Sander Gommans — guitarist, guttural vocalist and co-founder of After Forever — is the principal composer of one of the bands that defined Dutch symphonic metal. He put the group together in the 1990s alongside Mark Jansen, and the formula they created became a reference of the genre: lyric soprano set against guttural growls, written orchestrations and subject matter abandoning fantasy in favour of religion, knowledge and social criticism. When Jansen left in 2002 to found Epica, Gommans stayed and took on most of the writing, steering After Forever through Invisible Circles (2004), Remagine (2005) and the self-titled record of 2007. His double function — guitar and guttural vocals — is what gives the repertoire its contrast with Floor Jansen's voice, and places him among the few musicians in the genre holding both positions at once. After Forever ceased activity in 2009, and Gommans went on to work on extreme metal projects of his own. His greater importance lies in having written, with Mark Jansen, the vocabulary Epica, Nightwish and a whole generation of European bands would use afterwards — two reference groups issuing from the same point of origin.
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