Within Temptation is a Dutch
symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist
Sharon den Adel and guitarist
Robert Westerholt
Robert Westerholt (born 2 January 1975) is a Dutch musician, known as the guitarist and co-founder of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation. He also writes music for the band along with his partner and band vocalist Sharon den Adel. He us ...
.
They have been classified by critics as
gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other influences outside these genres. Their most prominent and well-known sound is described as symphonic metal,
although their earlier material, such as debut album ''
Enter'', was mostly
gothic metal,
[Sharpe-Young, "Metal: The Definitive Guide" (2007), p. 294] with ''Enter'' also having a hint of
doom metal. In an interview, den Adel said they fell into a
symphonic rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initi ...
genre with various influences.
In another interview, den Adel stated that "We consider ourselves more an atmospheric melodic symphonic metal/rock band... In my opinion, we are not a gothic band but we have gothic elements".
After the release of their debut album ''
Enter'' in 1997, the band became prominent in the Dutch underground scene. It was not until 2001 that they became known to the general public, with the single "
Ice Queen" from their second album ''
Mother Earth'', which reached No. 2 on the Dutch charts.
This was followed by the band winning the
Conamus Exportprijs,
a Dutch music award, four years in a row, and a fifth in 2016. Their next albums ''
The Silent Force
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (2004) and ''
The Heart of Everything
''The Heart of Everything'' is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by GUN Records on 12 March 2007 in Europe. It was released in North America on 18 June 2007 by Roadrunner Records. The album follow ...
'' (2007) debuted at No. 1 on the Dutch charts and expanded their international recognition. In 2008, they released ''
Black Symphony
''Black Symphony'' is a live album, DVD and Blu-ray Disc from Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was released worldwide on September 22–24, 2008 and is available on 2-disc DVD, 2-disc CD, and Blu-ray. Sony Poland announced this ...
'', a
live album recorded with the
Metropole Orchestra
The Metropole Orkest (Metropole Orchestra) is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz, big band and symphony orchestra. Com ...
. This was followed in 2009 by ''
An Acoustic Night at the Theatre
''An Acoustic Night at the Theatre'' is the second live album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation that has been released in October–November 2009.
History
The album is made up of the acoustic set at Eindhoven's Muziekcentrum F ...
'', another live album, this time with
acoustic renditions of the songs.
The band's fifth studio album, ''
The Unforgiving'', was released in March 2011 and was one part of a
transmedia
Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies.
From a producti ...
effort, alongside both a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
series and a series of
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s that together encompass a
story
Story or stories may refer to:
Common uses
* Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events)
** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting
* Story (American English), or storey (British ...
. The album saw the band increasingly venturing on new musical territories outside symphonic metal. Their sixth studio album, ''
Hydra'', was released in early 2014 in Japan, Europe, and the United States. The album advanced the band's exploration of new musical genres and features guest appearances from various artists: Finnish singer
Tarja Turunen
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half oct ...
, who appears in the lead single "
Paradise (What About Us?)";
Howard Jones, former vocalist of American metalcore band
Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel an ...
;
Dave Pirner
David Anthony Pirner (born April 16, 1964) is an American songwriter, singer, and producer best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock band Soul Asylum.
Early life and work
Pirner was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin and gr ...
, lead vocalist of American alternative rock band
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
The band was originally called Loud Fast Rules, with a lineup consisting of Dav ...
; and American rapper
Xzibit
Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced "exhibit"), is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, and radio personality.
Xzibit began his musical career after the release of his ...
. The band had extensive airplay on
BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom with one of the songs from the album, "
Whole World Is Watching" featuring Pirner.
Their latest studio album, ''
Resist
A resist, used in many areas of manufacturing and art, is something that is added to parts of an object to create a pattern by protecting these parts from being affected by a subsequent stage in the process. Often the resist is then removed.
For ...
'', was released in February 2019 and incorporates influences from other musical styles such as
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
and
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
. By 2016, the band had already sold more than 3.5 million albums worldwide.
History
Formation
Long-term partners Robert Westerholt (guitar) and
Sharon den Adel (vocals) began the band in 1996,
after Westerholt left his previous band, The Circle. The Circle renamed themselves "Voyage" and released an album called ''Embrace'', including a song featuring den Adel. Soon after that release the band broke up.
Westerholt then joined with den Adel in forming a doom metal band called "The Portal", including former The Circle band members
Jeroen van Veen on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
and Michiel Papenhove on guitar, as well as
Martijn Westerholt
David Martijn Westerholt (born 30 March 1979 in Waddinxveen, Netherlands) is the founder, keyboardist, and the main songwriter of the Dutch symphonic metal project Delain. He was previously a member of symphonic metal band Within Temptation, unt ...
on the
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
and
Dennis Leeflang
Dennis Leeflang (born 22 May 1979, Leiderdorp) is a Dutch rock drummer, currently living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
History
Leeflang started playing the drums at age 13, playing along with records ...
on drums (later replaced by
Ivar de Graaf). However, they renamed themselves "Within Temptation", before they started recording their demo, ''Enter''. The ''Enter'' demo contained some songs that would later be released in their first album. They were offered a recording contract and signed to
DSFA Records later that year, beginning work on their first album.
''Enter'' and first national tour (1997–1999)
''
Enter'', the debut album, was released in 1997. The album was well received and the band embarked on a four gig tour across the country, after which they performed at the ''
Dynamo Open Air
Dynamo Open Air is a festival in the Netherlands held (almost) every year between 1986 and 2005. It was reborn in 2008 as Dynamo Outdoor and in 2015 as Dynamo Metal Fest.
History
Originally held to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Dynamo ...
