After Forever– the band where Mark Jansen (now known from Epica) began his musical journey – is returning to the stage for a unique live experience. For their 25th anniversary, they will perform together on October 4 and 5, 2025, at the iconic 013 Poppodium in Tilburg, Netherlands. Jansen announced this exciting news earlier this week on social media:
“Dear AFTER FOREVER fans, 2025 marks a monumental milestone.25 years have passed since AFTER FOREVER left a timeless footprint in the world of symphonic metal with their debut album ‘Prison Of Desire’.The follow-up ‘Decipher’ pushed their music even further, combining progressive elements with a heavier sound that helped shape the symphonic metal of today (…).After five successful albums, the sextet’s journey ended in 2009, but the music lived on and continued to inspire the next generations of musicians and fans.With a loyal following that is still passionate about the band’s musical legacy, the time has come to bring the music of those two albums that started it all back to life and back on stage.”
The Line-Up For the After Forever Anniversary Concert
Since the original singer, Floor Jansen, considers the After Forever chapter closed, she will not be joining the performance. Instead, founding members Mark Jansen, Sander Gommans, Luuk van Gerven, and André Borgman will perform with singer Angel Wolf-Black (SheWolf), guitarist Bas Maas (After Forever/Doro), and keyboardist Jeffrey Revet (Stream of Passion) to honor the music and influence of After Forever in an unforgettable live experience.
Tickets and Pre-Sale
Tickets for October 4, 2025, are unfortunately already sold out, but tickets for October 5 are still available through Ticketmaster.
Symphonic metal masters AFTER FOREVER are soon approaching the 15th anniversary of their self-titled swansong album “After Forever” (2007) and to celebrate this anniversary, the band are releasing a special re-issue of the album today – completely re-mastered by Darius van Helfteren and featuring two rare Japanese bonus tracks. The first is the recently released ‘Sweet Enclosure’, while the second song, the beautiful piano ballad ‘Lonely’ has been released today.
The 15th anniversary re-issue of “After Forever” is now available digitally, on CD and Vinyl. Get it HERE
Joost van den Broek comments: “I’m very happy and proud that now this album will be re-released and hopefully gains new attention, which in my opinion it fully deserves. I feel this album indeed has become a summum of what we were as a band; the amazing and intense vocals of Floor, the punchy tight drums of Andre, the great and characteristic riffs and solos of Sander, the rock ’n roll and attitude of Bas, the signature sound of Luuk, all wrapped in an epic symphonic blanket.
My thankfulness goes to all the fans that still today carry the flag of AFTER FOREVER high, every one in our business team for making this possible, Gordon our producer, the Rooftop studios, the guest musicians on the album, our families for eternal support, but most of all to my former bandmates for giving me the time of my life!”
The iconic metal band from The Netherlands was formed in the mid nineties by the later EPICA founder Mark Jansen and guitarist Sander Gommans. The band split up shortly after their eponymous self-titled album “After Forever” in 2008. Keyboard player Joost Van Den Broek became a famous producer for EPICA, BLIND GUARDIAN and many more, while singer Floor Jansen joined NIGHTWISH and recently also the German TV show Sing Meinen Song (=Sing My Song); where the symphonic metal icon will join other artists in paraphrasing and interpreting each other’s songs. Fans never forgot AFTER FOREVER and even though their last album was released at a time before streaming was a thing, it has still gained over 15 million streams.
“After Forever” Tracklist: 1. Discord 2. Evoke 3. Transitory 4. Energize Me 5. Equally Destructive 6. Withering Time 7. De-Energized 8. Cry With A Smile 9. Envision 10. Who I Am 11. Dreamflight 12. Empty Memories 13. Lonely 14. Sweet Enclosure
AFTER FOREVER are: Floor Jansen – Vocals Sander Gommans – Guitar, Grunts Bas Maas – Guitar, Vocals Luuk van Gerven – Bass André Borgman – Drums Joost van den Broek – Keyboard
Symphonic metal masters AFTER FOREVER are soon approaching the 15th anniversary of their self-titled swansong album “After Forever” (2007) and to celebrate this anniversary, the band will release a special re-issue of the album – completely re-mastered by Darius van Helfteren and featuring two rare Japanese bonus tracks. The first is the beautiful piano ballad ‘Lonely’ and the other a catchy progressive symphonic metal anthem named ‘Sweet Enclosure’, which has been released today.
