After Forever
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As its guilt-ridden title would suggest, 2006's Mea Culpa stands charged with imperfection immediately upon arrival -- primarily because it proposes to be an After Forever collection, yet falls short of earning the "career-spanning" certification by just one album: the Dutch group's fifth and final, self-titled LP of 2007. Yet this oversight stems not from the band's surprise breakup after said record, mind you, but the fact that this was released through a new label, Nuclear Blast, while their remaining catalog between 2000 and 2005 had been issued through former label, Transmission Records. And, to be fair, Mea Culpa didn't really play it "straight," as greatest-hits collections go anyway, but rather mixes only a handful of original album highlights with generous quantities of single edits, alternate versions, and a few rarities over its two discs and 32 tracks, for a half-and-half, best-of/odds & sods combo. To the music, then: disc one covers the band's first two albums (2000s Prison of Desire and 2001's Decipher), under the leadership of original guitarist and chief composer Mark Jansen, and amid the key album tracks one might expect ("Follow the Cry," "Intrinsic," etc.) were added several compelling outtakes ("Wings of Illusion," "For the Time Being," a cover of Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever"), the single edit of career watershed "Monolith of Doubt," and a death-grunt-free mix of the song "Beyond Me," featuring Within Temptation siren Sharon den Adel in place of AF singer Floor Jansen. Disc two follows on after Jansen's departure (covering a couple of EPs, 2004's Invisible Circles, and 2005's Remagine albums), but virtually every selection is a single edit (including "Face Your Demons" featuring Nightwish's "Marco Hietala"), with another handful of alternates tossed in (an acoustic version of "My Choice," and orchestral version of "Eccentric," an industrial remix of "Attendance," etc.), and a final outtake named "Live and Learn" that could have easily made one of the band's albums. Throughout the course of all these tracks, perhaps the clearest realization is that, in spite of the two distinct eras represented and their evident openness to experimenting, After Forever remained remarkably loyal to their original, gothic-symphonic-prog-metal vision as the years and albums went on -- all the while continually improving and refining the complex arrangements required of their songwriting. As a result, Mea Culpa makes for a great encapsulation of After Forever's legacy -- at least until a slimmer, single-disc, career- and label-spanning collection is assembled. Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide Releases:
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After Forever|
Group Members: Floor Jansen Lando van Gils Luuk van Gerven Sander Gommans Andre Borgman More >> Similar Artists: Within Temptation Moonspell Dimmu Borgir Opeth Therion More >> | Followers: Aerium More >> |
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