After Us All - 2025 - Rebirthed

(47:11; M&O Music)




















Track list:
1. 6 Feet Under 4:05
2. Empty Space 4:07
3. City Lights 3:30
4. Higher 4:14
5. Get Out 3:20
6. Rebirth 4:06
7. Hear My Call 5:34
8. Home Again 3:12
9. Roller Coaster 4:17
10. Yours to Keep 3:50
11. Are You There 3:26
12. Last Goodbye 3:30

Line-up:
Celine Himmer - vocals
Olivier Chovet - guitars, keyboards
Guilhem Bretillon - bass
Fabien Husson - drums
Francois Masciopinto - guitars, keyboards


French band After Us All is a bit of an unknown entity for me, and some initial searching for more information about the band doesn't yield too much to go by either. Their homerpage states that they released their initial EP "Breaking the Dark" back in 2019, at that point using the band name After Us. Other sources indicate that the band was formed in 2019 and the EP dates back to 2021. The band is now using the moniker After Us All, and have recently released their debut album "Rebirthed" through French label M&O Music.

This is one of those bands whose style can make some types of music fans go into discussions about whether these folks are a hard rock band or a metal band. From my perspective I'd say that they do switch a bit back and forth between those forms, but possibly with a bit more of the hard rock elements coming into play but explored and executed with a bit more of a metal sound. If that is a description that makes any sense for others.

It is a distinctly melodic variety of the hard rock meets metal blend we get here, with vocalist Himmer having a most central and vital role in being the main provider of melodic textures with here subtly pasionate lead vocal performance. On some of the songs with keyboards chiming in with additional melodic ingredients.

The mainly short and concise songs we get here fluctuate ever so slightly in form, with some of these songs coming across as having much more of a strict hard rock foundation but with a richer and more dominant metal type guitar sound, others strike me as perhaps being a bit more geared towards the metal side of matters in terms of elements and structure but here with a bit more of a hard rock sound to the landscapes explored. Some being tight and vibrant affairs, but the majority of these songs tend to fluctuate a bit too.

The verse parts will in general be a bit more dampened in the expression, while a more powerful surge typically will come into play for the chorus sections. In some cases with a more minimalist verse section with classic rock and at times borderline pop music orientation, alongside a couple of songs that make use of elements from the good, old ballad type of songs. At least in the initial phases.

We also get songs where this fluctuation between verse and chorus sections aren't quite as profound, where staccato guitar patterns and a start and stop dynamic of the kind often found in alternative rock and hard rock bands are explored.

On some occasions we get more majestic and powerful chorus sections of the kind that makes the comparisons given to the band towards the likes of Evanescence come across as natural too. While perhaps not a defining aspect of this album as a whole, such escapades certainly adds to the width and breadth of the landscape explored by this band on this album.

In many ways, this is a band and an album that can be described as being a combination of different styles, orientations and time periods. We get a little bit of the classic rock and hard rock tradition from the 1970s here, alongside early 80s traditional heavy metal. Quite a bit of the 90s variety of alternative rock and hard rock have been an obvious inspiration here too, with a little bit of atmospheric laden seasoning from the symphonic metal of the same era and possibly also some tendencies from the post-millennium hard rock and metal sphere.

If short, concise and accessible songs that fluctuate between hard rock and metal as well as combining features of both forms in their compositions that are explored with a bit of an alternative and contemporary streak to them sounds like interesting music to you, I'd suspect that the chances are good for you to find this debut album by After Us All to be a rather intriguing experience.

Olav M. Björnsen, February 2025

Links:
https://www.afterusall.com/
https://www.m-o-music.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ken Field - 2024 - The Canopy

Image
(30:19; Neuma Records) Track list: 1. The Serving 2:24 2. Also Known As 1:49 3. Laevinic Defeat 1:43 4. Culture 4:46 5. Four Words 1:41 6. Mirror 3:06 7. Day by Day 3:24 8. Deluge 3:55 9. Darkness into Light 7:31 Line-up: Ken Field - all instruments US composer and musician Ken Field is a veteran in US music circles, with tenures in bands exploring the fields of world music, jazz and progressive rock in his resume, as well as composing music for television shows. In addition he has been active as a solo artist since the middle of the 1990s, with more than a dozen albums to his name as of 2024. "The Canopy" is his latest studio album, and was released by US label Neuma Records in the fall of 2024. The music on this album was commissioned for a dance performance, where the topic of the performance were expressions of loss, love and resilience. These are emotions that all shine through in these compositions too, and besides the emotional resonances that comes with the different ...
Read more

King Sable: Nothing But The Truth (2024) - mini-review

Image
Swiss band King Sable are out with the album "Nothing But The Truth", and metal is the style explored on this production. The core foundation of this band is what I'd describe as a more contemporary take on the traditional heavy metal form, with a nice array of chugging guitar riffs and galloping riff and rhythm constellations being something of a mainstay. More distinct staccato riff and rhythm arrangements expand the boundaries somewhat though, and along with that we have the combination of more controlled and melodic lead vocals with a bit of a talk like mode of delivery alternating with more aggressive vocal displays that have a stronger attachment to the hardcore tradition. With liberal use of guitar solo overlays that adds a more distinct melodic touch to the proceedings that offset and contrast with the more aggro sometime vocal displays. An album to seek out by those who find the notion of melodic heavy metal seasoned with a bit of hardcore aggression to be an int...
Read more

Kenneth Roy - 2020 - Chairman

Image
(39:34; Physico Records) Track list: 1. Chairman 3:32 2. Two of a Kind 3:33 3. Let Your Love Come Down 3:19 4. In the Night 5:10 5. Think I'll Stay in the City Tonight 5:06 6. After Dawn 3:46 7. Empty Heart 3:41 8. I Still Love You So 3:21 9. Our Love Will Last 3:54 10. Close Enough to Know 4:12 Line-up: Kenneth Roy - vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, melodica, effects Doctor Ryman - guitars, drums, bass, arrangements, effects with: Baron Chase - bass Richard Howell - saxophones, arrangements Geechi Taylor - trumpet Danny Armstrong - trombone Veteran US artist Kenneth Roy has been around for the last three decades or thereabouts, but as I haven't been able to trace just how many albums he has released over the years I don't know how productive he has been over the years. The album "Chairman" dates back to 2020, and appears to be the most recent of his excursions as a solo artist. I was fairly impressed with this album when I gave it a more superf...
Read more