After Forever

Originating in Holland, After Forever represent a distinctly new-millennium breed of heavy metal band -- one rooted in familiar styles such as doom, Gothic and power metal, but utilizing the seemingly contradictory element of a sweet, female voice to offset the music's reigning aggression. In their case, this vocalist is operatically trained soprano Floor Jansen, whose contributions bring bands like the Gathering, Tristania, and Nightwish to mind. Alongside guitarists Sander Gommans and Mark Jansen, bassist Luuk van Gerven, keyboardist Jack Driessen, and drummer Joep Beckers, she helped transform mid-'90s metal band Apocalyps into After Forever while most members were still in their teens. Signing with Transmission Records, the band issued their debut album, Prison of Desire to great acclaim in the year 2000, then quickly followed it with 2001's more refined Decipher (featuring new keyboard player Lando van Gils, and drummer Andre Borgman). With their profile now rising fast (at least domestically), two singles, "Emphasis" and "Monolith of Doubt," were extracted from the latter album to title E.P. releases, and Floor also found time to lend her talents to space-metal composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen's vaunted Star One project. 2003 saw the release of an EP/DVD named Exordium & Insights, and after replacing original guitarist Mark Jansen with Bas Maas, After Forever released their third full-length album in 2004's Invisible Circles.

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Sirenia

Somehow, leading Norway's Tristania to the top of the goth metal heap wasn't enough for vocalist/guitarist Morten Veland, who unilaterally seceded from the union in the year 2000 to found a brand-spanking-new though similar-sounding band named Sirenia. Picking up pretty much where he'd left off stylistically, Veland hand-picked compatriots Kristian Gundersen (clean vocals, guitar), Hans Henrik Varland (keyboards), and French singer Fabienne Gondamin to quickly perform on the following year's At Sixes and Sevens debut. He and Gundersen then found a more permanent support staff in vocalist Henriette Bordvik and drummer Jonathan Perez to work on their 2003 follow-up, An Elixir for Existence. An EP, Sirenian Shores arrived in 2005, followed by the full-length Nine Destinies and a Downfall in 2007.

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Nightwish

Following in the footsteps of the Gathering and Lacuna Coil (goth-influenced "symphonic" metal bands with female vocalists), Nightwish were formed in Kitee, Finland, in 1997 by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. Initially attempting to create acoustic music, he recruited trained opera vocalist Tarja Turunen, but soon added full metal band instrumentation in the persons of guitarist Emppo Vuorinen, bassist Sami Vänskä, and drummer Jukka Nevalainen. Nightwish's demos landed them a contract with the Finnish label Spinefarm, which released their debut album, Angels Fall First, in late 1997 (it appeared in the rest of Europe the following year).The follow-up, Oceanborn, appeared in late 1998 and

made Nightwish a bona fide mainstream success in their homeland; the album reached the Finnish Top Five and spun off three Top Ten singles. Nightwish toured Europe heavily, consolidating their success, and in 2000 recorded their third album, Wishmaster. Not only did it top the Finnish charts, but it also became the group's first album to be released in the U.S. (by Century Media, which reissued their previous albums in 2001 as well). Released in 2002, Century Child proved a massive hit in Finland and around Europe, but 2004's Once saw them go one step further and conquer Europe. Number one in Germany and number one in the European Top 100, Once's success was the product of a band at the top of its game following years of hard work. Marco Hietala was now on bass, replacing Sami Vänskä, while in 2005 Swedish singer Anette Olzon replaced Tarja Turunen, who was fired for personal reasons. Dark Passion Play (2007) and the concept album Imaginaerum (2011) both featured Olzon before she and the band parted ways in 2012, halfway through the band's world tour.

At short notice, ex-After Forever frontwoman Floor Jansen stepped in to take over on lead vocal duties; the immense pressures on her were later revealed in the behind-the-scenes film Please Learn the Setlist in 48 Hours. Jansen's powerful voice was a perfect fit for Nightwish. She was embraced immediately by their passionate fans, and was soon made a permanent member, alongside English piper Troy Donockley. Nightwish's first commercial release with Jansen was 2013's live album Showtime, Storytime, which documented their triumphant show at that year's Wacken Open Air metal festival in front of an 85,000-strong crowd. Endless Forms Most Beautiful, the group's eighth studio album and first with Jansen on board, followed in early 2015.

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Within Temptation

Goth metal stars Within Temptation marry the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music, and the results have made them one of the most popular bands ever in the Netherlands. Within Temptation were formed in 1996 by guitarist Robert Westerholt and vocalist Sharon den Adel, who are partners on stage and off. Within Temptation's early material caught the attention of the Dutch label DSFA, which signed the group to a record deal; the band's first album, Enter, was released in 1997. Up until this time, Within Temptation had been a studio project, but the success of the album led to invitations to play several live shows, including the Dynamo Music Festival, one of the biggest live music events in the Netherlands.Within Temptation demonstrated their strength as a concert act, and began playing Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Booked to play Dynamo's main stage in 1998, Within Temptation felt recording new material was in order, and they released the Dance EP for the occasion. Shortly afterwards, Within Temptation went on hiatus as the group's members dealt with personal commitments and Westerholt and den Adel built a studio for their ambitious recording projects.

In late 2000, Within Temptation returned with their second full-length album (and first for Sony), Mother Earth, and the band continued to appear at major music festivals in Europe and the Netherlands; the album was a major commercial success, and the song "Ice Queen" was released as a single, rising to number two on the Dutch charts. After several years of steady touring (including major festival appearances in France and Mexico), Within Temptation returned to the studio to record their third album, 2004's The Silent Force, an ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band. It was their first disc to be released simultaneously in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, and became a major commercial success, going platinum at home and reaching the Top Ten in Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Finland. Having become the Netherlands' best-selling international act, Within Temptation finally landed an American record deal with the venerable metal imprint Roadrunner, which released their fourth album, The Heart of Everything, in 2007. Black Symphony, a live CD/DVD recorded at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam with a full choir and orchestra, followed in 2008.

Their 2011 effort The Unforgiving was a concept album heavily influenced by '80s pop and rock, and supported by a series of short films as well as a comic book written by Steven O’Connell. It was a great commercial success, hitting the top ten in seven European countries, and the band toured heavily in promotion of it. In 2012 the band's contract with Roadrunner came to an end and they decided to self-release their next album, signing distribution deals with Nuclear Blast for the USA and, strangely, Dramatico, Mike Batt's pop label and home to Katie Melua, for the UK. Their sixth album, Hydra, was slated for release in February 2014 and saw them branching out into a number of new and unexpected styles, as symbolized by the titular, many-headed mythical beast. It included guest vocal performances by Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner, rapper Xzibit, and former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen on the single "Paradise (What About Us?)."

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