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 grunts.
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 portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" ("fantasy") and describes "a world beyond human imagination".
Michael Kiske is a German singer best known as the lead vocalist for the German power metal band Helloween. After his departure from the band in 1993, Kiske recorded four solo albums, participated on various metal and rock related projects, such as Avantasia, Place Vendome and Kiske/Somerville, while he also performed with numerous bands as a guest vocalist. In late 2009, he formed the hard rock / heavy metal band Unisonic and began touring again after 17 years of absence. In October 2016, Kiske joined Helloween and Kai Hansen for the Pumpkins United World Tour that continued through 2017 and 2018. A live recording of the Helloween tour entitled United Alive and United Alive in Madrid was released in 2019 and a new Helloween album with Kiske and Hansen is planned for 2020.
Remagine is the fourth studio album released by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on September 8, 2005 by Transmission Records and followed the 2004 concept album Invisible Circles. This album is available in two versions, an SACD with three bonus songs and as a ‘Special Edition’ with a DVD. The DVD contains a photo gallery and a 'making of' documentary.
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.
Sander Gommans is a Dutch musician. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and did the grunting parts in the band. He managed the band and was the main writer of After Forever's music.
Prison of Desire is the debut album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released in 2000 in Europe. The album contains the first three installments of "The Embrace That Smothers" collection of songs by Mark Jansen. This collection of songs deals with the influence and distortion of religion in human society, a theme which continues in the Epica albums The Phantom Agony and The Divine Conspiracy.
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.
After Forever is the eponymous fifth and final studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released in the United States on September 28, 2007. The bonus track "Lonely" appears on the digipack edition. The album reached No. 6 on the Dutch album charts.
The Divine Conspiracy is the third full-length 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.
The Scarecrow is the third full-length album by Tobias Sammet's rock opera project Avantasia, released on January 25, 2008, through Nuclear Blast Records. It is the first part of "The Wicked Trilogy" and it is followed by The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. Sammet explained in a 2016 interview that he managed to have Alice Cooper after drummer Eric Singer asked him. Cooper requested to have a listen to the song first and then accepted to be part of it.
Energize Me is a 2007 single by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It is taken from their self-titled album After Forever, their first release through Nuclear Blast.
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.
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.
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.
Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features vocalist Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.
Alloy is the debut album by heavy metal act Trillium. It was released in 2011 by the Italian record label Frontiers Records in Europe.
Antagonise is the second album by Dutch metal supergroup MaYaN. It was released on January 31, 2014. The 11-song CD, recorded at the Sandlane studio with producer Joost van den Broek, features guest appearances by Floor Jansen, and future band member Marcela Bovio.
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.
Life on Death Road is the ninth studio album by Jørn Lande's solo project Jorn.
