February 2009. One of the most iconic scene female fronted metal bands decided to split. Along with Nightwish,Epica and Within Temptation,After Forever was one of the spearheads of this movement, with the distinction of having a singer Floor Jansen, capable of as well as flights of lyricism as having a good heavy and powerful voice. This is also on stage that this group was the best. (The group will unfortunately never release DVD…)

Line-up:

• Floor Jansen - vocals
• Waldemar Sorychta - guitars, bass
• Arno Krabman - additional guitars and bass
• Joost van den Broek - keyboards, synths, grand piano, strings and choir arrangements
• Koen Herfst - drums

Tracklist:

1. Here’s My Hell
2. Head Up High
3. Sweet Curse
4. Million
5. In Sickness ‘Till Death Do Us Part 1 – All Goodbyes Are Said
6. Break
7. In Sickness ‘Till Death Do Us Part 2 – Disdain
8. In Sickness ‘Till Death Do Us Part 3 – Disgraced
9. Kill Me With Silence
10. Fast Forward
11. The Trial Of Monsters
12. Under My Skin
13. I Lost Myself

A void is then left in this niche. Void that was soon to be filled, on paper at least. Indeed, only four months after the band split, Floor Jansen announced the creation of her own group named ReVamp, signed in great fanfare with the ogre Nuclear Blast. If her friend and former colleague Joost Van Den Broek has backed in the composition, it’s a new team with the miss that returns. (For all the details I can only advise you to go for a ride on the official site, very well done and very complete!)

So much for the introduction, like that you will not be dropped off! But the most important thing is the music. I admit I was septic about this new band; the fate of former singers of large groups is not necessarily successful whether with the public or the critics. The cover, quite ugly, didn’t let me consider the best; I’m starting without too much hope on getting the killer of the century.

It is “Here’s My Hell” open the ball. Very good introduction, guitars very present, the chant of Floor always meant to be perfect, from opera to heavy, apparition of George Oosthoek(ex-Orphanage) which come for scream a few seconds, orchestrations of rigor, it’s on the good way! I’m not going to do it title by title, too long and not very interesting for this kind of album, but the rest is just as good. The single “Head Up High”, is actually quite good, notably by its symphonic break of the most beautiful effect which I really enjoy listening. Without the ultimate title (normal for a single), it defends itself rather well.

Among the notable titles there’s “Sweet Curse”. Here I have goose bumps just thinking about it. This title, duet with the giant Russell Allen(Symphony X) is a beauty. Monstrous refrain, melody stakeholder, the duo works perfectly and the timbres of the two voices blend together to make only one entity, a real treat! (This title is somewhat reminiscent of the metal opera Equilibrio I think, surely the theatrical side of the composition)

The group has set the bar to a high level for the orchestrations, which his present on each title, as well as supporting vocals on the excellent “Million” (with Arabists accents from time to time), “Disdain”, “Disgraced” and “The Trial Of Monsters”. Nothing to throw away, everything is, at least, ‘good’ in the worst case and excellent most of the time. If we are on very marked ground, the group knows how to surprise (well, it’s a strong word) with the following “In Sickness’ Till Death Do Us Part”. The first part, “Disdain”, hits hard.Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid(Soilwork) makes a guest appearance, singing in a very violent death style. A good title, very distinctive of death melodic, that Floor sublimates.

ReVamp just hit hard! The album is excellent, very heavy, a flawless technicality without forgetting the melodies and choruses, really great! Floor sings divinely and modulates her voice like no other singer, choirs and orchestrations are many and well integrated, the three guests mentioned above are also very well chosen. Everything is there to make this album a must. But it suffers from a negative point; it has the defect of its qualities, namely a musical approach almost identical to last After Forever (with less guttural vocals anyway) and could well be considered the next opus of the band. See for yourself if it bothers you, personally I took enormous pleasure to listen to this album. Some After Forever’s fans will love it, others will demand greater risk-taking for the next album…

Highlight: Here’s My Hell, Sweet Curse, Break