''
festival in
Eindhoven. The band rounded out 1997 by embarking on their first international tour, of Germany and Austria. Also subsequently Ivar de Graaf left the band and was replaced by Ciro Palma.
The sound of ''Enter'', whilst melodic, was doomily paced, and influenced by gothic doom metal, heavily reliant on slow keyboards and drums and repetitive guitar riffs.
Also prominent on this album are
death grunts
A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...
by Robert Westerholt and George Oosthoek, ex-member of
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...
.
In 1998 the band continued to tour – their profile had elevated them to the main stage at ''Dynamo'' for the 1998 event. However, Within Temptation had released no new material (and did not have plans for a second album at this point), to which end they elected to release an
EP, ''
The Dance'', with three songs (plus two remixes) that would further mature the sound from Enter.
Finally taking a break from touring, 1999 was largely a sabbatical year for the band. They took the opportunity to construct their own studio, as well as returning to personal pursuits, with plans to return to the fold the next year.
''Mother Earth'' and national breakthrough (2000–2003)
2000 was an eventful year for the band as they returned to touring, playing three Dutch festivals; ''Waterpop'', ''Bospop'' and ''
Lowlands
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of p ...
''. In addition they went to work on their second album, releasing ''
Mother Earth'' in the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
on 1 December. The album was a moderate success in the Dutch charts the first few weeks after its release.
The band released the single "
Our Farewell", which never entered the charts. The second single from Mother Earth, "
Ice Queen", was regarded as the breakthrough release for the band; in March 2002 it climbed to No. 2 in the Netherlands but was their first No. 1 single when it climbed to the top in Belgium. The success rebounded to ''Mother Earth'', which continued to climb in the Dutch album chart, ending the year at No. 3.
2001 saw a number of changes in personnel;
Ruud Jolie
Ruud Jolie (born Rudolf Adrianus Jolie on 19 April 1976 in Tilburg, Netherlands) is the lead guitarist of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation.
Early life
Ruud is an only child. Growing up, he first initiated himself to music by playing t ...
was added as a second guitarist, drummer
Ivar de Graaf was replaced by
Stephen van Haestregt, and
Martijn Westerholt
David Martijn Westerholt (born 30 March 1979 in Waddinxveen, Netherlands) is the founder, keyboardist, and the main songwriter of the Dutch symphonic metal project Delain. He was previously a member of symphonic metal band Within Temptation, unt ...
(suffering from
infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adult ...
) was replaced by
Martijn Spierenburg. Westerholt later started the band
Delain
Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band formed in 2002 by former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt, intending for the band to be solely a project. Singer Charlotte Wessels was invited to join in 2005. The name of the band comes fr ...
.
In 2002 they had their first concert in France and a headline gig in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
. They attained their first major award, the Dutch ''Silver Harp''. They bolstered this by embarking on a major international tour supporting Paradise Lost in 2003 and re-releasing ''Mother Earth'' on the
GUN Records
GUN Records (''Great Unlimited Noises'') was a record label located in Bochum, Germany, founded in 1992 by Bogdan Kopec ( DRAKKAR Promotion Musikverlag GmbH) and Wolfgang Funk.
Different artists on the label have had hit singles as well as albu ...
label across more European countries; it was a success in Germany, where it went platinum and reached No. 7 in the charts; the re-release of "Ice Queen" also charted well in the top 30. In turn the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...
regions got a different release, a cover of
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...
's ''"
Running Up that Hill
"Running Up That Hill", titled "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" on some releases, is a song by the British singer and songwriter Kate Bush. It was released in the United Kingdom as the lead single from Bush's album '' Hounds of Love'' o ...
"''. The band headlined music festivals across the Netherlands, while their ''Mother Earth'' tour DVD claimed the prestigious
Edison Award
The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed b ...
. Promotion of ''Mother Earth'' in newer markets continued well into 2004 with various international festival appearances (such as
M'era Luna
The M'era Luna is a rock festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and ebm. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, G ...
,
Rock Werchter, and
Pukkelpop) and other headline gigs, which also saw the band make their
UK live debut in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in September of that year.
''The Silent Force'' and further recognition (2004–2006)
Plans for the band's third album came to fruition in 2004, with the release of ''
The Silent Force
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' on 15 November 2004, across Europe. It was produced by Daniel Gibson and an instant No. 1
in the Netherlands and charted well in many European countries. In support of the release they embarked on another large
international tour in 2005, with dates across Europe (including their first festival appearance in the United Kingdom headlining the
Bloodstock festival) and a one-off show in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
. As of early 2005, the album had already sold more than 400.000 copies only in Europe. "
Stand My Ground" and "
Memories
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
", the first singles from the new album, continued the band's run of chart success, culminating in a second Edison Award. The third single was "
Angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...
". "Stand My Ground" was later to be promoted on the trailer for the film ''
Blood and Chocolate''. The band also provided some of the soundtrack to the video game ''
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade'' released in March.
In January 2006, Within Temptation won the ''Dutch Pop Prize'' (best Dutch contribution) and ''Dutch Export Prize'' (best-selling Dutch artist outside the Netherlands); the latter one given to them for the third time in a row. The band also reported that they were busy working on their next album, due to be released during the fall and that they would start playing at festivals starting in April, in addition to going on an international tour at the end of the year. Although already being successful in Europe, it was not until 5 August 2008, that both ''Mother Earth'' and ''The Silent Force'' albums were released in the North American market for the first time, through
Roadrunner Records.
