After Forever "Decipher (2007 Reissue, Collector's Edition, Japan, Avalon, MICP-90030)"

Decipher is the second album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever, released on 27 December 2001. In this album, the band make use of live classical instruments and a complete choir to back up the soprano voice of lead singer Floor Jansen. Thrown in the mix are also a duet of soprano and tenor voices in "Imperfect Tenses" and the recording of the late Israeli PM Yizhak Rabin's voice during the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty signing ceremony in "Forlorn Hope". This is the last After Forever album with guitarist and founder Mark Jansen, who left the band soon after its release.

In 2003, the album was reissued in a limited edition of 5,000 copies worldwide. The limited edition in digipack had an extended booklet, a sticker with new artwork and two live bonus tracks. It was again reissued in 2012 by the re-financed Transmission Records, this time as a two-disc set containing previously unreleased studio sessions, single edits and a handful of demo recordings.

Tracklist:

Disc 1 - Decipher

1. Ex Cathedra - Ouverture 02:02   
2. Monolith of Doubt 03:31
3. My Pledge of Allegiance #1 - The Sealed Fate 06:25
4. Emphasis 04:18   
5. Intrinsic 06:43
6. Zenith 04:21   
7. Estranged - A Timeless Spell 06:55
8. Imperfect Tenses 04:08  
9. My Pledge of Allegiance #2 - The Tempted Fate 05:07   
10. The Key 04:47
11. Forlorn Hope 06:21   

Time:   54:38  

Disc 2 - Exordium

1. Line of Thoughts 02:15  
2. Beneath 04:52  
3. My Choice 04:53
4. Glorifying Means 05:00  
5. The Evil That Men Do (Iron Maiden cover) 04:50   
6. One Day I'll Fly Away (Randy Crawford cover) 04:43  

Time:  26:33

Released as part of the DIVA Collector's Edition series.

Recording information:

Additional keyboards and piano recorded at Cees Kieboom's Digital Residence.

Produced, recorded & engineered June - August 2001.

Additional production & mix at Studio RS29, Waalwijk, The Netherlands. August - September 2001.

Mastered at Sound Factory, Soest, The Netherlands.

Stephen van Haestregt – production, engineer

Oscar Holleman – additional production, mixing

Hans van Vuuren – executive producer, coordination and research

Peter van 't Riet – mastering

After Forever "Prison Of Desire (2007 Reissue, Collector's Edition, Japan, Avalon, MICP-10705)"

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.

In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded. Singer Floor Jansen and keyboardist Joost van den Broek both collaborated again in ReVamp and Star One, before Jansen eventually joined Nightwish as lead singer in 2013. Former rhythm guitarist Mark Jansen founded Epica in 2002 after his departure from After Forever and, in 2010, founded MaYaN, which included former After Forever members Sander Gommans and Jack Driessen. Floor Jansen has appeared as a session or live vocalist for both Epica and MaYaN.

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 (three parts and a prologue) 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.

The final track, "Beyond Me", features a guest appearance of Sharon den Adel, lead singer in Within Temptation.

The album was reissued in June 2008 by the re-financed Transmission Records, as a two-disc set containing previously unreleased studio sessions, instrumental/a cappella tracks, and a handful of demo recordings. Guitarist Sander Gommans has urged fans not to buy this re-release through the band's official forum.

In 2021, it was elected by Metal Hammer as the 6th best symphonic metal album of all time.

Track listing

All music is composed by Mark Jansen, Sander Gommans and Floor Jansen, except "Mea Culpa" by M. Jansen. Lyrics as indicated.

1. "Mea Culpa (The Embrace That Smothers - Prologue)" M. Jansen 2:00
2. "Leaden Legacy (The Embrace That Smothers - Part I)" M. Jansen 5:07
3. "Semblance of Confusion" F. Jansen 4:09
4. "Black Tomb" F. Jansen 6:29
5. "Follow in the Cry (The Embrace That Smothers - Part II)" M. Jansen 4:06
6. "Silence from Afar" M. Jansen 5:52
7. "Inimical Chimera" F. Jansen 5:00
8. "Tortuous Threnody" F. Jansen 6:13
9. "Yield to Temptation (The Embrace That Smothers - Part III)" M. Jansen 5:53
10. "Ephemeral" M. Jansen 3:05
11. "Beyond Me"   F. Jansen/M. Jansen   6:11
12. "Wings of Illusion"  07:24
13. "Silence from Afar (Demo)"  05:55   
14. "Wings of Illusion (Demo)" 07:21

Time:   01:14:42

Released as part of the DIVA Collector's Edition series.

