Within Temptation

Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic and alternative metal band formed in April 1996 by Dutch singer Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their style has evolved from doom metal, Celtic metal, gothic metal, among others, to symphonic metal/symphonic rock as they themselves have declared. Although the group is still often classified as gothic, vocalist Sharon den Adel stated in an interview that she did not consider the band as gothic.

Throughout their more than 25 active years, Within Temptation has had a large number of official members, with Jeroen van Veen, Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt being the only permanent members and both songwriters. Westerholt has participated in most of the albums and tours, but after the 2011 tour he decided not to accompany the band on tours to dedicate himself to taking care of his son with den Adel, doing only studio work.

In 1997 Within Temptation released their first album Enter, on DSFA Records. For the following years the band abandoned the guttural sound because Robert Westerholt was beginning to have problems with his voice. In 2001 they became known to the general public, with the single "Ice Queen" from the album Mother Earth, which reached second place on the Dutch chart. Since then the band has won the Conamus. Exportprijs four years in a row. In 2004 they released The Silent Force, in 2007 The Heart of Everything, it was the last album by drummer Stephen van Haestregt. The Unforgiving in 2011, along with a series of comics and short films spanning a story, and Hydra in 2014. The album features appearances by Tarja Turunen, Killswitch Engage's Howard Jones, Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner and rapper Xzibit.

The band has released seven studio albums, three extended plays, three live albums, twenty-one singles, and twenty-two music videos. They sold more than 3 million albums worldwide, reaching platinum status in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The band's albums are available in 48 countries and have been the best-selling Dutch artists for four years in a row.

History

Formation and First Releases (1997–1999)

Westerholt (left) and Den Adel (right), are the founders of Within Temptation

Prior to the creation of Within Temptation, current guitarist Robert Westerholt was part of a group called The Circle, which later changed its name to Voyage. In it they released a CD called Embrace, which contained a song (“Frozen”) with the participation of Sharon den Adel. In 1996, for unknown reasons, Voyage disbanded. That same year Robert formed a new band with Sharon, which they gave the name Within Temptation. Some of the members of the old band Voyage were included in this new grouping.

Within Temptation became known in 1996. Just two months after its release the band signed a contract with DSFA Records. In April of the following year they released their first album, Enter, classified as gothic metal, with touches of black, death and doom metal (although in 1996 they had released a cassette, also called Enter, in which 4 songs from the album appeared but in different versions) The album featured guttural vocals, a bit of backing vocals, and instruments of various kinds. The heavy use of synthesizers made Enter an album with a dark atmosphere, and the mix between the female and guttural voice gave an even more "terrifying" climate. The lyrics had a fantastic theme point with themes such as love, dark magic or death. Enter had considerable success in Europe and in November they embarked on a tour of Germany and Austria. Their only promotional single was "Restless". Enter, but with a more gothic and energetic touch. They remained inactive throughout the year of 1999 so that the band members could finish their studies.

Mother Earth (2000–2004)

Sharon den Adel, singing at the M'era Luna festival.

In December 2000 they released a new album, Mother Earth, with which they went in a completely different direction, moving from Doom Metal directly to Symphonic and melodic Metal, taking more melodious and rhythmic sounds, removed and left out the guttural voices (as Robert Westerholt began to have problems with his voice), thus deciding to leave the vocals entirely in charge of Sharon den Adel. The theme and sentiment of the songs left behind the dark and sad influence of Enter to suit a more innovative and commercial climate. As the name of the album suggests, many lyrics deal with themes such as the earth, nature, global warming, or fantastic or magical stories. The ballads contained themes with more tenderness and much less depressive and sad. Mother Earth was a hugely successful record on the symphonic metal scene, increasing their fan base to a large extent, leading to a series of successful sold-out tours such as in Mexico in 2001. By this time they had released three singles: "Our Farewell", "Ice Queen" and "Mother Earth", all with their respective videos except for "Our Farewell".

In 2002 the single "Ice Queen" reached number one on the sales charts in the Netherlands and Belgium. The album "Mother Earth" went platinum in the Netherlands and gold in Belgium. In both countries they received the TMF/MTV Awards. The group played big festivals in the Benelux (Ozzfest, Lowlands, Dynamo, Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Parkpop) as well as in Germany (Rock im Park, Bizarre, Summerbreeze). In France, Within Temptation toured all over the world. major cities (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux) selling out all locations. Martijn Spierenburg is the new keyboardist and Stephen van Haestregt is the band's new drummer.

