Decipher (After Forever album)
Decipher is the second album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever, released on 27 December 2001. In this album, the band make use of live classical instruments and a complete choir to back up the soprano voice of lead singer Floor Jansen. Thrown in the mix are also a duet of soprano and tenor voices in "Imperfect Tenses" and the recording of the late Israeli PM Yizhak Rabin's voice during the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty signing ceremony in "Forlorn Hope". This is the last After Forever album with guitarist and founder Mark Jansen, who left the band soon after its release.
In 2003, the album was reissued in a limited edition of 5,000 copies worldwide. The limited edition in digipack had an extended booklet, a sticker with new artwork and two live bonus tracks. It was again reissued in 2012 by the re-financed Transmission Records, this time as a two-disc set containing previously unreleased studio sessions, single edits and a handful of demo recordings.
Personnel
After Forever- Floor Jansen – vocals
- Mark Jansen – guitars, screaming
- Sander Gommans – guitars, grunts
- Luuk van Gerven – bass guitar
- Lando van Gils – keyboards
- André Borgman – drums, acoustic guitars
- Stephen van Haestregt – production, engineer
- Oscar Holleman – additional production, mixing
- Hans van Vuuren – executive producer, coordination and research
- Peter van 't Riet – mastering
- Cees' Kieboom – piano, keyboards
- Ebred Reijen – solo violin
- Noemi Bodden – violin
- Janine Baller – viola
- Carla Schrijner – violoncello
- Roxanne Steffen – double bass
- Irma Kort – oboe on "Intrinsic" and "My Pledge of Allegiance #1"
- Jack Pisters – sitar on "My Pledge of Allegiance #2"
- Rein Kolpa – tenor vocals on "Imperfect Tenses"
- Hans Cassa – choral bass vocals
- Caspar de Jonge – choral tenor vocals
- Marga Okhuizen – choral alto vocals
- Ellen Bakker – choral soprano vocals
- Damian Wilson – vocals on "Imperfect Tenses" and "Who Wants to Live Forever"
- Arjen Anthony Lucassen – guitar and keyboards on "Who Wants to Live Forever", all instruments on "Who Wants to Live Forever"