Invisible Circles [Import]

Invisible Circles [Import]

Track Listings

1. Children In Minor

2. Beautiful Emptiness

3. Between Love & Fire

4. Sins Of Idealism

5. Eccentric

6. Digital Deceit

7. Through Square Eyes

8. Blind Pain

9. Two Sides

10. Victim Of Choices

11. Reflections

12. Life's Vortex

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Limited deluxe eco-book edition of the Dutch gothic-metal act's 2004 album includes a 40-page booklet with full color photo's, lyrics, & diary quotes. 12 tracks. Transmission.

Tracks:

Childhood In Minor
Beautiful Emptiness
Between Love And Fire
Sins Of Idealism
Eccentric
Digital Deceit
Through Square Eyes
Blind Pain
Two Sides
Victim Of Choices
Reflections
Life's Vortex

Customer Reviews:

Horrible........2007-03-04

This album is really disappointing.

First of all, the album concept is completely cliche. It's almost as if the band members couldnt think of anything better so all decided to pick a stupid album concept out of a hat. It definitely is off-setting.

Second of all, Floor's vocals couldn't be more ridiculous. She sings almost the exact same note throughout the whole damn CD. It's like shes trying to make us aware that she's a "wonderful" soprano and that she's extremely gifted to be able to do the note(s) she does. Theres no strength or beauty in her voice, just ego. The listener is unable to find any emotionally connection with in voice.

Third of all, the CD pictures are laughable. It's pretty hard to take the concept of a broken home story seriously when all the band members are dressed in black and turquoise leotards and posing in the most humurous positions possible in every other page of the CD booklet. I swear they just dont want to be taken seriously on this one.

Overall, the whole thing was just ridiculous. The songs weren't good by any means, Floor fell short, the concept was horrible, and the artworks were worth a few laughs.

Don't get this album. You'll regret it.

I think this is their best album.......2007-02-23

I've listened to all their past albums and the one after Invisible Circles and I must say Invisible Circles is my favorite After Forever album.

I've read a few reviews and they're a bit harsh. I'm a huge fan of concept albums, Queensryche, Ayreon etc... and this one is just as good.

What the soap opera...!?.......2006-12-21

Sometimes, I find myself wondering why ex-guitarist and primary composer Mark Jansen departed After Forever to form Epica... and then I listen to Invisible Circles. In the three years since AF's ear-opening album, Decipher, the band has seemingly decided that their flawless approach was in need of some renovation.

The music on Invisible Circles has, at the same time, the most aggressive songcraft ("Blind Pain") and the most watered down balladry ("Eccentric") seen on an After Forever album to date. The full, lush orchestral arrangements have been replaced by proggy keyboard leads and symphonic enhancements that no longer sound so much symphonic as they do synthetic. The guitars have developed a definite sense of crunch and an attitude of progressiveness that sees them exploring some rather elaborate arrangements and halfway interesting riffing patterns, acoustic segments, and leads... halfway interesting because a lot of it sounds forced, like they tried too hard and only half-way succeeded. Andre Borgman's drumming has moved in a similar direction, once again acting as a breath of fresh air in a genre saturated with predictable and trite percussion. Floor is... Floor. However, there's something about Floor on this album that doesn't really sit right with me. I have immense trouble saying or writing anything negative about her talents, but throughout this album her voice sounds sort of strained. Maybe it has something to do with her delivery - much more immediacy, drive, and power that seems almost forced; not quite as pure and angelic. Perhaps I'm just being nitpicky... she still blows her peers out of the water with extreme prejudice. With the departure of Mark Jansen, growling and snarling duties have been taken over by guitarist Sander Grommans, and while the vocals themselves aren't bad, they seem dreadfully out of place at times... not really complementing Floor so much as just taking up valuable space.

The album starts off promisingly with "Childhood in Minor", which evokes images of children playing in a carousel. Not just any carousel though, but a carousel that's under the watchful eye of some sinister, invisible entity. This subtly menacing mood rolls over into "Beautiful Emptiness", which sees Floor reaching for the heavens (hah, no pun intended) straight off the bat, but quickly abandons that and meanders through driving metal, piano-led serenity, and one or two instrumental evolutions before reaching "Between Love and Fire"...

...and here, my friends, is where the true horror of Invisible Circles is revealed to the audience.