Recording information:

Recorded from December 17th, 1999 - January 16th, 2000 at the Excess Studio, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

After Forever Choir recorded & produced on February 26th, 2000 at RS29, Waalwijk, The Netherlands.

Mixed on February 1st, 2nd, 21st until March 5th, 2000 at RS29, Waalwijk, The Netherlands.

Mastered at Sound Factory, Soest, The Netherlands.

Hans Pieters – engineering

Dennis Leidelmeijer – engineering

Oscar Holleman – choir producer, engineering, mixing

Hans van Vuuren – executive producer, coordination and research

Peter van 't Riet – mastering

Aethra "Time And Eternity (Mexico, Gravis Records, none)"

Aethra is a Mexican Symphonic Power Metal band, formed in 1994 in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

Aethra was a mortal woman of Greek mythology who gave birth to Poseidon's son, Theseus.

On hold between 2014 and 2019.

Their first full-length, Time And Eternity was released October 7th, 2011.

Tracklist:

1. Time and Eternity 02:37
2. Angels 07:21
3. Live for Tomorrow 04:15  
4. Never Too Late 05:07
5. Where the Stars Are Born 02:36
6. Heroes We Are 04:25
7. The Magic Book 07:26  
8. All the Way Down 04:28  

Time:  38:15  

Issued in a gate-fold card sleeve.

Recording information:

Mastered at oVU Mastering.

Producer, Mixed By – R.J. Alvarez

Aeon "Aeons Black (USA, Metal Blade Records, 3984-15150-2)"

Aeon is a death metal band that formed in Östersund, Sweden, in 1999. The band comprises vocalist Tommy Dahlström, guitarists Sebastian Nilsson and Daniel Dlimi, bassist Tony Östman and drummer Timo Häkkinen. The band released its debut album, Bleeding the False, in 2005; and the second album Rise to Dominate in 2007, after signing a record deal with Metal Blade Records. The band's third album, Path of Fire, was released in 2010 and Aeons Black in 2012.

According to AllMusic, Aeon plays an "uncommonly intense, technically proficient, high-velocity brand of death metal".

Aeons Black is the fourth studio album by Swedish band Aeon, released on 20 November 2012. It is the only Aeon record featuring bassist Marcus Edvardsson, who left the band in March 2013, and drummer Arttu Malkki, who left the band due to family reasons, as well as the last album to feature rhythm guitarist Daniel Dlimi until his return in 2019.

Commented Aeon founding guitarist Zeb Nilsson: "This is definitely our most varied album to date; it has heavier songs, yet it also has lots of fast blastbeats and double bass drumming. It's groovier this time, which I think we lacked on our last album, 'Path Of Fire', which was fast-paced almost all the way through. That, and the amazing mix by Ronnie Björnström, makes me feel pretty confident that this album will appeal to more people than our previous albums. And no, we have not gone softer in any aspect; it's just easier to catch with all this grooviness. It's metal right up your ass!"

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Tommy Dahlström, except "Sacrificed" and "Maze of the Damned" written by Zeb Nilsson. Music as indicated.

1. "Still They Pray" Nilsson 3:50
2. "The Glowing Hate" Daniel Dlimi 4:12
3. "The Voice of the Accuser" (instrumental) Nilsson 0:51
4. "I Wish You Death" Nilsson 4:54
5. "Garden of Sin" Nilsson 3:49
6. "Neptune, the Mystic" (cover; instrumental) Gustav Holst 1:12
7. "Nothing Left to Destroy" Dlimi 5:24
8. "Passage to Hell" (instrumental) Dlimi 1:05
9. "Aeons Black" Dlimi 3:42
10. "Dead Means Dead" Nilsson 4:03
11. "Sacrificed" Dlimi 3:23
12. "Aftermath" (instrumental) Dlimi 1:20
13. "Blessed by the Priest" Nilsson 3:58
14. "Maze of the Damned" Nilsson 3:38
15. "Die by My Hands" Nilsson 5:22

Total length: 50:43

"Neptune the Mystic" is a death metal interpretation of the orchestral piece of the same name by English composer Gustav Holst, written in 1915 as the last movement of the orchestral suite The Planets.

Recording information:

Recorded at Empire Studio in Östersund, Sweden in June 2012.

Mixed and mastered at Garageland Studios, Umeå, Sweden in June/July 2012.

Aeon − production, arrangement

Ronnie Björnström − production, engineering, mixing, mastering

Daniel Dlimi − engineering

Markus Edvardsson − engineering

Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin − artwork

Fredrik Wallin − photography