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I guess it's time for an updated biography.

For almost 15 years, I've been part of the metalband After Forever as a guitarplayer/grunter/manager and songwriter. We got the chance to tour all over the world with the great support of a lot of dedicated fans. Every country had a unique bandclimate, but I have to say South America was unbelievable. I've had a lot of great experiences with After Forever; on stage, with the fans, with the bandmembers/crew and I feel it gave me a better view of what's going on in the world and in music in general.

We've recorded five full length albums (last one released by Nuclear Blast), one mini album and various singles and we managed to create a unique sound in the world of melodic metal. In the end of 2007 though, I fellt I had to move on. I wanted to explore different musical directions, and I didn't want to make After Forever a totally different band. It was a hard decision to make, but I decided to start a new chapter

In 2009 I released my project HDK on the label Season of Mist. I started writing the music for it in 2006, in 2007 Amanda Somerville joined me in the writing proces of the vocallines and the lyrics. The project was intended to remain to be a studio project, not playing any gigs gave me the freedom to work with many guests like Andre Matos, Arjen Lucassen, Amanda Somerville and Peter Vink. The project was received really well in the worldwide musical press, a great relief to me since the music is pretty experimental, complex and definately much more agressive than my previous band After Forever. This release ment a lot to me and gave me the motivation to continue writing music in different styles. More info about HDK and the guestmusicians is available on the site, on www.projecthdk.com and on http://www.youtube.com/projecthdk

Next to writing music, I also started my own musicschool (guitarlessons, songwritingworkshops, bandanagementworkshops) and I started working as a part-time teacher on a highschool again, something I also combined with After Forever in the past. For the upcoming time, I'll be focussing on writing and co-writing music for dfferent artists and purposes. Just recently, Amanda Somerville and I wrote a couple of songs for a project of Mat Sinner (Primal Fear) and Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) and there are already some really interesting new challenges in sight! Check the updates regularly for more news. I'll be using this myspace to give you an overview of the music I've written for After Forever, HDK and other projects/artists.

For now, I won't be playing live, but who knows what'll happen in the future. I just want to thank all of you for supporting me all those years, we'll stay in touch!

Cheers,

Sander

HDK-by Carl Begai

It was iconic cinema baddie Darth Vader that spouted the line “You don’t know the power of the Dark Side.” No shit. The brainchild of ex-After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans, HDK hits like a pick-axe wielding maniac on a rampage; straight to the point rather than adopting After Forever’s meandering symphonic / progressive / melodic / metal approach that often confused the hell out of people.
Quite an unexpected outing given Gommans was the driving force behind his old band’s music and that he’s teamed up with rock-pop-metal-new age vocalist / lyricist Amanda Somerville (unfairly dubbed a “guest” artist here by the promo department) to create this death-thrash monster. Then again, System Overload’s hell-or-nothing approach could be attributed to the pair’s so-called innocence with regards to this heavier side of metal; if you’re unaware of the “rules” there are effectively no boundaries to contend with.
Gommans and Somerville clearly thought nothing of stacking her melodic tones up against brash death grunts in a very anti-symphonic metal kinda way, either matching the voices up in intensity or playing both ends of the spectrum on a thrash backdrop. The album’s momentum is huge thanks to the drum insanity of Arien van Weesenbeek (Epica), Somerville’s vocal arrangements – shared out between herself and a few death and clean voices… including that of ex-Angra singer Andre Matos (!) – and Gommans’ scathing guitar work. Call it a veritable free-for-all of violence, faltering only when ‘Fine Lines’ shows up to close shop. Small potatoes, though, as ‘Request’, ‘March’, ‘Let Go’, ‘Fight Or Flight’, and the majestic ‘Pedestal’ (the best song Gommans or Somerville have ever written, separately or together) bleed originality and wide-eyed excitement all over the place. The push for HDK mark II is on, especially from this seat. (Carl Begai)

It is all inside the head: HDK originally dubbed HATE DEATH KILL started out as a humorous project in the mind of Sander Gommans, guitarist and songwriter in renowned Dutch Metal heroes AFTER FOREVER.
As time progressed HDK gradually took a far more serious and sinister shape – as Sander reveals: "I wrote 'System Overload', while I was full of anger, disgust and hate just before my burn out. Now this album resembles the prophecy of a downfall!"
Although a pinch of sarcasm still remains "System Overload" stands out as a masterpiece of aggression that amalgamates Melodic Death, Classic and Modern Thrash as well as other stylistic influences like female vocals out of Gothic Metal or progressive elements into a super-heavy alloy.

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