Prison of Desire [Import]

Prison of Desire [Import]

Track Listings

1. Mea Culpa

2. Leaden Legacy

3. Semblance Of Confusion

4. Black Tomb

5. Follow In The City

6. Silence From Afar

7. Inimical Chimera

8. Tortuous Threnody

9. Yield To Temptation

10. Ephemeral

11. Beyond Me

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
2003 reissue of the goth-metal act's 2000 album, packaged in a deluxe digipak limited to 3,000 copies. Transmission.

Tracks:

Mea Culpa (The Embrace That Smothers - Prologue)
Leaden Legacy (The Embrace That Smothers, Pt. 1)
Semblance of Confusion
Black Tomb
Follow in the Cry (The Embrace That Smothers, Pt. 2)
Silence from Afar
Inimical Chimera
Tortuous Threnody
Yield to Temptation (The Embrace That Smothers, Pt. 3)
Ephemeral
Beyond Me

Album Description

2003 reissue of the goth-metal act's 2000 album, packaged in a deluxe digipak limited to 3,000 copies. Transmission.

Customer Reviews:

et in saecula saeculorum.......2007-03-31

The first track, Mea Culpa (through my fault), sounds like a Gregorian chant with minimal instrumentals. It is beautiful music, all in latin, with the vocals alternating between Floor's lovely voice and a male choir. The only problem is that it is way too short, being only two minutes in length.

There are other very interesting songs on the CD, mostly because of Floor Jansen, who I consider the best in her league, and it is a very good first effort for the group. I listen to it often just to experience her voice, but like another reviewer here, I find the extreme vocals a bit much, maybe because they tend more toward screaming than growling and some being a little long. (They got it right in Decipher!)

Back to Mea Culpa, et in saecula saeculorum is part of the lyrics and it translates roughly to "and into all eternity." As in After Forever? (Please see my profile for a brief discussion of my rating philosophy.)

Nice CD until the cookie monster interrupts..........2006-06-13

I just recently started listening to After Forever and I just can't understand this cookie monster crap in the songs! Floor Jansen has a beautiful voice, the music is pretty darn good...then the cookie monster destroys the mood! I know some people like growling; but I think it undermines the music, especially Floor's vocals. The last song on the cd 'Beyond Me' has Sharon den Adel as a guest singer. Both women sing beautifully, the song is wonderful, then HE shows up! You could edit 2 mintues out of the song to get rid of the growling and the song would be almost perfect. I would really like to see the band drop the growling and let Floor's voice soar.

Great album.......2006-05-27

I'm a huge fan of After Forever. They are a very great band. This album is a great album for a debut album of a band! Great. It captivates you from the second you put the cd in your player.

I like the intro and all of the songs. The artwork of the album is also very good.
I love the latin in the album, mixed with gothic/metal sounds, and Floor's amazing and powerful voice, mixed with the grunts!

This is just a masterpiece!!!

The dice are rolling now..........2005-10-17

Here we have the first album of popular Dutch symphonic metal act After Forever. Combining the epic sound of Therion with the dark atmosphere of such bands as Opeth, and adding a little prog to the mix, AF really have left their imprint on the modern metal genre. On Prison of Desire, you'll find 11 songs of pure emotion - be it love, sorrow, animosity or fear - supplemented with blaring guitars, double-bass percussion and some quite beautiful choral and synth arrangements. Lead soprano Floor Jansen is without a doubt one of the best ladies in the music biz, and some of her most difficult vocal lines can be found on such tracks as the driving "Semblance of Confusion", the Sabbath-esque "Black Tomb", and especially the rage-filled "Inimical Chimera", which offers one of AF's strangest yet most unforgettable choruses. On "Leaden Legacy", we are comfortably introduced to this mystical enigma of sound the band crafts - offering a stunning chorus and some very beautiful guitar passages, compiled with the theme of how our human nature is to easily conform and that we should not let our potential be overwhelmed by becoming a sycophant. With the catchy "Follow in the Cry", Mark Jansen directs his anger towards religious fundamentalists who seek nothing but power and fortune. And as a nice bonus, Within Temptation frontwoman Sharon den Adel makes a brief appearance on "Beyond Me", a remarkable ballad dealing with the concept of, if I can interpret it correctly, being in the presence of some sort of phantom.

While this doesn't quite compare to the masterpiece they would later create - 2001's Decipher - the intensity and tight musicianship (and I can't emphasize just how much this band perfects these two factors) really pull together to form one of the best symphonic metal records of the new millennium. I suggest all fans of this style of music buy it - you'd only be mistreating yourselves if you didn't.

Highlights: "Leaden Legacy", "Black Tomb", "Follow in the Cry", "Inimical Chimera", "Beyond Me"

9.8/10

This album is really something special........2005-08-15

This is one of my favorite albums, and not just in this genre. I have the rest of After Forever's albums, Epica's first, The Gathering's Mandylion, Nightwish's Oceanborn, among others but they are not in the same league as this is.

I'm not very good at explaining what I like about a song or an album, so I won't break it down song by song, but I will say that the melodies are so beautifully written that it's hard to imagine that this is the bands first release.

If I had to pick my top 10 favorite albums of all time, this one would be on it. To give you an idea of my tastes, others would include Metallica's 2nd - 4th albums, Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, Dream Theater's Scenes From a Memory, Iced Earth's Burnt Offerings, Death's The Sound of Perserverance, Opeth's Deliverance.

Hell, I've even heard my wife humming melodies to herself from this album and she is not into this kind of music.

This album was the first I ever bought from this genre of music, and it has been a bit of a letdown because nothing else has measured up to it yet.

I know this review is a bit disjointed, but I assume you get the idea that I like this album.