In 2002, they released a DVD called Mother Earth and a small concert in France, which consisted of only 4 live songs: «Restless», «Mother Earth», «Ice Queen" and "Caged". In the same year, the band promoted their first common DVD, called Mother Earth Tour which consists of 2 DVDs and a CD. The first DVD contains the 3 music videos "The Dance", "Mother Earth" and "Ice Queen", together with an extensive live concert, in different places or festivals like Pukkelpop or Lowlands. The Second DVD contains various Backstages, making of, interviews, awards, extras and credits. Finally, the CD contains the same live concert from the first DVD, but only in audio format. In 2003, Within Temptation released an unexpected single, which was a Kate Bush cover of Running Up That Hill. The single was successful, which helped the band get nominated for the Edición Awards.

The Silent Force (2004–2006)

The live band at a festival in Europe.

Plans to release the band's third album came to fruition in 2004, with the release of The Silent Force on November 15, 2004, in Europe. It was produced by Daniel Gibson and instantly peaked at number one in the Netherlands and reached other European charts. In support of the album the band toured internationally in 2005, with dates in Europe (including their first festival appearance in the UK). United as the headliner of the Bloodstock festival) and a concert for the first time in Dubai. By early 2005, the album had already sold over 400,000 copies in Europe alone.

"Stand My Ground" and "Memories," the album's first singles, continued the band's charting success, culminating in a second-place finish at the Edison Awards. The third single was "Angels". The band also provided some tracks for the video game soundtrack Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade released in March. In January 2006, Within Temptation won the Dutch Pop Award for "Best Pop Contribution". Dutch' and the Dutch Export Award, the latter for the third time in a row. During the awards ceremony the band announced that they were busy working on their next album, which was released in the fall of 2007, and that they were going to start playing festivals from April, as well as going on an international tour at the end of the year. of year.

The Heart of Everything international recognition (2007–2010)

Within Temptation live in the Bevrijdingsfestival, in Groningen, Netherlands 2008.

Songwriting for The Heart of Everything began in late 2005, and recording was in mid-2006. The album was released on March 9, 2007, in the Netherlands, and In the United States on July 24 of the same, the songs "The Howling" and "Sounds of Freedom" were recorded as promotional material for the video game The Chronicles of Spellborn, and the first of them opens the opening of the album. The full track listing was revealed on January 10, 2007. The band embarked on their first North American tour with Lacuna Coil in May to promote the North American release. Roadrunner Records also released a limited edition EP called The Howling, which was only available at Hot Topic stores, which contains the title track, featuring popular songs from their previous album The Howling. Silent Force.

On this album there are songs like «Frozen» or «Our Solemn Hour», which reflect more maturity in their songs. Sharon den Adel, declared that they used choirs, but the necessary ones; she also tried to give a better mix between the instruments of the group and those of the symphony orchestra, since in their previous album they had the feeling that the orchestra had stood out far above the sound of the group:

«In The Silent Force We realized that some of the band's instruments were more like background instruments, for example the guitars were left in a background because we gave the orchestra a sound too loud when we made all the sound mixes; and now stop The Heart of EverythingWe have found a more balanced sound between the orchestra and the band itself."

Ruud Jolie and Robert Westerholt, in Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam.

Like all the previous albums, this one had its promotional singles, being the album from which they have released the most singles and videos in their entire recording career. The promotional singles were "What Have You Done" with Keith Caputo (two video versions, one for the United States and one for the United Kingdom), "Frozen", "The Howling" (Two versions, normal version, and version for the video game Chronicles of Spellborn) and "All I Need", The album debuted at number one in its home country, reached number 2 in Belgium, number 2 in Finland and the top 10 in eight countries.The Heart of Everything was certified gold in Germany, Belgium, Russia, and platinum in the Netherlands.

Thanks to this album, they were invited to the Games Convention in Germany. On February 7, 2008, they released the DVD Black Symphony together with the Metropole orchestra. The recital was filmed and released on DVD in the fall of that year, the album garnered good reviews and was also a commercial success. During the 2008-2009 season the group toured extensively in South America and Europe, a series of acoustic concerts that was interrupted in June 2009 due to the birth of the second child of the Sharon den Adel couple with Robert Westerholt. They both had a boy named Robin Aiden. They concluded their world tour, but followed it up with a short "Theatre Tour" to complete it like this completely in 2009, in which Stephen van Haestregt was not present, temporarily replacing him with Mike Coolen (Brotherhood Foundation, Daybroke). That same year they released An Acoustic Night At The Theatre, an album that contains several of their hits in acoustic versions and an unpublished song called "Utopia" with the participation of singer Chris Jones.