Around three minutes into the song, the band drops out and spoken dialogue ensues between two individuals - a male and a female arguing and yelling about various broken-home related things. It becomes apparent that this is a concept album. A concept album about a girl growing up in a home full of discontent. A girl unloved and unwanted by her father. A girl growing up in confusion as she's trying to figure out how everything went so horribly wrong. In other words, an extremely cliché concept. The male and female mentioned above are the father and the mother in this melodramatic soap opera. Now, the concept itself isn't really the problem - the problem is with the actual delivery. This act (and all that follow) is so horrendously pathetic that I would actually feel embarrassed should anybody ever catch me listening to this album in public. Honestly, I'm afraid to recommend this album to anybody I know in real life because of those interludes. They are awful.

Of course, those spoken interludes make up an almost insignificant portion of the album's running time, and are mostly placed at the end of a given song so that they become easy to skip and erase from your mind - permanently.

Ironically, the part of this album that really floors me also makes up an insignificant portion of its running time. The part in question lasts for approximately two seconds and comes in at roughly 1:15 (and again at roughly 1:22, for a total of four seconds of music) into "Two Sides". It is Floor Jansen singing a particular line in harmony with herself, but the way the vocal lines are layered and her absolutely godly delivery is just so completely incredible that it makes me want to lay down and die peacefully... and the effect is multiplied ten-fold through headphones. As silly as it might seem to buy a 59+ minute album just to drool over four seconds of it, I think I can safely say that I would do it with Invisible Circles. Label me daft. I care not!

Another standout moment is in "Sins of Idealism". Floor's vocals throughout the last minute or so of this song are totally reminiscent of past glory.

So... basically, just skip through the inane acting portions. The rest is still good After Forever material.

After Forever Rocks.......2006-06-16

After Forever teased fans with what they were capable of on "Exordium"; now with "Invisible Circles" we get a better idea of the kind of power that this group holds in its hand. The band is labeled as Melodic Dark Metal and this fits especially well based on the lyrical storyline that is the basis of the album. The Soprano that is Floor Jansen blends her amazing voice with the sad topics of loss, hardship and disappointment in one's self. Behind her is a forceful group of talented musicians made up of Ben Maas (guitar, vocals), Sanders Gommans (guitars, grunts), Luuk Van Gerven (bass), Lando Van Gils (synths) and Andre Borgman (drums). The 6 member band has a full and in your face sound based on their musical abilities and the varied style of vocals presented during the songs. Both Sanders and Ben offer Floor accompaniment during the songs to some good result. Lead Singer Floor Jansen is stunning in her looks and a hurricane with her vocal prowess. One thing I felt when I heard her sing was a commanding power that is unlike the group's peers in Nightwish and Epica (also Dutch and led by former After Forever guitarist Mark Jansen). The piece wastes no time in showing you that After Forever means business with the rousing "Beautiful Emptiness" and it begins the tale of a young girl, a child of loveless parents. The enclosed booklet allows you to get the whole story in a lot more detail throughout its 16 pages. The story itself has some interesting moments but the dialogue between the central characters that is blended in some of the songs takes a little bit away from it. The level of some of this seems distant, and my guess was they wanted you to feel this was being overheard from a distance. That kind of perceptions is better left for video or television since an album makes you question your hearing or the recording process. I think that to make this a better concept album, the dialogue should have been less prevalent and perhaps spread out more between the songs.

There are a number of solid tunes on the album. One of my favorites is not heavy at all, but is a slow piano piece by Floor alone, entitled "Eccentric". During this tune, we get to see a softer side of Floor and just how beautiful her voice is when used in this fashion. Some fans might be reminded of when Amy Lee of Evanescence does this type of thing, however I feel that Floor has a better overall presence. Musically interesting at many points, I feel listeners will take to tracks like "Through Square Eyes" and "Blind Pain", mainly for the different changes in time and technical ability displayed. After Forever has a few good points in their favor and they do not sound like a Nightwish clone. This allows you to absorb their music and not feel like you have heard this somewhere before. "Invisible Circles" is the group's third full-length release and I believe this sets them apart from other groups who are fronted by powerful female vocalists. Check them out.

Wow.......2006-03-24

This is the type of album, that when you get into the music, and all that's behind it, you really love it. This is Metal. Some call it Gothic Metal, whatever, Floor's powerful voice, Sander's powerful growlings, the emotional lyrics, the powerful instrumenta, all togheter reached a very high quality.
It is a concept album and it talks about a 14 year old girl that grow up without feeling any love or support from her parents.

My favourite tracks:

Beautiful Emptiness: It starts with a lot of power, with the choirs singing angerly "Your the worst of all, with all your accusations and compunctions, i can't suffer this duress from someone so depraved and selfish" All the anger comes out right in the second track, one of the best of all.

Sins Of idealism: Powerful, great lyric, greath choir, great vocals.

Through Square Eyes: Best track of all album!! Floor and Sander sing together, and the chorus of this song is one of the bests I ever heard. GREAT SONG!!

Life's Vortex: The album finish with this great song. it begins very slowly with Floor's voice but the chorus is powerful and catchy.

There's a piano ballad, Eccentric. Simply beautiful!!

Average customer rating:

The concept album, Invisible Circles.
More Like a Soap Opera
meh...
In love with vocals...
After Forever : "Invisible Circles"

Invisible Circles
After Forever
Manufacturer: Transmission
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Goth | Goth & Industrial | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Prison of Desire
Decipher
After Forever
Century Child
Mother Earth

ASIN: B00015U9W8
Release Date: 2004-04-05

Tracks:

Childhood in Minor [Instrumental]
Beautiful Emptiness
Between Love and Fire
Sins of Idealism
Eccentric
Digital Deceit
Through Square Eyes
Blind Pain
Two Sides
Victim of Choices
Reflections
Life's Vortex

Album Description

Limited deluxe eco-book edition of the Dutch gothic-metal act's 2004 album includes a 40-page booklet with full color photo's, lyrics, & diary quotes. 12 tracks. Transmission.

Album Details

The First Edition Will Be Available as an 'eco-book' Edition with Full Color Photos, Lyrics and Diary Quotes.

Customer Reviews:

The concept album, Invisible Circles........2007-08-01

As a concept album based on a story of an abused girl, this album is to be rated as an album, not a clump of songs randomly put together. Once anyone buys it, he/she can see that in the lyrics booklet, the story is written in diary format under most songs (Childhood in Minor being the exception).

It is hard to live the story if you are not perusing the booklet, and that's what I did. I was amazed at the results. The music's tempo and ferocity reflect the lyrics and the diary entries very well. However, they don't include every word in all the songs, especially the heated talking between the supposed father and mother of the main character in this album.

It becomes extremely hard to pick favorites from this album, but songs that stuck out for me were "Eccentric", "Victim of Choices", and "Between Love and Fire".

More Like a Soap Opera.......2006-01-02

So here we are. After Forever's highly anticipated, long awaited third full length album is finally available. Well I guess it was released almost a year ago and I'm just now getting around to reviewing it.

After Forever is a Symphonic, Gothic Metal, Beauty and Beast band from the Netherlands. They are a sextet but they also use guest musicians and singers to fill out their sound so it resembles a symphonic orchestra for a sound like many other popular European Metal bands like fellow countrymen Within Temptation and Norwegian band Sirenia and not unlike Nightwish and Therion..

Invisible Circles

Invisible Circles is based on a story about a girl, who was born unwanted by her father, growing up in a loveless home. The girl learns at an early age, that she is unloved and throughout the album between the music are little suites of the parents talking and arguing. There are occasional growling vocals, which is supposed to be the girl's inner self talking to her consciousness.

Probably the most notable member of the band is their highly acclaimed singer, Floor Jansen and even she seems to be struggling on this album, as her usually flawless voice seems both stretched and strident. The music is still Symphonic Metal with a backing orchestra and choir as in previous releases. What has changed is the bands approach. Instead of the conventional medieval Beauty and Beast approach of their past the song writers have decided to veer off into a more contemporary, avant garde style. While I applaud their initiative and intent to create an operatic masterpiece, it seems they only succeeded in the creation of a soap opera.

While I'm usually taken with concept albums, Invisible Circles is an exception. In fact, for me, Invisible Circles was one of my larger musical disappointments of 2004. After Forever's previous 2001 full album, Decipher was truly a remarkable recording and I was so looking forward to more of the same but alas, they decided to thread a new path. What path is that? I'm afraid they got lost and found the path of uninteresting music. There are to few hooks, at least nothing that hooks my attention and the melodies are closer to odious than melodious. Even the concept is uninteresting, being about the trials and tribulations of an unwanted little girl growing up in an unhappy family. I can see why Mark Jansen left and formed Epica after listening to this and Exordium, their preceding lackluster EP released in 2003. He obviously was not in agreement with the band's new musical path.

I usually find Floor Jansen's voice to be perfect but for some unknown reason, on this album, I found her voice was grating, almost irritating, like she was too strident or something. Now Floor has one of the purest, most beautiful voices in the world but she seemed to be struggling at times with these songs.