Average customer rating:

After Forever & Prison of Desire (not japanese review)
Opera Metal.
Stunning debut
WORK OF ART!

Prison of Desire
After Forever
Manufacturer: Marq
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Decipher
Mea Culpa
Remagine
Exordium
Mother Earth

ASIN: B00004VUJJ
Release Date: 2000-06-21

Tracks:

Mea Culpa
Leaden Legacy
Semblance Of Confusion
Black Tomb
Follow In The Cry
Silence From Afar
Inimical Chimera
Tortuous Threnody
Yield To Temptation
Ephemeral
Beyond Me
Wings Of Illusion

Album Description

Japanese edition of 2000 release for gothic metal act with one exclusive bonus track, 'Wings Of Illusion'. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track: Wings of Illusion.

Customer Reviews:

After Forever & Prison of Desire (not japanese review).......2005-05-16

11 titles, 11 songs, one feeling: ACE! AWSOME! KWEL! COOL!
This is my opinion of this album, hope it helps you to buy this After Forever album:

1. Mea Culpa (*5*)
Gothic introduction. You can play it as long as you want and you will hear just voices in your head, a dark sound around your mind, and a quiet but softly voice of Floor Jansen.

2. Leaden Legacy (*4*)
Where is the cookie monster? Why's he singing with Floor? Leaden Legacy mixed both voices that confussed you. Some hard moments will take you into an incredible sound of guitar and keyboard. Last minutes are incredibles. It really sounds hard.

3. Semblance of Confusion (*4*)
Guitar with high strings, voices over the normal options, its a Semblance of Confusion. I like this song because you can hear more than 2 bridges to keep you from one sound to another. Well, is not the best of this album, but I really enjoy it.

4. Black Tomb (*5*)
Creeping keyboard. Male voice is freaking me out here. You can compare the guitar as a march to nowhere, maybe to a tomb which is everywhere. Drums are great here. It marks a pause in all the song.

5. Follow in the Cry (*5*)
Egiptian introduction. I don't now why, but this is the song, as the voice of Floor do the same. Double-pedal-drum run at the begining, then it turns gothic. Any influence here? Not really. This is a real original version of After Forever. Hear the last 40 secs of the song. Listen carefuly to Floor voice.

6. Silence from Afar (*3.5*)
Not the best song of this album. Maybe lyric is kewl, but, personally, not the best at all. You can judge me if I am wrong, but I keep 3.5 points here.

7. Inimical Chimera (*5*)
The hard one of this album. Inicimal Chimera is a good song. The begining is really hard. A desperate voice like an insane help in the darknest. Yes, we got a cookie freaky monster voice again. Drums marks all the song here. Guitar song as a bridge in the last minute is amazing.

8. Totuous Threnody (*5*)
Devil and angel. Beauty and the beast. Who knows what can happen with this song after you hear it complete. It keeps me to a real mysterious way. Voices are great here. Slow introduction, but it keeps better as song goes on. Floor has a strong feeling which guides the last minutes. Really, a good one of this album.

9. Yield to Temptation (*4*)
Gothic voices as an introduction. A cookie monster with violins as keyboard plays. Then a guitar which marks the drums sound. Not a good one, except the last minutes because its really hard to play. We tried with my cousin and we couldn't. Try for yourself.

10. Ephemeral (*4*)
A ballad? A soft song? I like this song because is not hard but not soft. You must have to hear the lyric. As part of the first album, it really rocks.

11. Beyond Me (*4*)
Hard one. My friends like this song, but I... not really. I like it because is strong, hard, pure metal, but even don't complete me at all. Voices are good, same as instruments. Is just "in my opinion", do not judge me about it.

Well, I really hope it helps you. After Forever is, like Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil and, NIGHTWISH, one of the metal bands with female voices that really rocks.

Opera Metal........2004-02-11

Apparently, this style of Metal is more common over in Europe. As far as I know, it is exclusively European. I checked out some of the others like Sins of Thy Beloved and Nightwish and they just didn't do it for me. They were too operatic, and not enough aggression. But After Forever is not nearly as overblown as the aforementioned bands, with more of an emphasis on arrangements and songwriting than with hitting as many high notes as possible with a female vocalist then using guttural male vocals as a contrast. These guys do that too, but the vocals are so polished that they never feel theatrical or abrasive. Floor Jansen, the lead soprano, sings as if her heart is bursting with contained emotion. It is emotive without excessively reaching for those higher registers. Of all these "Beauty and the Beast" type bands this one stands higher than most and is worth a listen. The price-tag is a little steep, to be sure, being an import; but I'm glad I got it nonetheless. I'll just have to listen to it more often than my other albums to get the same return value. But that's not an unwelcome prospect.

Stunning debut.......2003-10-06

Having fallen in love with After Forever's second CD ("Decipher"), I went back and listened to this, their debut release. While it may not be quite as good as "Decipher," it's pretty close, and makes for an impressive job, especially on a debut CD. Floor Jansen's vocals are just unbelievable and she continues to be the main reason for the band's success. That's not to say the rest of the band, or the songs, are sub-par. As a whole, this is a very powerful release, with memorable songs and good production values. But again, Floor Jansen just shines, putting this band far out in front of anyone else in the "Goth-Metal" or "Symphonic-Metal" genre.

WORK OF ART!.......2001-02-26

Amazing CD!!! Excelent Gothic-Metal band, powerful female and male vocals, incredibly melodic themes. You want to listen to all the tracks over and over again. If you like Tristania, Theatre of Tragedy, The Sins of Thy Beloved, you'll love this CD. I don't like too much grave male vocals but this CD amazed me with its power, beauty and excelent combination of vocals. Don't miss it, it is really work of art!