The Unforgiving (2011–2012)

Member of Within Temptation in Q Music studies.

The first mention for the new album was in October 2008, when the band was wrapping up their The Heart of Everything tour. Originally the album was going to be proposed as a soundtrack for a movie, however a movie can delay its release which could in turn delay the release of the album. Singer Sharon den Adel said in an interview:

What happened is that we wanted to write the soundtrack for a movie. We were looking for a good movie, with a good story and they all had different premiere dates. If something goes wrong, a movie can be easily postponed for the next year, and we couldn't risk it, if we didn't have to postpone our album too. So we decided to take letters on the matter.

So the band decided to create their own story so they went to the Chronicles of Spellborn writer, whom they met after working on the song The Howling to promote the game, he invited Steven O'Connell to join the project. At first O'Connell proposed to the band a more fantastic story, with zombies, but that didn't convince Within Temptation, they were looking for something more mature and mysterious. Then they talked to him about what kind of movies and books they liked, about Based on that, he came up with a story about people who have done things wrong but not because they are bad, but because they made bad decisions. During the creation process, the band was also bringing their own ideas, at first the character of Sinéad was called "Maya", a woman from South America, but when the music for Sinéad was finished, they felt that that name didn't fit, so they asked Steven if they could change his name, to which he replied: Well, that's a good idea. Let's bring her back to Dublin! When the three short films and music videos were filmed: Mother Maiden (Faster), Sinéad and Triplets (Shot in the Dark), the band decided to focus more on the stories than on the parts where the group would appear:

We wanted to spend all the money on the recordings. You have a budget and had to make decisions and to be honest MTV and all that is similar are not as important as they were before. And when you're making a music video, they always say you can't show blood, or use guns, and we wanted to show everything: blood, guns, everything!

The album was originally planned to be recorded in 2009, but was delayed by the birth of the second child of vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. In an interview for Metal-Ways at Appelpop 2008, Westerholt stated about the album:

In the second half of 2010 the band began recording their new album with Swedish drummer Nicka Hellenberg, in February 2011 Mike Coolen became the band's official drummer. The album titled The Unforgiving, was released on March 25, 2011 along with a series of comics and a series of short films, to encompass the concept of the stories and coincided with the birth of singer Sharon den Adel's third child. This is the group's first concept album, a comic book and three short films have also been released. The album has been so successful and critically acclaimed that the band themselves called it "a true masterpiece, great style and epic sound"..The Unforgiving sold over 100,000 copies in the first two weeks of its release. The album's three singles were "Faster", "Sinéad" and "Shot in the Dark", they were released as promotional videos and also played on local radio stations. Faster was released through the 96.3 Rock Radio station, also through the band's YouTube channel. The music video for the single was officially released on January 31, 2011 along with the short film Mother Maiden. About the sound of the song that is similar to that of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, vocalist Sharon den Adel said in an interview for the metal-ways.com site:

Yes, it has the same atmosphere. It has similar chords, almost the same ones, but it's different... So, we thought “Oh, we re-written Wicked Game” and then “No, the chord scheme is different, we don’t have to worry. And it’s an original song written by us!” (Laughter)” ! Yes!”

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To promote the album, the band went on an international tour which began in August 2011 and ended in November 2012. As of December 31, Within Temptation was the 91st most listened to band worldwide in 2011 on the site Last.fm, with 90,000 new listeners, ranked 18th in Russia, 23rd in Poland, 41st in Finland and 56th in Germany, 79th in Brazil and 90th in Chile. In November 2012 the The band celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with the project Within Temptation Friday in collaboration with the Belgian radio station Q-Music, which consisted of recording a different cover of a song every Friday. famous. The covers began on Friday, September 7, 2012. There were fifteen covers in total, in commemoration of the band's anniversary; the latter was published on December 14, 2012, a month after its anniversary.

Hydra (2013-2016)

The album features four guest vocalists each with a different musical style. Photo: Jones, Xzibit, Turunen and Pirner.