I should point out that this album has received some rave reviews. God knows why but it seems there's always someone somewhere that will like something I dislike and vice versa, however, it's usually the other way around with me. When I and most other people are enthralled with a certain album, somebody will come along and rain on our parade. Well this time it's moi who is precipitating the precipitation. Not that this is a bad album, it's just a dull album, there`s nothing special.. No real highlights or highpoints and while a song may get interesting occasionally they manage to blow it before the song ends. In the past, After Forever has been one of the leading Symphonic Beauty and Beast bands and though they still show some symphonic elements, they're now leaning in a more progressive direction. There is nothing wrong with that but they're half way there and what we have is not the best of either genre and where they retain some of the old sound, they fail to close the deal. Give me back my "Leaden Legacy", "Monolith of Doubt", "Pledge of Allegiance", "The Key", "Follow the Cry" and "Forlorn Hope". Honestly, I can think of very little that appeals to me on this album.

Final Rating, 3.35 stars

meh..........2005-05-07

The first time i heard "after forever" i heard the song "life's vortex" it blew me away.With it's haunting chorus and beautiful guitars it was just an "ahhhhhhhh" factor. HOWEVER-after buying the album i listened to it in one night...well actually no i couldnt stand it-- song after song of the same theme. I have to say there are only 3 "outstanding" songs on this album, other than that i found myself fast-forwarding some songs. The lead vocalist knows how to deliver a good tune, but ah well it gets kind of repetitive and in "digital deciet" it took me 5 times to warm up to the song..well i still found her voice sort of annoying. so all in all if you have listened to every album in the world then give this a go. if not, i recommend borrowing it off your friend first.

In love with vocals..........2005-05-06

I have always been a Nightwish fan since the first song I received from someone over an instant messenger. Now that I've listened to so much of the music, it's hard to remember what I have or don't have. Yes, to be completely truthful, a lot of the gothic metal in Europe is more operetic voices such as Floor, Tarja, Simone, Sharon, but the truth is, that is true style gothic. They all have emotion behind their songs and I find that they all bring a lot more to the surface through the vocals that way. Invisible Circles shows so much emotion through the telling of a diary basically and just how things move on in life. I love the vocals and the things behind the tracks. It's absolutely marvelous. To the great vocalist behind this, Floor, I wish her the best in continued success because she is doing awesome and I love her for creating this music!

After Forever : "Invisible Circles".......2005-03-22

**** - FOUR STARS
==================

You can now add After Forever to the long list of future greats in Metal. "Inivisible Circles" is a masterpiece for the most part, and they contain some very similar elements to Nightwish. They almost sound like a Nightwish clone, but they're impressive enough to stand alone when it comes to musicianship....

The operatic female vocals, along with the crunching riffs and melodic guitars, make this a must for any Metal fan who is interested in expanding their musical tastes. I'm a huge Lacuna Coil fan, and after hearing After Forever, I was glad knowing this wasn't just another Coil clone. Those two bands aren't the same in approach or execution....

My advice, if you like bands like Nightwish / The Gathering / Lacuna Coil / Within Tempation / abd Evanescence, After Forever should highly appeal to your liking.

Very strong effort....HEAVY!!!

Russian Vocal School: Elizaveta Shumskaya

Average customer rating:

Russian Vocal School: Elizaveta Shumskaya

Manufacturer: Russian Compact Disc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000004AQP
Release Date: 1995-12-12

Average customer rating:

More Like a Soap Opera,
After Forever GETTING BETTER!!!!

Invisible Circles
After Forever
Manufacturer: Avalon Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Goth | Goth & Industrial | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Metal | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0001N1N8O
Release Date: 2004-05-03

Tracks:

Childhood in Minor [Instrumental]
Beautiful Emptiness
Between Love and Fire
Sins of Idealism
Eccentric
Digital Deceit
Through Square Eyes
Blind Pain
Two Sides
Victim of Choices
Reflections
Life's Vortex

Customer Reviews:

More Like a Soap Opera,.......2006-01-02

After Forever GETTING BETTER!!!!.......2004-12-07

After Forever Invisible Cirlces its their fourth album and first LP without Mark Jansen ( who is now in EPICA and was one of the main composer and song writers )... Invisble Circles is a CONCEPT album about a young girl... thats all im saying , cuz I dont want to screw up the story behind it... The album its amazing... The singer Floor Jansen its the greatest singers af all time and there are still the grunts by Sander and a new voice on some songs which is by the new guitarist Bas Mas... The album its powerfull, with songs like Between love and fire, sins of idealism and Eccentric just show what a powerfull album this one is... if your an AFTER FOREVER fan , or new to this kind of music and wants a band with the best singers out there now... GET INVISIBLE CIRLCES you wont be disapointed!!!! ( dont forget to get Prison of Desire, Decipher and Exordium as well.)

This is the import version, I think its the same one as the ORIGINAL one....

AFTER FOREVER !