Chronique de l'album

  Invisible Circles est peut-être l'album le plus ambitieux d'After Forever. Il présente la double difficulté d'être un album concept, ce qui implique de nombreuses contraintes quant à la composition, mais c'est aussi le premier album sans Mark Jansen (si l'on excepte l'EP "Exordium") et le groupe était attendu de pied ferme par des fans soucieux de savoir si l'esprit musical serait dans la continuité des albums précédents.

  L'album est articulé autour de l'histoire d'une enfant délaissée par ses parents et qui se réfugie dans un monde virtuel. Elle confie son histoire à un journal intime dont les pages manuscrites viennent complèter les textes des chansons dans le livret. Le thème musical est assez sombre, parfois inquiétant, à l'image du concept.

  Intéressons nous à présent à la musique.
  Pour apprécier les qualités musicales de cet opus il faut plusieurs écoutes. Comparé à Prison of Desire ou Decipher, les morceaux sont assez difficile d'accès. En particulier, l'album est très agressif, peut-être le plus violent de leur discographie. Le chant de Sander est très présent et brutal. Les guitares sont heavy et énergiques. La voix de Floor est puissante mais sait se faire douce et émouvante aux bons moments. La chanteuse utilise moins sa voix de soprano et nous offre un chant varié. Pour la première fois on entend la voix claire de Bas qui apporte un plus à l'ensemble et complète très bien les timbres de Floor et Sander. Les éléments caractéristiques du groupe sont toujours là avec diverses oppositions : voix claires et gutturales, voix féminine et masculine, musique symphonique, classique et métal. Il y a également les traditionnels chœurs et éléments arabisant.

  Comme sur plusieurs albums concepts, des dialogues parlés sont insérés. Malheureusement, cela casse un peu le rythme des chansons.

  Les morceaux sont moins facile d'accès que sur les albums précédents, ce qui à l'avantage de ne pas lasser, même après plusieurs écoutes. On découvre de nouvelles choses à chaque fois. L'inconvénient est que cet album peut rebuter les auditeurs les moins téméraires qui ne voudrons pas forcément écouter l'album plusieurs fois s'ils n'accrochent pas tout de suite.

  L'ambiance générale d'Invisibles Circles est différente de Prison of desire et Decipher. Cet album va surement rebuter de nombreux fans mais l'évolution était nécessaire. Le groupe ne souhaite pas faire deux fois de suite le même album et nous prouve ici qu'il est capable d'accomplir de grandes choses sans Mark Jansen, en créant un nouveau style.

Aurélie (Arwen)

Childhood in Minor
Music: Sander Gommans

Beautiful Emptyness
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

You're the worst of all with all your accusations and compunction
I can't suffer this duress from someone so
depraved and selfish
You embody all that I've been trough
without you I am sure I will be loved

My existence conforms to your distress
Your ambition,the cause of mine
A disruption,I'm nothing,even less
Misforunes never come singly,and I was there to stay

You don't allow me a single place
nor any love into your lives
An unpercieved,annoying presence you'd rather ignore
But in my life you know you'll leave a
beautiful emptiness

Where you used to be
impotent screams
will turn into the love of silence
my liberation,then silence
will be perfect and pure
It's all in my dreams
I'll remove you
and all our mutual disgust

In my dreams,I solve the problem by removing it
My wish is to see you grovel like you once forced me to!
There's no other way,here's my course of life
a path without the sickening trace of you
I need the beauty of a cleared,pure world
this eternal interruption of your rash life can save me

You don't allow me a single place
nor any love into your lives
an unpercieved,annoying presence you'd rather ignore
But in my life you know you'll leave a beautiful emptiness

It's sad to feel you don't believe in love
it's sad that you're so cold
and I'll be the same if you keep on poisoning my life
Drowning in self-sacrificing visions
when you're gone,than we will all be released

It's sad my life has been like hell so far
it's sad that you're the cause
and I will be cured in this beautiful,empty world
Floating,floating away with your perilous visions and hate
When you're gone,silence will fill up the emptiness
When you're gone,we all will be released