The process for the sixth studio album began in 2012, and in the first half of the year the band had six songs already written. The album was scheduled to be released worldwide in September, by their new label BMG, and in the Netherlands by Universal Music. Within Temptation is also scheduled to perform at some summer festivals such as Nova Roca, Gateway rock Festival and the Greenfield Festival. The band also released a covers album on April 19, titled The Q-Music Sessions, containing 11 of the 15 songs made by the band on Belgian Q-music radio, all of them consist of famous hits performed in the style of Within Temptation. day they released the music video "Titanium." On June 16, Within Temptation recorded the first music video for the new album. During a series of statements about the progress of recording the album, Westerholt stated that he exerted his guttural voice on the album. By mid-May, the Bassist Jeroen van Veen went to the studio to record the bass parts for the first five songs. On July 12, the band released a preview of the album with no relevant details. "Paradise (What About Us?)", also a sneak peek revealing some lyrics and a guitar solo awaiting release. The band finally got a deal in North America by signing with Nuclear Blast and about this deal company president Monte Conner stated that "there are very few bands whose genre is continually at as high a level as Within Temptation. That is why they have such loyal fans. I am delighted that they chose Nuclear Blast Entertainment as their partner in the United States. His followers are in for a pleasant surprise at the end of the year." They also managed to sign a licensing deal with Dramatic for the UK release of the album.

On August 30, it was announced that the first single "Paradise (What About Us)" would be released as an EP with three songs from the upcoming album in demo form, these being "Let Us Burn", "Silver Moonlight » and «Dog Days». Announcing it, den Adel said: “For the release of these demos we want to invite the fans to our home studio and show how we write songs in the initial phase of creating the new album. These demo versions are far from their final sound, but they will give you an idea of what we're working on. It will be fascinating to hear how the end result is going to be once the album is released." On September 13, the group officially announced Tarja Turunen as a guest vocalist on the song. The EP was released on September 27. The second promotional single, "Dangerous" was released on December 20 and features featuring former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones. Hydra was finally released on January 31, 2014, in Europe on February 4 in North America and the UK.

The live band at the M'era Luna Festival

The album debuted at number six on the UK charts on February 9, 2014, making Hydra the band's highest charting chart in the UK, compared to with The Unforgiving at number twenty-three. In the Netherlands, Hydra also returned to the top position on the charts since the release of The Heart of Everything in 2007, though The Unforgiving peaked at number two. The album also peaked at number one on the Czech Republic chart. entering the Billboard 200 in the United States at number twenty. Hydra sold 15,000 copies in the first week of release, a much better position than its predecessor The Unforgiving. high in Austria, France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Resist and den Adel's personal project (2017-2019)

On November 3, 2017, the band changed their website and social media to display 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: "My Indigo". During this process, she regained the inspiration to write again for the band, and the songs for a Within Temptation's new album are currently in production which will be released in 2018.

The album, titled Resist, was announced through Metal Hammer magazine for December 14, 2018, although a few weeks earlier the band announced that the album's release would be delayed until December 1 February 2019, the date of his official departure.

World Collide Tour and eighth studio album (2020-present)

On September 17, 2019 the band announced the Worlds Collide Tour a joint tour with Evanescence in April and May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was originally postponed to September 2020 But it was also postponed to September 2021.

On April 30, 2020, the band announced the release of a new single on May 8, 2020, "Entertain You", scheduled to be part of the upcoming studio album.

In an interview with Audio Ink Radio, vocalist Sharon den Adel had confirmed that the band plans to release more new music in the coming months, stating:

We've only recorded two songs, and we have many models. So we'll just start with that, make those models real and eventually, next year, we'll also launch some songs again. Eventually there will be an album, but it is not yet complete, so we have to start writing also some additional new songs to complete it.

Musical style

For a while, Within Temptation had a Gothic metal influence were part of its original sound, especially in its first releases albums.

With the release of the album Enter (1997), music critics have described it as a subgenre of gothic metal, saying about it: "the music is painfully slow and more depressing than other gothic metal bands like Theater of Tragedy or Tristania". In addition, some critics appreciated the songwriting and strong guitar riffs, and praised Robert Westerholt and Sharon den Adel. The EP The Dance (1998) marked "an important step in the group's career", which "presents their musical maturity by exploring the parameters of neo-classical orchestral metal".

The release of Mother Earth (2000) represents a turning point in terms of the band's style. Robert Westerholt ceased to be the male vocalist and Sharon den Adel kept her "angelic" voice. They took charge of melodic songs, Celtic influences and neofolk music. Critics, on Internet portals, have praised the album and defined it as "a new dimension in terms of metal music", the tool used to compose CDs was the keyboard, their songs are atmospheric and cheesy. Critic Robert Taylor All Music Guide concluded his review this way: "Mother Earth is a album that sets new standards in creativity, musicality and taste - not only in metal, but also for any other kind of genre."