''The Heart of Everything'', international recognition and first world tour (2007–2008)
![Within Temptation by AccidentAndEmergency](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Within_Temptation_by_AccidentAndEmergency.jpg)
The album ''
The Heart of Everything
''The Heart of Everything'' is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by GUN Records on 12 March 2007 in Europe. It was released in North America on 18 June 2007 by Roadrunner Records. The album follow ...
'' from Within Temptation was released on 9 March 2007, in the Netherlands, and in the United States on 24 July. Two tracks, called "The Howling" and "Sounds of Freedom", were recorded as promotion material for the video game ''
The Chronicles of Spellborn'', and the first of these opens the album. The full track listing was revealed on 10 January. The album debuted at No. 1 in the Dutch Album 100, making it their second number-one album. It reached No. 2 in Belgium, No. 2 in Finland, the top 10 in eight countries and top 100 in eleven countries.
The song "
What Have You Done
"What Have You Done" is the first single from Dutch symphonic metal and rock band Within Temptation's fourth studio album '' The Heart of Everything'' (2007). The song features guest vocals from Life of Agony's lead singer Mina Caputo and it was ...
" was the first single released from the album. Its initial
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
was recorded on the 12, 13 and 14 December 2006 at the Koko club in London, and a CGI studio in Windsor. It features
Mina Caputo
Mina Caputo (born Keith Caputo; December 4, 1973) is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of New York City alternative metal band Life of Agony. Caputo came out as transgender in 2011 and transitioned to fem ...
of
Life of Agony
Life of Agony is an American alternative metal band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 1989 by singer Mina Caputo (then known as Keith Caputo), bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z. The band has released six studio albums to date, mos ...
on guest vocals. Fans were allowed to participate in the making of the video, although this first version left the band feeling disappointed (comments made by the band at their March show in Lyon). Shortly after, a completely new video for the song was made. The second single, released across Europe in June, was "
Frozen". The video, filmed in Romania, deals with child abuse, and sales of the single was to raise money for a children's charity, Child Helpline International. "The Howling" was chosen as a digital single release for the UK (not to be confused with the US EP release), and another video was also shot. The extended version of the "Frozen" single features an unreleased b-side, "Sounds of Freedom", as mentioned the second song written for the promotion of the computer game ''The Chronicles of Spellborn''.
Roadrunner Records also released a limited edition
EP called ''
The Howling
''The Howling'' is a 1977 horror novel by Gary Brandner. It was the inspiration for the movie ''The Howling'' (1981), although the plot of the movie was only vaguely similar to that of the book.
Brandner published two sequels to the novel, '' T ...
'', which was available only at
Hot Topic
Hot Topic, Inc. (stylized as HOT TOPIC) is an American retail chain specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming ...
stores, containing the title track plus popular tracks from their former album ''The Silent Force''.
Within Temptation started their very first United States tour a few months after the European release of ''The Heart of Everything'', supporting
Lacuna Coil, and appearing alongside
In This Moment
In This Moment is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed by singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth in 2005. They found drummer Jeff Fabb and started the band as Dying Star. Unhappy with their musical direction, they ...
,
Stolen Babies,
The Gathering, and
Kylesa
Kylesa is an American heavy metal band that was formed in Savannah, Georgia. Their music incorporates experimentalism with heavy riffs, drop-tuned guitars and elements of psychedelic rock. The group was established in 2001 by the former member ...
. The tour, dubbed
The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, and they have recorded nine studio albums, two extended plays, two ...
, was largely a success. ''The Heart of Everything'' was then released there on 24 July, and the promotional single of "What Have You Done" shipped to rock stations 2 July. This was the band's first album to be released in America followed by the previous albums ''Mother Earth'' and ''The Silent Force'' a year later.
![Bevrijdingsfestival 2008 - Within Tempation 02 cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Bevrijdingsfestival_2008_-_Within_Tempation_02_cropped.jpg)
In support of the new album, Within Temptation decided to kick off their first headlining US tour in Fall 2007. The band played 13 shows, starting on 5 September 2007, in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and ended on 23 September 2007, in
Tempe, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Vale of Tempe
, image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg
, imagesize = 260px
, image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
.
On 19 October 2007, Within Temptation released the video for their third single "
All I Need". The single was released in Europe around 12 November and features the single and album versions of the title track plus demo versions of "The Last Time" (previously unreleased track), "Frozen" and "Our Solemn Hour".
In November 2007, the band released info that their concert at Beursgebouw, in
Eindhoven, was filmed for possible inclusion on a new concert DVD (either parts or all of the show). On 7 February 2008, the band performed a 10,000 audience show entitled ''
Black Symphony
''Black Symphony'' is a live album, DVD and Blu-ray Disc from Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was released worldwide on September 22–24, 2008 and is available on 2-disc DVD, 2-disc CD, and Blu-ray. Sony Poland announced this ...
'' at the Ahoy in Nederlands together with The Metropole Orchestra, a choir and several guest artists, and it was later revealed that this show would be filmed in its entirety for DVD and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
together with a double CD, which was to be released on 22 September 2008 (international) and 23 September 2008 (in the US). The trailer for the DVD (containing the entire live performance of the song "Our Solemn Hour" from the show) was released on the band's Opendisc feature on 16 July 2008. Another single from ''The Heart of Everything'',
Forgiven, was released to promote the Black Symphony release. Later, Black Symphony was certified Gold in the Netherlands.
''An Acoustic Night at the Theatre'' (2009–2010)
On 3 November 2008,
Ruud Jolie
Ruud Jolie (born Rudolf Adrianus Jolie on 19 April 1976 in Tilburg, Netherlands) is the lead guitarist of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation.
