDK and Kiske/Somerville, Sander became one of the main members of Amanda's self heavy metal-oriented project called Trillium, which first album Alloy was released in fall 2011 by the record company Frontiers Records. [2]

He released another HDK album, Serenades of the Netherworld , and he owns, together with longtime friend Paul Simons, a music company called "The Rock Station", which consists of a music academy, a music studio, music management and music merchandise.

Between 2015 and 2019, Gommans joined forces with Scott Wenmakers (teacher and illustrator) and Menno Kappe (Graviton Music Services) [3] to work on "Enter the Metal Realm", the first chapter of Magic-O-Metal, a heavy/power metal musical project for children. Through the website, [4] people can (pre-)order various products concerning the project.

On 15 December 2021, Gommans released a song called "Lords of Power Theme". [5]

Personal life

On 19 August 2013, it was revealed that Gommans was engaged to be married to Amanda Somerville, [6] and the pair were married in July 2014. [7] On 8 January 2015, she announced that she and Sander Gommans were expecting their first child. [8] In July 2015, their daughter, Lana Elise Gommans, was born. In 2018, their twin daughters Anya and Juliet were born. [9]

Prior to marrying Somerville, Gommans had been in a relationship with Floor Jansen. [10] [11]

Discography

With After Forever

EPs

Singles

Demos

  • Ephemeral (1999)
  • Wings of Illusion (1999)

Compilations

With HDK

Studio albums

Singles & EP's

With Trillium

With Magic-O-Metal

Studio albums
Singles & EP's

Other credits

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">After Forever</span> Dutch metal band

After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death growls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avantasia</span> German heavy metal supergroup

Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept albums. The name is a blend of the words Avalon and fantasia ('fantasy') and describes "a world beyond human imagination".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floor Jansen</span> Dutch singer

Floor Jansen is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the third and current lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simone Simons</span> Dutch singer (born 1985)

Simone Johanna Maria Simons is a Dutch singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, which she joined at the age of seventeen, releasing eight studio albums and touring the world. In her singing career, she has also collaborated with bands such as Kamelot, Leaves' Eyes, Primal Fear, Ayreon, and Angra. She also has a side pursuit as a lifestyle blogger, via her website SmoonStyle.

<i>Remagine</i> 2005 studio album by After Forever

Remagine is the fourth studio album released by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 8 September 2005 by Transmission Records and followed the 2004 concept album Invisible Circles. It was the band's first album with keyboardist Joost van den Broek, and their last released under Transmission Records.

<i>Invisible Circles</i> 2004 studio album by After Forever

Invisible Circles is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 25 March 2004, by the small Dutch label Transmission Records. It is After Forever's first full-length album since the dismissal of guitarist and composer Mark Jansen, whose musical tastes had strongly influenced the sound of their first work Prison of Desire (2000) and their successful second offering Decipher (2001). In this work After Forever choose a new musical direction, mostly revolving around elements of progressive metal instead of the gothic and symphonic metal of previous albums. The creative process for Invisible Circles took more than a year and required the use of three recording studios in the Netherlands and Germany. A long tour to support the album brought the band to some of the most important European rock festivals and to Central and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Jansen</span> Musical artist

Markus H. J. Jansen is a Dutch guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. A prominent figure in the symphonic metal subgenre, he is known for his work with the bands After Forever (1995–2002), Epica (2002–present), and MaYaN (2010–present).

<i>Prison of Desire</i> 2000 studio album by After Forever

Prison of Desire is the debut album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 21 April 2000 by Transmission Records. The album contains the first four installments of The Embrace That Smothers, a collection of songs by Mark Jansen which deals with the influence and distortion of religion in human society. This theme was carried over to the Epica albums The Phantom Agony and The Divine Conspiracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Somerville</span> American singer-songwriter

Amanda Somerville is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.

<i>After Forever</i> (album) 2007 studio album by After Forever

After Forever is the fifth and final studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released in the United States on 28 September 2007. The album reached No. 6 on the Dutch album charts.