In my dreams I shall rinse my body and soul
My wish, the accomplishment lies here before me in my hands

I will be released from your accusing eyes
and torrents of verbal abuse
You'll know the causes are your own mistakes
while life flows out of you and exempts me forever

Between Love and Fire
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

Here I am,the future is mine
And mine as well,we'll stand at the top of a prosperous society
Our dreams can become reality
I am in charge of life's great circle
I control my path of wealth

Ambitions high,burning
The flames burn deep down in our souls
To be known for efficiency and passion

Separate goals but fire shared
We both need our professions
Do what you want but I'll never give up mine
Oh,I can think
I can work,
I don't need your support
our love is pale,but it's notin my way
to share our lives,our fire
I shall become a man of distinction
We can share our lives,our fire

Ambitions high,burning
The flames burn deep down in our souls
To be known for efficiency and passion

Ambitions,dreams,they're burning(feel it burn,in our soul)
The flames burn deeper towards our goals,our needs

Suddenly,we have become careless
a new life,a new dimension
It disturbs our solid future,it puts out the fire we both need
It's a choice between the passion,or the love that can be saved now
See the child here as a saviour,choose for love and let this life begin

We have been careless but you have provoked it
Your weak searck for more love between us,a blind emotion
should I believe that this new life can save us,
a saviour,a prodigy,so choose for love and let this life begin

See a birth,a saviour,a course
see these lives,they see this as a choice between their life together
between love and fire

With this child we must make choices,it can save us if we want
Oh,I fear it,the path we take
Is this a choice anyway,between love and fire?

Feel it,this life in me,moving
with this child we must make choices,it can save us if we want
Oh,I fear it, the path we take
is this a choice anyway,between love and fire?

Ambitions high,burning
the flames burn deep down in our souls
to be known for efficiency and passion

Ambitions,dreams,they're burning
the flames burn deeper towards our goals,our needs

Sins of Idealism
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

Hello father,hello mother
there is so much i don't get
please don't be mad at me,I will try harder
I'll really do the best I can

That's not enough,suffer the cause of my domestic captivity

And I will close my eyes,and fantasize of a world that's not so cold

That's how it will be,suffer the causes of my personal misery,I've sacrificed
My beauty,my freedom,my dreams,
the independent me

Hello father,hello mother
don't blame me for things I didn't do
Yes,I will go now,and I'll be silent
please stop your screaming,and love me!

That's all you can see,speak of love while you've ruined what's meant to be

And then I'll close my eyes,to fantasize of a world where I can be free
And free to be

Sinner or righteous,the line is so thin
Can you condemn it?
Can you be the one to judge it all,or accuse yourself if the sentence is your life

Hello father,hello mother,forgive me for standing in your way
I just wanted someone who'd hold me and listen
are these illusions,are they

Only fantasies?
Imagine how our lives could've been
I would still have
My beauty,my freedom,my dreams
the independent me

Our course in life is a path we must take alone no one can choose what to do,only
you
so the sins we commit are the struggles within
there's nog judge to decide what is right
what is wrong

Tell me,can you live in freedom,knowing that your choice hurt someone?

Once,we had a life,and now we have you,the saviour of love is a catastrophe
I'll leave you both if I must give up my dreams
My chances aren't here with you
I won't be chained because of this

The sins of all,the sinner in me
I follow my dreams,you call it blasphemy
If my ideals are sins
To me,they are the strength within
Then I shall stay a sinner!

I can be free,and free to be
Sinner or righteous,the line is so thin
Can you condemn it?
can you be the one to judge it all
or accuse yourself,if the sentence is your life

Eccentric
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

What do they see
when they look at me?
Who are they,to judge me,if they never spoke with me,
never looked without laughing,never tried to see,
see me

I can't believe that it's only me,the person to hate,the only left out
I can't believe how they can be so mean
if they could feel the brutal stings of their words
and the bitter cold when they laugh
once more,I'm


Running,running away -I must hide-
Can't take anymore,
A fight,to free me from an endless struggle with life
Running,tell me how far should I go if they're all the same

