AFTER ALL is a Belgian Speed Metal band that has been going for some 30 years. In that time they have opened for many an impressive touring band when they hit on the Benelux (Short name for the combination of the countries Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg). I have seen them on many a tour that I visited whilst visiting my small country. And AFTER ALL always delivered live. The latter years their studio albums got better every time. Now they will soon release their tenth studio album called "Eos", on October 14^th 2022 to be exact. And is that a reason to rejoice? Well, yes, it is, although with some reservation on my part.

First off I will try explain why I am saying that we can celebrate this new endeavour. The two founding members and guitar players, Dries Van Damme and Christophe Depree, plus long standing bassist Frederik Vanmassenhove have two new members joining them, vocalist Mike Slembrouck and drummer Bert Guillemont. They add new elan to the band with their boundless energy and perfect musical appearances. They are a welcome addition, taking the musical level of AFTER ALL to another level. The fact that a man like Dan Swäno is willing to produce your record must mean that you are doing well, and are willing to pay the correct price.

But the latter is production is also the problem. Even though everything sounds absolutely brilliant and the songs all reach a high quality, there is something very essential missing to complete the package. The soul. It's not there. "Eos" sounds very platonic, rather digital. It rocks, it is fast when it needs to be, and when AFTER ALL slow down they actually sound like QUEENSRŸCHE, which is no mean feat. But nowhere do I feel the emotion, the soul, reaching me. And as music is emotion, I feel that is letting the whole album down.

I just can't help but believe that a little more organic approach to the whole album production would have given me a much warmer feeling on the inside, would have resulted in me adoring the efforts that AFTER ALL have made to make the music on "Eos" as good as they have. Now it's just a shade less than that. The result is that I really do believe would have been a great album into an okay one. and that saddens me.