Exordium

"Exordium" is the first release by After Forever after the departure of their composer and guitarist Mark Jansen, (who is now in Epica). Obviously, their sound has changed. "Exordium" has a more commercial sound than any other After Forever release (including their later albums). Therefore, it's safe to say that this should be your starting point if you want to get into After Forever's music.

The album starts off with an astounding instrumental piece; "Line of Thoughts". It's very different from "Mea Culpa" or "Ex Cathedra. Instead of an orchestral piece, we have an instrumental with the usual band instruments. It's a very energetic song filled with fast drumming and great violin work. Even though it doesn't contain any vocals, it's still very catchy.

It then blends into "Beneath", which is probably the most commercial track that After Forever has ever released. It deals with a very interesting subject; the truth beneath all the lies in the world. It contains a very flowing beat along with a distant dialogue of news reporters talking about murder rates. This is probably the only track in the album which you will love from the first listen. The rest require a few extra listens.

After that we have the single "My Choice". This is a ballad, but it's still pretty upbeat with some excellent melodies. It contains amazing choirs and a very catchy chorus. If you enjoy Floor's voice, this should be among your favorite tracks till this very day. The video of the song (which I believe is present in every version of the EP) is also very nice.

After "My Choice", we have the best song in the album; "Glorifying Means". It contains harsh vocals (in fact, only this track features Sander) and choirs, along with the amazing voice of Floor Jansen. It's clearly the heaviest track of the EP, making it the closest song to the sound on "Invisible Circles". It's a flawless track and among my favorite After Forever tracks.

The Iron Maiden cover of "The Evil That Men Do" follows. This is the track that made me try Iron Maiden (I know, it's weird that a metal fan never bought a Maiden album). Anyway, Floor is as amazing as Bruce Dickinson. Although it's not very surprising, it's a very well done cover of one of pioneers of the metal genre.

To close the EP, we are presented with another cover; "One Day I'll Fly Away". It's another great cover showing that After Forever can do almost anything (from a Maiden song, to a Moulin Rouge soundtrack). I downloaded the original version of the song, and I must admit that I prefer this.

Overall, this EP is near perfect. I just cannot give it a 100 rating since it contains two unoriginal tracks (the original ones are perfect though). Besides, it’s only and EP. Anyway, "Exordium" should be your starting point if you're new to After Forever (it was my starting point too). It's their most accessible work, not to mention the fact that it contains their coolest album artwork yet. It prophesizes the perfection that's about to come; "Invisible Circles".

Exordium is just a prologue to what's about to come in AF's next album, Invisible Circles, and it shows us a little change from what After Forever was in "Decipher", but smaller than the change between "Prison of Desire" and "Decipher".

It's really hard to review (and judge) an EP coming out after the, IMHO almost perfect, Decipher. It seems that Afer Forever has grown "commercially" in those albuns, but I'm not saying that it's bad, not at all, but I think the melodies are catchier now, and the music is more complex than before.

In Exordium After Forever carries on that journey of evolution, but this time they grew more commercially than in complexity. Exactly as it was with Decipher, Exordium took me two or three listenings to get into the album.

The first track, "Lines of thought", is an instrumental intro, really different from the ones in the other albuns, no choirs this time, but a very good playing.

The second track, "Beneath", is simply marvelous, totally addicting, in the after forever way, heavy and beautiful. The best track of the EP.

"My Choice" is a ballad, very well built with good melodies.

The fourth, "Glorifying means", is the heaviest song in this one, the one that has more grunts in it, and happens to be the song that I like less, but still a very good AF song.

The Iron Maiden cover "The Evil that man do" is not really surprising, but is very good to hear one of my favorite Maiden Songs sang by the incredibly talented Floor Jansen...

The sixth song, "one day I'll fly away", is another cover, from some band I didn't know, but it fits nicely in AF's style, and it's another ballad. This time the song goes on well because of Jansen's voice, but it's not a bad song.


After all, the EP is a very entertaining and good listening, and I can't wait to listen to "Invisible Circles".