Early life
Ruud is an only child. Growing up, he first initiated himself to music by playing t ...
stated on his blog, that the members of Within Temptation were going to take a year off, writing that "After the Theater Tour, that will start next week, me and the rest of Within Temptation are gonna take a whole year off. For the last 7 years, we've been hopping from studio to tour bus to airplane to boat to studio again to tour bus to bicycle to airplane to an occasional swimming pool on the top of a hotel to tour bus again. We all really needed a break from the band..." From that tour, On 11 August 2009, on their official website,
Sharon announced that an acoustic album would be released in late October/early November called ''
An Acoustic Night at the Theatre
''An Acoustic Night at the Theatre'' is the second live album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation that has been released in October–November 2009.
History
The album is made up of the acoustic set at Eindhoven's Muziekcentrum F ...
''. It would include several acoustic songs from their tour in November 2008. On 30 October the album was released, the single was released with the album called ''
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...
''. The song is a duet between Sharon and
Chris Jones and was released on 23 October.
Their song "What Have You Done" is now on the video game "
Guitar Hero: World Tour" and was present on a TV promo of a
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...
episode, "The Truth Beneath The Rose" was featured in the commercials for
The Tudors
''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...
, season 3, on ShowTime. The song
All I Need was featured in the American Television show,
Vampire Diaries
''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW on September 10, ...
.
''The Unforgiving'' and second world tour (2011–2012)
In November 2008, the band announced that they would begin working on their new studio album in 2009, and that the Heart Of Everything Tour was drawing to an end.' On 1 June 2009, it was announced that Sharon had given birth to a boy, her second child with Robert Westerholt.
In 2010, the band embarked on a second Theatre Tour, their last with drummer Stephen Van Haestregt.
In the meantime, the band continued work on their new studio album. In an interview with Metal Ways at Appelpop 2008, guitarist Robert Westerholt stated that the new album was "probably going to be kind of a concept, but it's so early still that nothing is really sure yet. But we're trying to look in that direction."
On 18 November 2010, the band announced via their website that their new album, entitled "The Unforgiving" would be released in March 2011. The concept of the album would be based on a comic book series, written by Steven O’Connell (BloodRayne & Dark 48), and illustrated by Romano Molenaar (Witchblade, Darkness and X-Men). Each song on "The Unforgiving" was written along Steven's narrative, with characters in the songs reflecting the protagonists of the comic.
On 26 July 2010, the band announced that they would be embarking on a European tour at the beginning of 2011 in support of their new release. However, on 26 November 2010, it was announced that due to Sharon's third pregnancy, the tour dates would be moved from early 2011 to fall 2011.
On the official website, den Adel shared that they have recorded three music videos for the album within the course of a week. 'Where Is The Edge', a promotional video, was released on 15 December 2010 featuring scenes from the Dutch movie Me & Mr Jones. The first new single, "Faster," was released 21 January and the video for the song was released 31 January 2011. The track is currently being played in heavy rotation (at least once in each show) on UK classic rock station
Planet Rock.
![Within Temptation Live in Paradiso (6198650488)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Within_Temptation_Live_in_Paradiso_%286198650488%29.jpg)
On 22 February 2011, the band announced that Mike Coolen had joined as full-time drummer. However, the studio album had been recorded with Swedish drummer Nicka Hellenberg.
On 14 March 2011, Sony BMG organized an online-listening session of the-upcoming-album on a Polish website that only people from Poland could access. However, every song was soon after leaked onto the Internet. Within Temptation tried to prevent the leak before the release date. Limited promotion CDs were sent strictly to journalists who had to come to a listening session. Later that month, the second short film entitled "Sinéad" was released without an accompanying music video. However, it is available on the special edition CD/DVD set of ''The Unforgiving'' along with the remaining short film "Triplets" and music video for "Shot in the Dark". During the album promotional phases, the birth of Logan was reported on the Within Temptation website.
The album debuted at No. 2 in the Netherlands, while the two previous albums,
The Heart Of Everything
''The Heart of Everything'' is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by GUN Records on 12 March 2007 in Europe. It was released in North America on 18 June 2007 by Roadrunner Records. The album follow ...
and
The Silent Force
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
debuted at No. 1. The Unforgiving also debuted in the Top 10 of Belgium, Portugal, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. When the single Faster was released it did not chart as well as other Within Temptation singles like
Stand My Ground and
Ice Queen, though in the digital music store
iTunes the song placed on the common charts, entering the Top 5 in the Netherlands (#4), while the single reached No. 11 so far. On the digital Rock Charts, Faster became a hit, reaching the No. 1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, No. 2 on Sweden, No. 5 in Germany, No. 6 in Austria, No. 8 in France, No. 10 in Luxembourg, No. 11 in Denmark, No. 13 in the US and No. 18 in Mexico. Following that, the band announced that the new single would be "Sinéad." Later on, the band was awarded "Best Other Media Music" for its album ''The Unforgiving'' on the new solenity "Buma Music in Motion", that awards creative and innovative methods to make music.
On 10 June 2011, the music video of
Sinéad was officially released to promote the same single, that had its physical release on 15 July. The single was a little different from the others, including 3 remixes of the music made by 3 different
DJs.
![Within Temptation - Sofia Rocks cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Within_Temptation_-_Sofia_Rocks_cropped.jpg)
Proceeding on promotion of the album, the band presented at the
Sziget Festival
The Sziget Festival ( hu, Sziget Fesztivál, ; "Sziget" for "Island") is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hect ...
