"Our music wasn't invented in the mid-90's, but it existed already in the 80's with bands like Warlock."

Sander Gommans - founder, guitarist and backing vocalist of the Dutch melodic metal sextet After Forever - presents the band's new, self-titled full-length studio album, due to be released on April 20 via Nuclear Blast.

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Sander, how are you?

Sander Gommans: I'm doing fine. I'm here in my home studio doing interviews, and so far everybody has been very positive, which brings me in good mood.

V. V.: The first obvious question would be: Where did you take the name of your band from?

S. G.: Oh, that's actually very simple. One of the bands I always used to listen to in the past was Black Sabbath. They have a song called "After Forever", and I thought, well, that fits perfectly the atmosphere of the music we make. It's a good name for a band, and it starts with an "A", so you'll be the first in line when it comes to a sum up of bands.

V. V.: Now you're releasing your fifth album, which bears the same title, as if it's your fist one - "After Forever". Is this meant to mark a new beginning for the band?

S. G.: Not really. I think we completed our search for a musical style at this point. In all our previous albums we had different styles - one was more melodic, the other was more classically orientated, one was more progressive, another was more catchy... We made them, because we wanted to explore our musical discoveries. Now all these directions came into one album, so it turned into some sort of a discovery of what kind of a band we really are and what the past has brought, so it is a new beginning in a way - a new start with a new label - but it certainly is also an acknowledgement that After Forever has found its definite style.

V. V.: There are two special guests taking part in the album - a Canadian guy called Jeff Waters of Annihilator and a German lady called Doro Pesch (ex-Warlock). Did you get them for the same reason or for different purposes?

S. G.: For different reasons. Jeff was a personal favourite to me, because he used to be an inspiration of mine for all these albums. Actually, a lot of the music of After Forever is based on his way of playing in Annihilator, especially the clean parts, so it was kind of a dream come true when Jeff agreed to participate in the album.
Doro was something different. I wanted to explain to the After Forever fans that this kind of music wasn't invented in the mid-90's with The Gathering or that kind of stuff, but that it existed already in the 80's with bands like Warlock. That's the core of the music we play on stage, because we have a show that is much more 80's oriented than gothic oriented. I was juts trying to find a way to give people information about what happened in the past and to get them interested in this kind of music, and Doro was the best example to ask.

V. V.: Ok, let the music speak for itself then. Which track should we play now?

S. G.: Well, I could choose a very convenient one, but I won't, so let's do the song with Jeff Waters in it - "De-Energized".

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock