After Forever

小簡介
年輕人總是能創(chuàng)造許多的驚喜！如德國的 Edguy、義大利的Empty Tremor，都是以約莫20歲的平均年齡，就在金屬樂界綻放光芒的年輕新星。而來自荷蘭的After Forever，又是一支以20歲年齡揚(yáng)名于金屬界的「20歲俱樂部」會(huì)員，但更難能可貴的是，他們已接連發(fā)表了兩張極具藝術(shù)水準(zhǔn)的優(yōu)質(zhì)作品！組成于 1995年的After Forever，在聲樂女高音主唱Floor Jansen于97年加入樂團(tuán)之后，正式邁向創(chuàng)作之路。這支年輕樂團(tuán)于99年以平均年齡僅19歲之姿，便以一張demo獲到Transmission Records的賞識(shí)而得到一紙唱片合約，After Forever也不負(fù)眾望地于2000年發(fā)表了叫好又叫座的首張專輯，專輯的廣受好評(píng)，讓樂團(tuán)的名氣快速打開。然而企圖心旺盛的After Forever并沒有停下前進(jìn)的腳步，在唱片公司的全力支援下，得到許多金屬樂團(tuán)夢(mèng)昧以求與交響樂團(tuán)及唱詩班合作演出的機(jī)會(huì)，并于2001年末發(fā)表了更加令人震憾的第二張專輯！由于它的開創(chuàng)性和令人深深著迷的編曲，也打敗眾多優(yōu)質(zhì)的金屬作品，而成為筆者心目中2001年度最佳金屬專輯的首選。我之所以會(huì)如此欣賞After Forever的原因，就在于其動(dòng)人的創(chuàng)作力！由于團(tuán)員們對(duì)于各類型金屬音樂以及古典樂的廣泛吸收，使其音樂風(fēng)格呈現(xiàn)出了廣闊的包容性，在gothic death metal的基調(diào)上，注入了多樣音樂派別的精華，如doom metal、black metal、progressive metal、古典樂、聲樂.. .等等，將前衛(wèi)金屬的概念式與豐富多變的編曲思維，發(fā)揮于歌德金屬當(dāng)中，加上濃郁的交響味，和女主唱?jiǎng)尤说难莩憩F(xiàn)，構(gòu)筑出高質(zhì)感的歌德金屬樂。在 After Forever的作品中，讓人看到了寬闊的視野和豐沛的創(chuàng)造力，也看到了歌德金屬發(fā)展的彈性與多元性，事實(shí)上個(gè)人認(rèn)為在各式金屬派別當(dāng)中，歌德金屬的發(fā)展可能性可說是非常之高的，面對(duì)前衛(wèi)金屬始終難以跳脫既有框架的景象，相反地，After Forever展現(xiàn)出的豐富音樂性，反倒更能讓人感受到「創(chuàng)新」的活力！除了音樂之外，女主唱Floor的演唱亦是一大重點(diǎn)，F(xiàn)loor的音色與唱腔可說綜合了同鄉(xiāng)樂團(tuán)The Gathering主唱Anneke van Giersbergen和Within Temptation主唱Sharon den Adel的飄渺美聲，以及Nightwish主唱Tarja的聲樂腔，其在演唱表現(xiàn)上能配合著曲式流暢地游走于一般腔與聲樂腔之間。
Originating in Holland, After Forever represent a distinctly new-millennium breed of heavy metal band -- one rooted in familiar styles such as doom, Gothic and power metal, but utilizing the seemingly contradictory element of a sweet, female voice to offset the music's reigning aggression. In their case, this vocalist is operatically trained soprano Floor Jansen, whose contributions bring bands like the Gathering, Tristania, and Nightwish to mind. Alongside guitarists Sander Gommans and Mark Jansen, bassist Luuk van Gerven, keyboardist Jack Driessen, and drummer Joep Beckers, she helped transform mid-'90s metal band Apocalyps into After Forever while most members were still in their teens. Signing with Transmission Records, the band issued their debut album, Prison of Desire to great acclaim in the year 2000, then quickly followed it with 2001's more refined Decipher (featuring new keyboard player Lando van Gils, and drummer Andre Borgman). With their profile now rising fast (at least domestically), two singles, "Emphasis" and "Monolith of Doubt," were extracted from the latter album to title E.P. releases, and Floor also found time to lend her talents to space-metal composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen's vaunted Star One project. 2003 saw the release of an EP/DVD named Exordium & Insights, and after replacing original guitarist Mark Jansen with Bas Maas, After Forever released their third full-length album in 2004's Invisible Circles.