, but
The Unforgiving Tour officially started 12 August, at the Huntenpop Festival, where the band played the whole ''The Unforgiving'' album among other albums hits, in a special show as "The First Challenge". During August, the band performed at several Summer Festivals as
M'era Luna
The M'era Luna is a rock festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and ebm. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, G ...
and
Lowlands
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of p ...
and started an indoor tour in September, first in the North America and then crossing Europe. In early September, the album reached Gold status in Poland. Later that month, it was announced that Robert would step down touring with the band (except for occasional shows) as there was no-one to look after Robert and Sharon's three children. Robert will focus on production and songwriting, while Stefan Helleblad is taking his place on stage.
In early 2012, to continue promoting the album, the band started a
South American
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
tour, passing over Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. Right after coming back to Europe, the band presented a semi-acoustic Dutch theater tour in March 2012, called
Sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
, much like their previous live album ''
An Acoustic Night at the Theatre
''An Acoustic Night at the Theatre'' is the second live album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation that has been released in October–November 2009.
History
The album is made up of the acoustic set at Eindhoven's Muziekcentrum F ...
'' in which they played many songs never played before like ''Say My Name'', ''The Last Dance'', ''Overcome'', ''Bittersweet'' and some that they don't play often like ''Restless'', ''Sounds Of Freedom'', ''The Swan Song'' and ''Our Farewell''. Most of them were played in acoustic version. On 8 May 2012 Sharon den Adel and Ruud Jolie appeared on
DWDD Recordings to perform an acoustic cover of
Nirvana's song
Smells Like Teen Spirit
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled ''Neve ...
. The band embarked on a second leg of festivals, headlining several of the biggest European 2012 Summer Festivals, such as
Sonisphere
The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It ...
,
Masters of Rock,
Rock Werchter,
Summerbreeze and
Gods of Metal
Gods of Metal is the biggest Italian metal festival, held annually since 1997. It takes place in early summer, usually on the first or second weekend of June. It is most often held at venues in or near Milan, but took place in Bologna three tim ...
. Later, the band officially announced a very special show called ''Elements''. The sold out special show celebrated the band's 15-year anniversary at the
Sportpaleis
The Antwerps Sportpaleis ( eng, Antwerp's Sport Palace), also called Sportpaleis Antwerpen, Sportpaleis Merksem or simply the Sportpaleis, is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a multipurpose hall where concerts, sporting events, festivals and f ...
, Belgium, and the band was accompanied by the ''Il Novecentro Orchestra'' and other special guests, such as band's ex-members.
''Hydra'' and various influences (2013–2016)
![Within Temptation M'era Luna 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Within_Temptation_M%27era_Luna_2014.jpg)
In the run up to the 15th anniversary of Within Temptation, the band was asked by Belgian
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
''Q-Music'' to choose and perform an existing track in a "Within Temptation style" once a week during fifteen weeks during their special program ''Within Temptation Friday''.
The covers consist most part of
pop songs in which the band transformed into a more
symphonic oriented form. Lead vocalist
Sharon den Adel stated that:“Our approach was to really make the cover a new Within Temptation song. So not going the easy way by using only a piano or an acoustic guitar for example, but really trying to put all the elements of a Within Temptation track in this new version. It was quite a challenge because we had only one week to get it right, while recording an original Within Temptation song can sometimes takes up half a year! But this pressure also gave us an creative boost and it was very rewarding to get it done in time each week. Also, we learned a lot from the in-depth analysis we needed to make on these hits, written by others, in combination with implementing our own sound and style in each new cover. We are glad that we’ve taken up this challenge and are very proud of the result."
They covered artists such as
Imagine Dragons,
OneRepublic,
Lana Del Rey
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...
,
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
among others.
On 19 April 2013, 11 of the 15 covers made by the band were them released in a cover album entitled ''
The Q-Music Sessions''.
On the same day, the band released the official music video of their cover of
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...
.
The writing process of the band's next studio album began in 2012, and at the first half of the year the band has 6 songs written already.
The album was scheduled to be released worldwide in September, by their new label,
BMG and in the Netherlands by
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
. On 16 June, the band went on to record the first music video for the new album. During a series of statements about the recording progress of the album, Westerholt stated that the album would contain
growls. At the middle of May, bassist
Jeroen van Veen went to the studio to record the bass base for the first five songs. On 12 July, the band released a
teaser trailer
A teaser (or more specifically teaser trailer) is a mini- trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release move or television show advertisement. Short in length, te ...
of the upcoming studio album, but without any names revealed. On the next month, the band announced the title of the lead single, in which is "
Paradise (What About Us?)", also uploading a teaser trailer revealing some lyrics and a guitar solo in anticipation for the release. The band eventually got a
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
sign deal with
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...
and, about that partnership the company's president
Monte Conner stated that
"There are very few bands out there today who continually deliver on such a high and consistent level as Within Temptation. That is why they have such an incredibly loyal worldwide fan base. I am thrilled they chose Nuclear Blast Entertainment as their US partner. Their fans are in for a real treat come later this year!". The band also established a licensing deal with
Dramatico for the United Kingdom release of the album. Once the drumming and vocal recording was complete, the final guitar recordings started on 26 August.
![Within Temptation - Wacken Open Air 2015-2116](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Within_Temptation_-_Wacken_Open_Air_2015-2116.jpg)
On 30 August, the band announced that the lead single
Paradise (What About Us?) would be released as an
EP, which is also set to feature 3 tracks from the upcoming album in their demo form, being them "Let Us Burn", "Silver Moonlight" and "Dog Days". Upon making this announcement, den Adel said: "By releasing these demos we want to invite you in our home studio and show how we capture song ideas at an early stage of creating a new album. These demo versions are far from their final sound on the album, but will give you a hint of what we're working on. It will be fascinating to hear how the end result will sound like, once the album is released.". After announcing that the lead single would contain a guest musician, on 13 September the band officially announced that
Tarja Turunen
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half oct ...
was set to appear as a special vocalist on the title song. The EP was released on 27 September. On 25 and 26 October, den Adel and Westerholt presented an unknown number of songs of the upcoming album to the press. The second promotional single, Dangerous, was released on 20 December and features ex-
Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel an ...
singer
Howard Jones.
