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.
Track listing
Personnel
After Forever
Floor Jansen – vocals
Mark Jansen – guitars, grunts
Sander Gommans – guitars
Luuk van Gerven – bass guitar
Lando van Gils – keyboards
André Borgman – drums, acoustic guitars
Production
Stephen van Haestregt – production, engineer
Oscar Holleman – additional production, mixing
Hans van Vuuren – executive producer, coordination and research
Peter van 't Riet – mastering
Additional musicians
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" (The Album bonus track version) 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" (session version)