This fight,I'm fighting my way trough

I don't really want to be like them,
the way they behave,
the way that they live
I don't really need someone,no people like that
But someone in a world with warmth and respect
A world without the feeling I must be

Running,running away -I must hide-
Can't take anymore,
A fight,to free me,from an endless struggle with life
Running,tell me how far should I go,if they're all the same
This fight,I am fighting my way trough

Digital Deceit
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

Come enter, here's my world
closed off from pain and cold
Come enter, come inside
A secret place of light
'Cause in this world I'm rid of you, you can't get trough

So here I am, and I'm beautiful
And all my friends would say the same
So here I am, and you cannot deny
That I am someone you'd embrace
I am the queen, I'm pure and loved, by everyone

Come enter, here's my code
Trough the world wide wire you'll know me
The queen of her own world
My story, meet my life

So now you see, there is another me
Not someone insecure and strange
My father's will in here, it doesn't mean a thing
and I don't fear his violent rage

I am the queen, you know I'm loved by everyone

Come enter, here's my code
Trough the world wide wire you'll know me
The queen of her own world

Stop dreaming, and wake up
Your silly world is not what's real
This world of fake friends and computers-digital deceit

This cyber wall(this cyber wall)
Is built to break out or hold
The choice is yours(the choice is yours)
Will you dream or see what's real

Oh...no, no more
Just let me be alone with myself
These conflicting thoughts increase my doubts

I am the queen, I must be loved
This so-called 'wall' is there to protect
A life controlled by keys, closed off from pain and cold

Through Square Eyes
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

This is the world trough square eyes
I can see fiction like it's real
Window to an unknown paradise, A paradise where no one sees
I wish I saw it all, A paradise where no one knows
all these images for real The reality

It's a seduction, like a dream I can feel pain, I feel the blood
Out of your hands but in your minds The fire of the burning fight
I wish I saw it all, I feel love as a disease,
all these images for real in my fantasy

Good or evil, right or wrong
Find yourself between the dying crowd, the bloodied streets
How can't this affect a mind
How can't this affect a pure, young heart

In my own world it's getting worse
It's never good enough for them
Learn this, do that, do as we say As if results are all there is
It doesn't affect me much, I cannot be more than I am,
the screen shows me enough Face reality

I can play I'm strong and tough
And let them feel who should be blamed
Fighting and killing for new lives A way to learn how to survive
I can play on and on, It ends up just the same again
But my life is not a game Life should be a game

Good or evil, right or wrong
Find yourself between the dying crowd, the bloodied streets
How can't this affect a mind
How can't this affect a pure, young heart

Hope is fragile,
and all there is to make them see I'm not that bad
Hope is the last reason not to flee, not to run away
into the tempting square world of fantasy, free me

Hate is an impulse
Your aversion, my reason

Games, movies, things a child should not see
A flash, see, but you won't forget
A game, play and hear and see, again
It marks the heart and spills your youth

I'm in the world of square minds
The beauty of a clearer world
Fighting a game, its name is life
The game of life is hard to fight
I've shot my hate today, You'll know the causes when it's too late
its embodiment has paid
Feel reality

The pictures say more than you see
Why should I see what you've told me
Nothing gets worse it stays the same
The same is killing, anyway
I wish I saw it all, So could you please let me escape
all these images for real from reality

Good or evil, right or wrong
Find yourself between the dying crowd, the bloodied streets
How can't this affect a mind
How can't this affect a pure, young heart

Blind Pain
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

Everything keeps getting worse
The terror at home, the dread at school
I mustn't count on much support,
I'm still locked out, it's up to me
how to face the teasing and the pain
Hate, one thing we have in common
Play your game

Beat me, hurt me
a physical release for mental pain
don't make me explode in your way

This is a chain of torture,
a line of pain, no other way to show how you feel
This is the rebel in her, the torment from him
the absence of help, the mothers care

Rage, it burns all around us
Blind pain
So abuse is only weakness
It feels more like a cry of distress, an act of incapacity
Feel the threat
Feel the oppressed ambience of having no place to go, no one who'll take care of my
salvation