Hydra was finally released on 31 January 2014, in mainland Europe and on 4 February on North America and United Kingdom, and was met with critical and commercial success. In the Netherlands, ''Hydra'' marked the band's return to the first position on the charts since the release of ''The Heart of Everything'' in 2007, also reaching the first spot on the Czech Republic album charts, making it their first number-one album outside the Netherlands. The band had their first album on a top 10 position in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, debuting at six and the first top 20 position on the US
''Billboard'' 200, debuting at the number 16.
To promote the album, the band embarked on their
Hydra World Tour, which was originally planned to start in January 2014, but then was postponed so the band could polish the songs more before releasing the album and had a try-out show at the
Effenaar
The Effenaar is a music venue in the centre of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It was squatted in 1971 and has grown into one of the largest pop venues in the country, hosting rock, pop and techno events. The current Effenaar consists of two music ...
, in
Eindhoven,
NL, in which sold out on the same day it was put on sale. The first official show happened on 26 February, in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, Finland, and the arena tour passed primarily in Europe, covering a few summer festivals. Due to the great reception of ''Hydra'' in the United States, the band decided to tour again in North America, travelling from
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
to
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
coast and passing over twelve cities, being two in Canada and having some venues with sold out tickets. On 2 May, the band announced through their
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
page that they were going to record the concert at the
Heineken Music Hall
AFAS Live (formerly known as the Heineken Music Hall) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, near the Johan Cruyff Arena. The big hall, named "Black Box" has a capacity of 6,000 and is 3000 m2; a smaller hall for after parties (Beat Box) ha ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, and the great part of the concert later appeared on the DVD ''
Let Us Burn - Elements & Hydra Live in Concert'' together with some parts of the previous tour ''
Elements'' 15th anniversary show. As the end of the European leg, the tour had an attendance of over 120.000 people.
''Resist'' and den Adel's solo project (2017–2019)
![Within Temptation - 2019214194539 2019-08-02 Wacken - 0264 - 5DSR3762](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Within_Temptation_-_2019214194539_2019-08-02_Wacken_-_0264_-_5DSR3762.jpg)
On 3 November 2017, the band changed their website and social media to display only a message announcing that a statement from Sharon den Adel would be coming soon. A video statement appeared 7 days later, in which Sharon announced a new solo project entitled "
My Indigo". The project came by a
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
she had while starting to composing new songs for the band's next album, besides also dealing with personal problems, which led her to get some time apart from the band and compose for herself.
Later, she decided to release these songs publicly via the aforementioned project.
During this process, she regained inspiration to write again for the band, and songs for a new Within Temptation album are currently in the demo phase, with new material to be released in 2018.
At the end of November, the band announced a
European tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
for the end of the next year. At the beginning of December, almost a year before the tour, two concerts were already sold out. The tour commenced before the release of the album, and saw the band playing selected songs in order to promote it.
By the end of 2018, it was reported by the Dutch media that the first European leg of the tour had an attendance of 125,000 people.
In July 2018, Within Temptation signed a new recording contract with
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...
Germany, which was selected to release their seventh studio album worldwide, except in Japan. The first single from the album, titled "
The Reckoning" and featuring
Jacoby Shaddix
Jacoby Dakota Shaddix (born July 28, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, TV presenter and actor. He is best known as the founding member and the continuous lead singer of the California-based rock band Papa Roach since the band's f ...
, was released on 14 September of that year. The music video for the song marked the first time the band got nominated again for the
Edison Award
The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed b ...
since 2005. The second single, titled "Raise Your Banner" and featuring
Anders Fridén
Pär Anders Fridén (born 25 March 1973) is a Swedish vocalist, best known as the lead singer of heavy metal band In Flames. He was also the vocalist of Dark Tranquillity and Passenger, a side project.
Career
Early career
Fridén was original ...
, was released on 16 November and the third, "
Firelight
''Firelight'' is a 1997 period romance film written and directed by William Nicholson and starring Sophie Marceau and Stephen Dillane. Written by William Nicholson, the film is about a woman who agrees to bear the child of an anonymous English ...
", featuring
Jasper Steverlinck, was released on 23 November. The album, titled ''
Resist
A resist, used in many areas of manufacturing and art, is something that is added to parts of an object to create a pattern by protecting these parts from being affected by a subsequent stage in the process. Often the resist is then removed.
For ...
'', was officially announced through
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
magazine by the end of 2018 and released on 1 February 2019. The fourth single "In Vain", was released on 11 January 2019. A music video for "Supernova", a song off of the album, was released on 5 February 2019. A lyric video for "Mad World" was released on 15 April 2019.
After the album release, the band went back on
The Resist Tour
''The Resist Tour'' (also referred to as ''Resist Tour'') was a concert tour by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, in support of their seventh album ''Resist (Within Temptation album), Resist'' which was released on 1 February 2019. T ...
to perform fifteen concerts in
North America and later on European summer festivals.
During the 2019 festival season, the band was scheduled for the first time as one of the headliners for the
Graspop Metal Meeting
Graspop Metal Meeting is a Belgian heavy metal festival held in Dessel each year since 1996, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. Despite the small size of the festival grounds (upholding a perimeter of only ~4 km) the festiva ...
, one of the biggest European heavy metal festivals.