The album will be released digitally, on CD and Vinyl. Get “After Forever” here in the format of your choice: https://bfan.link/AfterForever15a
Singer Floor Jansen comments: “I am very glad to see this album revamped and presented once again. I am still so proud of it and consider it our best work! It brings back happy memories to rehearsal sessions in extreme temperatures with good laughs and wonderful recording sessions in the middle of the Dutch countryside. Singing these songs live is something I will miss forever and rocking with our loyal fans too. Thank you for all the magnificent years and I hope you can enjoy this album, maybe for the first time, maybe once again!”
The iconic metal band from The Netherlands was formed in the mid nineties by the later EPICA founder Mark Jansen and guitarist Sander Gommans. The band split up shortly after their eponymous self-titled album “After Forever” in 2008. Keyboard player Joost Van Den Broek became a famous producer for EPICA, BLIND GUARDIAN and many more, while singer Floor Jansen joined NIGHWISH and recently also the German TV show Sing Meinen Song (=Sing My Song); where the symphonic metal icon will join other artists in paraphrasing and interpreting each other’s songs.
Fans never forgot AFTER FOREVER and even though their last album was released at a time before streaming was a thing, it has still gained over 15 million streams.
Dutch rockers HANGOVER HERO – featuring Ronald Landa (ex-DELAIN), Ad Sluijter (ex-EPICA), Andre Borgman (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Mats van der Valk (AUTUMN) – released their debut album on November 11th. Check out the teaser trailer below:
Following is the band’s official bio:
Pure. Honest. Accessible. Uncomplicated. Feelgood. ROCK! In capitals! Plug, play, rock the place. That is Hangover Hero, the new Dutch sensation that has its roots in the metal scene, but opted to trade the doom and gloom for a good ol’ American rock sound.
The driving force behind Hangover Hero is guitar player and front man Ronald Landa, formerly of Delain. His band mates all come from similar female fronted rock bands. Former Epica axeman Ad Sluijter joined Landa quickly, along with former After Forever drummer Andre Borgman. Mats van der Valk (Autumn) completed the foursome and handles bass duties.
“We all just love honest, riff heavy, guitar driven rock music and we had discussed forming a band earlier, when our respective bands played together on festivals and such. It’s a small world, you continually bump into each other in backstage area’s around the world. But it was all of our other bands that actually kept us from doing something else”, says Landa. Back in 2009 he quit Delain, to pursue his other musical ambitions. By that time Sluijter also had become available and things moved quickly.
Armed with a batch of songs the then still nameless foursome headed to Germany, to record a demo with producer and longtime friend Sascha Paeth at the infamous Gate Studio. Paeth is known for his work in the metal world and originally the idea was to have him function as an objective bystander to bounce ideas off. In the end he became so involved in the project, he is now the unofficial fifth member of the band. In fact, he’s the one that gave Hangover Hero its name. “Before entering the studio, we kinda had a rough night at the hotel bar”, laughs Landa. “The next morning we all were all extremely hung over, yet we worked our asses off as we were dedicated to record the best versions possible of our songs. Sascha kept making fun of us and did not stop calling us his ‘Hangover Heroes’. At that point, we did not think much of it, but on the ay home it seemed to stick. Especially the contradiction between the hangover and the heroes was something we liked. In the end we felt a singular term would be even more powerful, so we settled for Hangover Hero.”
The steady rocking debut album will see the light of day in the fall of 2011. Musically the album will land right in between the two demo songs that hit the internet; Play In A Band and Mr. Perfect. “Those two tracks are the extremes in our catalog thus far”, states Landa. “Play In A Band is by far our most poppy song, whereas we don’t get any darker than on Mr. Perfect. The rest of our repertoire is characterized by a tough, optimistic, feel-good rock sound. Not the kind of music one would expect from a Dutch band, but it is music we love and are passionate about. There are way too few rock songs that cheer you up when you’re feeling down, that are optimistic and energizing. Our album will be a soundtrack to many a road trip. One hand on the wheel, one foot on the gas and the other hand turns up the volume to eleven. You’ll be there before you know it.”
Hangover Hero will showcase the new material during a one-off gig in Utrecht, The Netherlands in May. Directly after the gig, the band will head back to the Gate Studio to finish the recording of their yet untitled debut, which fill be finished over the summer. Around that time the band plans on hitting the road. “We all have seen the biggest stages and the largest crowds around the globe. Yet nothing beats the feeling of being in a tiny, sweaty club, playing to win over new fans. So we are definitely looking forward to ‘starting over’ in a way and win over the crowds with an exciting evening of rousing ROCK!”
Go to the official Hangover Hero website here and check them out on Facebook
Source: Bravewords
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