<i>The Divine Conspiracy</i> 2007 studio album by Epica

The Divine Conspiracy is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica as well as their first concept album. It was released through Nuclear Blast in Japan on 22 August 2007, in the US on 28 August, in Europe on 7 September, and in the UK on 10 September. The concept that guides the songs is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome them so as to discover that, in nature and essence, they were all in fact the same one. Aside from the concept of such a conspiracy, The Divine Conspiracy finalizes The Embrace That Smothers, which began in After Forever's Prison of Desire and continued in Epica's The Phantom Agony. In short, The Embrace That Smothers is a collection of 10 songs, which talks about the dangers of organized religion.

<i>System Overload</i> (album) 2009 studio album by HDK

System Overload is the first album released by Dutch After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans's side project HDK. The music of this album is heavier and more extreme than the usual style of After Forever and Gommans created HDK in order to release the album by himself. The album was released on 23 February 2009 on the Label Season of Mist. The many guest musicians involved in the making of this album produced and recorded their parts separately in various recording studios, following basic tracks provided by Gommans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HDK (band)</span>

HDK is a musical project of Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans, best known as member, vocalist and one of the main composers of the now dissolved symphonic metal band After Forever.

<i>Kiske/Somerville</i> (album) 2010 studio album by Kiske/Somerville

Kiske/Somerville is the debut album of the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration of vocalist Michael Kiske with American singer Amanda Somerville. The album was released on 24 September 2010 with cover art credited to Stanis W. Decker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiske/Somerville</span> Heavy metal music project

Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features German singer Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.

<i>Alloy</i> (Trillium album) 2011 studio album by Trillium

Alloy is the debut album by heavy metal act Trillium. It was released in 2011 by the Italian record label Frontiers Records in Europe.

<i>Serenades of the Netherworld</i> 2014 studio album by HDK

Serenades of the Netherworld is the second album released by Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans's project HDK. "Revelation" and "Return from Tomorrow" were released as single tracks, while the entire album itself entered stores on 1 September 2014.

<i>City of Heroes</i> (album) 2015 studio album by Kiske/Somerville

City of Heroes is the second studio album by the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville. It was released on 17 April 2015 in Europe and on 21 April 2015 in North America.

<i>Chapter One</i> (Level 10 album) 2015 studio album by Level 10

Chapter One is the first album by project Level 10 featuring Symphony X and Adrenaline Mob vocalist Russell Allen and bassist/producer Mat Sinner. It was released via Frontiers Records on January 23, 2015 with Cry No More single lyric video and it was anticipated by single Blasphemy on December 15, 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "Sander Gommans - Metal Storm". metalstorm.net. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  2. ↑ Bravewords (July 1, 2011). "Frontiers Records To Release Debut Album From Vocalist AMANDA SOMERVILLE's New Metal Project TRILLIUM In Fall 2011". Bravewords website.
  3. ↑ "Graviton Music Services". Facebook. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  4. ↑ "Welkom in de wereld van Magic O Metal". magicometal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  5. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/4oaJR5QD7FWmOKGpvMInPo?si=n7ylkSIGTxSjdZ4WSa2Ixg
  6. ↑ "Freak Show :: AMANDA SOMERVILLE - To Marry Sander Gommans Next Summer". www.freakshowlb.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09.
  7. ↑ "Amanda Somerville 28 July 2014". facebook.com. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  8. ↑ "Amanda Somerville 8 January 2015". facebook.com. 2015-01-08.
  9. ↑ "Sander Gommans 14 March 2018". facebook.com. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  10. ↑ Begai, Carl. "EPICA - THE ECSTASY OF AGONY". Bravewords. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Epica interview - Mark Jansen (part 1)". YouTube. FaceCulture. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Magic O Metal (24 April 2021). "ROBOSHREDDER" . Retrieved 24 April 2021– via YouTube.
  13. ↑ Magic O Metal (17 December 2021). "Magic O Metal - Loud and Proud ~ Children of Hope ~" . Retrieved 17 December 2021– via YouTube.
  14. ↑ Magic O Metal (18 September 2022). "Magic O Metal - Imagine" . Retrieved 18 September 2022– via YouTube.
New title Vocalist for After ForeverDisbanded
Vocalist for HDKIncumbent
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