''Worlds Collide'' tour, and upcoming eighth studio album (2020–present)
![Within Temptation live at the O2 LOndon - 52504155330](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Within_Temptation_live_at_the_O2_LOndon_-_52504155330.jpg)
On 17 September 2019, the band had originally announced that they would be embarking on a
co-headlining tour with
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut ...
in April and May 2020 titled
Worlds Collide.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, both Within Temptation and their co-headliner had postponed the tour to September 2020, later postponing it again to fall 2021, and then postponing again to spring 2022. During the outbreak, the band took part at the
Together at Home movement, where artists make online live performances in order to encourage people to stay home and prevent more infection cases.
The band also opened for
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
at selected European and North American dates of the
Legacy of the Beast World Tour
The Legacy of the Beast World Tour was a concert tour by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, named after the comic and mobile game released by the band in 2017. Described as a "history/hits tour", Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood has revealed ...
during 2022.
On 30 April 2020, the band announced the release of a new single on 8 May 2020, "
Entertain You
"Entertain You" is a song recorded by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was self-released as a single worldwide via Music download, digital download and Streaming media, streaming on 8 May 2020, and later added to the tracklist of t ...
", scheduled to be part of the band's upcoming eighth studio album.
A music video was later released for the single. A second single titled, "The Purge", was released on 20 November 2020 along with a music video. Sharon den Adel confirmed on 18 February 2021 that the band plans on releasing more singles, stating that "they are working on it". A third single, "
Shed My Skin
"Shed My Skin" is a song recorded by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation in collaboration with German metalcore band annisokay. It was released as a single worldwide via digital download and streaming on 25 June 2021. The song was prod ...
", which features German metalcore band
Annisokay
Annisokay (stylized as annisokay, pronounced ''Ann is okay'') is a German post-hardcore band from Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. Currently consists of scream vocalist Rudi Schwarzer, guitarist/clean vocalist Christoph Wieczorek, bassist Norbert Rose and ...
as special guests was released on 25 June 2021. The band had also announced on 1 June 2021 that they would be performing two
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...
concerts on 15 and 16 July 2021, entitled "The Aftermath", in which they performed a variety of older and new material. A music video for "Shed My Skin", which consists of the song being performed on the virtual concert, was released on 14 July 2021. Later that year, the re-imagined version of "
Forsaken" also performed on the concert was released on streaming platforms. The band's first concert with public attendance after the decrease in the pandemic infection cases took place on 29 July 2021, as one of the main acts of the
Kuopio Rock open air festival, in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.
In an interview with Audio Ink Radio, vocalist Sharon den Adel had confirmed that the band is planning to release more new music in the coming months, stating: "We've only recorded two songs, and we have a lot of demos, which are very far, so we can finish them quite quickly. So we're just gonna start with that — we're gonna make those demos real songs, and eventually, next year, we're gonna release also a few songs again. Eventually there will be an album, but the album is not complete yet, so we have to start writing also some extra new songs to make the whole album complete".
The band's next musical release came in May 2022 from a collaboration with
Asking Alexandria
Asking Alexandria are a British Rock music, rock band from York, North Yorkshire, consisting of guitarists Ben Bruce and Cameron Liddell, drummer James Cassells, lead vocalist Danny Worsnop, and bassist Sam Bettley.
Initially formed in 2006 ...
on a new version of their song "Faded Out" from ''
See What's on the Inside
''See What's on the Inside'' is the seventh studio album by British rock band Asking Alexandria. The album was released on 1 October 2021 through Better Noise Music and was produced by Matt Good. The album is the first release from the band unde ...
''. This new version was released alongside a music video featuring promotional scenes leading to the release of the movie
The Retaliators. The song is also part of its official soundtrack. The band released another single, "
Don't Pray for Me
"Don't Pray for Me" is a song recorded by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was released worldwide as a single on 8 July 2022 via digital download and streaming and as part of an EP containing the previous three independent singl ...
", on 8 July 2022. On 27 July 2022, den Adel confirmed in an interview that the new album is expected to come out in 2023. On 20 December 2022, the band released the official music video for their song "The Fire Within".
Musical style
The band's first album, ''Enter'', was released in 1997, which music critics classified as two
heavy metal subgenres,
gothic metal and
doom metal classifying the release as "gloomy, doomy, slow moving, atmospheric, symphonic gothic metal." and compared it with
Tristania and
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 influenced the gothic metal genre.
History Formation (1993)
Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 19 ...
, two other bands in the genre.
The guitar riffs and keyboard work were also praised, as were the contrasting voices of the two lead vocalists, Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt.
The band's next record, an EP entitled ''The Dance'', released in 1998, was described as "important in the development of the band" presenting "the band's musical growth as they explore the parameters of orchestral, neo-classical metal."
With the release of the band's second album, ''Mother Earth'', their musical style came to a point of inflexion,
where only den Adel remained as lead vocalist
leading the band to more melodic and Celtic songs and more
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
influences. Critics approved of the changes in musical direction and suggested that the album "reveals new dimensions in the concept of metal."
With Daniel Gibson as its main producer, the album ''The Silent Force'' was classified as "very melodic, catchy and relaxing"
With the release of ''The Heart of Everything'', in 2007, critics were divided on the band's new direction, though some appreciated the new direction and found it more varied.
''
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...
'' agreed with both opinions, stating that the album had "the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal."
''
allMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
'' commented that the band "isn't afraid to get downright symphonic".
In 2011, the band released their fifth studio album, ''The Unforgiving'', the biggest change in their musical direction to that point.
Although being largely well received by critics,
some reviewers disliked the changes, with
Q magazine
''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...
calling the album "The metal
T'Pau".
Besides that, some critics found the "1980s pop, rock and metal" influences a good thing for the band.
