Forever Is the World is the seventh and final studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 gothic metal

Gothic metal

Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...

 band Theatre of Tragedy

Theatre of Tragedy

Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which provided a great deal of influence to the gothic metal genre.-Biography:...

. It was released on September 18, 2009 on AFM Records

AFM Records

AFM-Records GmbH is a music label based in Schwalmstadt, Germany. They focus on the heavy metal musical genre, signing bands such as U.D.O., Doro, Kotipelto, Masterplan, Nostradameus, and Annihilator....

. The album was produced by Zeromancer

Zeromancer

Zeromancer is a Norwegian industrial rock band formed in 1999 by members of the band Seigmen. The current lineup is Alex Møklebust , Kim Ljung , Noralf Ronthi Lorry Kristiansen and Dan Heide...

 singer Alexander Møklebust and mastered by Bjørn Engelmann. The cover art was designed by Thomas Ewerhard, who made the covers for the previous two albums by the band, Storm

Storm (Theatre of Tragedy)

Storm is the sixth studio album of Norwegian gothic metal band Theatre of Tragedy, released in June 2006. It is also the band's first album with new lead singer Nell Sigland. "Storm" was released as the album's first single, and the band embarked on a European tour to support it...

and Assembly

Assembly (album)

Assembly is the fifth music album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy, and continued the group's departure from gothic to a more electronic style of metal...

. Since the release of the record there has been complaints about the mixing and mastering of the album with claims of fuzzing and clipping. The album has been linked by fans to the Loudness War

Loudness war

The loudness war or loudness race is a pejorative term for the apparent competition to digitally master and release recordings with increasing loudness.The phenomenon was first reported with respect to mastering practices for 7" singles...

.

Track listing

1. "Hide and Seek" - 5:24
2. "A Nine Days Wonder" - 5:17
3. "Revolution" - 4:04
4. "Transition" - 4:59
5. "Hollow" - 6:10
6. "Astray" - 3:42
7. "Frozen" - 5:20
   • The bonus track "Empty" (4:03) is at track eight on the limited/digi-book edition
8. "Illusions" - 4:45
9. "Deadland" - 4:40
10. "Forever Is the World" - 4:40
    • The bonus track "The Breaking" (4:26) can only be found on the vinyl version of the album

Band members

• Nell Sigland
  Nell Sigland
  Nell Sigland is a Norwegian heavy metal singer. She is the co-founder of The Crest. On June 3, 2004 she joined Theatre of Tragedy, replacing Liv Kristine.-With The Crest:* Straightjacket Singalongs – Demo...
  
   – Vocals
• Raymond István Rohonyi – Vocals
• Frank Claussen
  Frank Claussen
  Frank Claussen is a Norwegian heavy metal guitarist. From 1997-2010 he played in Theatre of Tragedy, and with them released six studio albums, a live album and several studio EP'sEP.-With Theatre of Tragedy:...
  
   – Guitar
• Vegard K. Thorsen – Guitar
• Lorentz Aspen
  Lorentz Aspen
  Lorentz Aspen is a Norwegian heavy metal pianist and keyboardist. He played in Theatre of Tragedy from October 2, 1993 to October 2, 2010 and with them he released seven studio albums, one live album and five EP's...
  
   – Keyboards
• Hein Frode Hansen
  Hein Frode Hansen
  Hein Frode Hansen is a Norwegian heavy metal drummer. He was the original vocalist of the power metal band Serpent, formed in 1989. In 1990 he started playing drums in the death metal band Phobia. Both bands broke up in 1991...
  
   – Drums

Production

• Alexander Møklebust – Production
• Bjørn Engelmann – Mastering
• Thomas Ewerhard – Cover art
• Pzy-clone - Drum editing & additional string arrangements

Cover Art

When the cover art was revealed on the band's website, they reported that the cover art had been designed to incorporate elements from the covers of all their previous studio albums as a challenge to their most diehard fans.