This is a chain of torture
a line of pain
no other way to show how you feel
This is the rebel in her, the torment from him
the absence of help, the mother's care

Here comes the finel episode of terror and pain
abuse and hope
Here comes the fight between us all
A fight between a love long gone
I'm to blame, but it's their own blind pain

Two Sides
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

Somehow everything's getting worse
My fight is just one of their struggles
And have I ssen it all Oh no, now their hate's reaching the top
And guess who's to blame, and guess who's responsible

If pain is our line,
The one that connects us in life, should we hold on

I only feel their shame when I'm near
Life should be more than this, should be warmer than this
Cause there's more grief and pain, oh yes
There is more than what I caused,
things beyond me
And their eyes reflect things they'll never say out loud

If pain is our line,
The one that connects us in life, should we hold on

Our dreams, ambitions and passion
Our plans for the future, our combined goals
A life with status, respect and adoration
our wishes and hope destroyed at once
Without those things to connect us,
a life together is even worse than alone
we all need two sides of the story

Two sides, one can become a reflection
of the truth, a lie
You'll be judging soon
Two sides, they both have their emotions, opinions and thoughts
on who's to blame on reality, can you tell

If pain is our line
The one that connects us in lief, should we hold on

Victim of Choices
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

See my life, the failure, you'll make the same mistakes
a child, marriage, your choices, they're all in your hands

Where were you when I needed you
Your interference is not welcome now

I can't believe these words
showing feelings that he never had, such a human behaviour
did she teach him these feelings of hate

Stop!I want you to listen
There is so much at stake
the child, victim of choices
She could never make

I listened but you never spoke
this child is not yours

What are they talking about
Her voice full of compassion
She's warning of things from the past
a victim of choices

Give her a chance to explain why she's here
She will interfere with all that we are
Maybe her fear is a sign she's for real
Her fear is too late, she is to blame

Fighting and blaming, they don't know much more
It scares and excites me, the past repeats itself

NO!We're all victims

I try to feel and understand
That their distant past is like my life today
It's a circle, a curse
I am one of the victims
One of their, one of your victims

Reflections
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

I'm in a spiral of thoughts, the past, the pain, it all comes bacl
I see but now I see more, even feel their side of this tale
I realise their fate, no one's to blame, two sides

My life's a mirror that no one sees
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see,
so they would open up to me and fill up my emptiness

I still really try to feel, a strang experience to enter the other side
I feel there's so much we never said
It's all misunderstood, the emotions that we had

My life's a mirror that no one sees,
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see

Voice in the back of her head
Maybe if you would have the guts to open up
maybe the world would do the same, maybe, maybe
You can still be a part of this world, still be the queen of the ball
not of your own empty paradise where no one sees the beauty inside

Face the world outside my safe shell
I must face reality for once
I've never felt the passion of a warm life
Games, TV, I know they're not real, they're just a substitute

This could mean
the breaking point in these three lives
The moment of insight that could change their misfortune
Let this help be enough to make it
Let this be stronger than pain, the ancient wall between love and the comprehension
that will lead to the inner forgiveness
A reflection outside the circle of your life is all you should seek

Life's Vortex
Music: After Forever
Music: Floor Jansen

My mind is under an attack,
although no one sees
My past is pounding in the back of my memories
It's always there to poison my mind with all I do
Feelings I know so well seem to come back
as if nothing's ever changed

Fear was one of the reasons to crawl away into a world I lost
I know the rules, I play the game
but somehow it always stays the same
In spite of my will, in spite of my hope, in spite of it all

So for those who believe in this life,
spin right on this circle-must be round
Every turn has its vortex, you'll drown if nobody warns you
and shows you another circle of life

Nothing will change,
nothing is done for the victim I am forced to remain
Cause these days make you feel, and you are, on your own

Study, work hard, marry, reproduce and become the perfect model
Can you stand the test of time if life is a vicious circle
without the mirror of another path

So for those who believe in this life
spin right on the circle-must be round
Every turn has its vortex, you'll drown if nobody warns you
and shows you another circle of life