In order to celebrate the band's 15th anniversary, the Belgian radio station ''Q-music'' invited the band to make 15 covers of famous songs. Later, the band released ''The Q-Music Sessions'' album, another divergent genre variation from their original sound. The album featured reworked covers of several famous
pop songs, such as "
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...
" by
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
featuring
Sia
Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...
, "
Grenade" by
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical ...
, "
The Power of Love" by
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (singer), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (FGTH drummer), Peter ...
and also some
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
and
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
songs as
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
's "
Behind Blue Eyes
"Behind Blue Eyes" is a song by English rock band the Who. It is the second single from the band's fifth album, ''Who's Next'' (1971), and was originally written by Pete Townshend for his '' Lifehouse'' project. The song is one of the Who's best ...
" and
Passenger's "
Let Her Go".
The name of the band's sixth studio album, Hydra, refers to this great variation in the band's main sound, as Westerholt said: "'Hydra' is a perfect title for our new album because like the monster itself, the record represents the many different sides of our music.” American
magazine Aquarian Weekly
''The Aquarian Weekly'' is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1969, its focus is rock music and related events in the New Jersey/New York City/ Eastern Pennsylvania region. From 1986 to 1992, i ...
considered the title highly appropriate and compared it to the band's diverse musical history, alleging that they were able to find the right balance between all the musical changes and, during the
following tour, the sextet was also referred to as "a band that defy stereotypes".
Members
![Within Temptation @ Circo Voador](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Within_Temptation_%40_Circo_Voador.jpg)
Current members
*
Sharon den Adel – lead vocals
(1996–present)
*
Robert Westerholt
Robert Westerholt (born 2 January 1975) is a Dutch musician, known as the guitarist and co-founder of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation. He also writes music for the band along with his partner and band vocalist Sharon den Adel. He us ...
– rhythm guitar,
unclean vocals
A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for the ...
(1996–present, studio only since 2011)
*Jeroen van Veen – bass
(1996–present)
*
Martijn Spierenburg – keyboards
(2001–present)
*
Ruud Jolie
Ruud Jolie (born Rudolf Adrianus Jolie on 19 April 1976 in Tilburg, Netherlands) is the lead guitarist of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation.
Early life
Ruud is an only child. Growing up, he first initiated himself to music by playing t ...
– lead guitar
(2001–present)
*Mike Coolen – drums
(2011–present)
*Stefan Helleblad – rhythm guitar
(2011–present)
![Within-temptation-all](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Within-temptation-all.jpg)
Former members
*Michiel Papenhove – lead guitar
(1996–2001)
*
Martijn Westerholt
David Martijn Westerholt (born 30 March 1979 in Waddinxveen, Netherlands) is the founder, keyboardist, and the main songwriter of the Dutch symphonic metal project Delain. He was previously a member of symphonic metal band Within Temptation, unt ...
– keyboards
(1996–2001)
*
Dennis Leeflang
Dennis Leeflang (born 22 May 1979, Leiderdorp) is a Dutch rock drummer, currently living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
History
Leeflang started playing the drums at age 13, playing along with records ...
– drums
(1996)
*Richard Willemse – drums
(1996)
*
Ivar de Graaf – drums
(1996–1998, 1999–2001, live bass 2022)
*Marius van Pyreen – drums
(1998)
*Ciro Palma – drums
(1998–1999)
*Jelle Bakker – lead guitar
(2001)
*
Stephen van Haestregt – drums
(2002–2010)
Former session musician
*Nicka Hellenberg – drums
(2010)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Enter'' (1997)
*''
Mother Earth'' (2000)
*''
The Silent Force
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (2004)
*''
The Heart of Everything
''The Heart of Everything'' is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by GUN Records on 12 March 2007 in Europe. It was released in North America on 18 June 2007 by Roadrunner Records. The album follow ...
'' (2007)
*''
The Unforgiving'' (2011)
*''
Hydra'' (2014)
*''
Resist
A resist, used in many areas of manufacturing and art, is something that is added to parts of an object to create a pattern by protecting these parts from being affected by a subsequent stage in the process. Often the resist is then removed.
For ...
'' (2019)
Tours
Headlining concerts
* Mother Earth Tour (2000–2003)
*
The Silent Force Tour
''The Silent Force Tour'' is a double DVD which was released by the symphonic metal/ rock band Within Temptation on November 18, 2005. In addition to the standard double DVD release, the deluxe edition includes a bonus CD. The album was re-re ...
(2004–2006)
*
The Heart of Everything World Tour (2007–2008)
*
The Unforgiving Tour (2011–2013)
*
Sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
(2012)
*
Hydra World Tour (2014–2016)
*
The Resist Tour
''The Resist Tour'' (also referred to as ''Resist Tour'') was a concert tour by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, in support of their seventh album ''Resist (Within Temptation album), Resist'' which was released on 1 February 2019. T ...
(2018–2019)
Co-headlining concerts
*
Worlds Collide (with
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut ...
) (2022)
Supporting concerts
*
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focused on the band's 1980s material, in particular songs from ''Powerslave'', '' Somewhere in Time'' and ''Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ...
(opening act for
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
) (2008)
*
Legacy of the Beast World Tour
The Legacy of the Beast World Tour was a concert tour by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, named after the comic and mobile game released by the band in 2017. Described as a "history/hits tour", Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood has revealed ...
(opening act for
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
) (2022)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Within Tempation
Dutch symphonic metal musical groups
Dutch gothic metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1996
World Music Awards winners
1996 establishments in the Netherlands
MTV Europe Music Award winners
GUN Records artists
Female-fronted musical groups