With Daniel Gibson as the main producer, the album The Silent Force (2004) was described as "very melodic, interesting and relaxed", but some critics have condemned the decision to adopt a style more commercial: "Sometimes the album sounds like Evanescence" and they commented that "the video "Stand My Ground" sounds quite similar to that of "Bring Me To Life"". However, some reviewers praised it, commenting, regarding the electronic effects introduced: "the record has a more modern feel than Mother Earth».

After the publication of The Heart of Everything specialized criticism was encouraged, their opinions were divided. Although some say that it is a "very superficial record, for purely commercial reasons, too sweet and uninspired to be a good record", others appreciated the group's new stylistic direction and classify the material "for an LP containing in general, a good variety of songs, melodies and vocal performance". Also, the editors of the website PopMatters , said that The Heart of Everything is a fantastic album. The album received praise from one of the editors of About.com, "they have the optimal balance of the melody and attraction of Rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark touch of gothic metal". With the release of The Unforgiving (2011) a large number of critics have noted a change in the band's musical style. Although the material has received generally favorable reactions, a few reviewers have derided it. album, with titles such as "gothic metal music meets ABBA music". On the other hand, there were many opinions that the group appreciates the change in style, saying about The Unforgiving that it "has influences from the 1980s and pop music sounds very commercial". Critic Trey Spencer concluded his analysis of said material by commenting "The Unforgiving is without a doubt Within Temptation's most ambitious album and also one of the best of his career."

After the release of Hydra the band was once again praised by the graphic media. The music magazine Reflections of Darkness gave it ten points out of ten, denoting it as more "earthy and modern" than previous works, which projected an atmosphere of "heavenly romance and coldness". While commenting on the new "fashion influences" introduced by the featured artists and other musical trends, the review concluded by saying that "through it all, there are elements of symphonic and progressive metal for those who never tire of perfection, who value high-quality music and who are not alien to classical heritage". British rock website Rock n Reel gave the album four out of five stars, also noting the "mixture of styles" presented, with a mention special to the introduction of rap verses in the song «And we run» (a cross, therefore, of rap / nu metal), and comparing the collaboration with Xzibit with Linkin Park and Jay-Z, with the verdict «it works quite well good". Additionally, the reviewer described the album as "full of synths, ethereal guitars, excellent backing vocals and harmony".

With the album Resist (2019) it has been explained by Den Adel as an expression of pop music in conjunction and harmony with the modern metal genre. The style of Resist was created from pop melodies and sounds that the band members liked, achieving a powerful and strong sounding album. The theme of Resist has been publicized as today's world that corresponds to the futuristic world of the past, with the penetration of technology and practically all areas of life; the use of information, oppressive forces, post-truth, power and politics constitute the general argument of the concept of Resist.

Music tours

• Enter Tour (1997-1999)
• Mother Earth Tour (2000-2003)
• The Silent Force Tour (2004-2006)
• The Heart Of Everything World Tour (2007-2009) and Theater Tour (2010)
• The Unforgiving Tour (2011-2013)
• Hydra World Tour (2014)
• The Resist Tour (2018)
• Worlds Collide Tour (2022)

Training

Within Temptation during a live concert. Formation from left to right: van Veen, Jolie, Spierenburg, Coolen, Helleblad, den Adel.

Members

• Sharon den Adel - Voices (1996–present)
• Robert Westerholt - Guitar (1996–present; study since 2011)
• Jeroen van Veen - bass (1996–present)
• Rudolf Adrianus Jolie - Guitar (2001–present)
• Martijn Spierenburg - Keyboard (2001–present)
• Mike Coolen - Battery (2011–present)
• Stefan Helleblad - Guitar (on tour) (2011–present)

Former members

• Stephen van Haestregt - Battery (2001-2010)
• Ciro Palma - Battery (1998-1999)
• David Martijn Westerholt - Keyboard (1996-2001)
• Ivar de Graaf - Battery (1996-1999, 1999-2001)
• Michiel Papenhove - Guitar (1996-2001)
• Jelle Bakker - Guitar (2001)
• Dennis Leeflang - Battery (1996)
• Richard Willemse - Battery (1996)

Timeline

Discography

Studio Albums

• Enter (1997)
• Mother Earth (2000)
• The Silent Force (2004)
• The Heart of Everything (2007)
• The Unforgiving (2011)
• Hydra (2014)
• Resist (2019)

EP

• The Dance (1998)
• The Howling (2007)
• Paradise (What About Us?) (2013)

Live Albums

• Mother Earth Tour (2003)
• The Silent Force Tour (2005)
• Black Symphony (2008)
• An Acoustic Night At The Theatre (2009)
• Let Us Burn - Elements & Hydra Live In Concert (2014)

Compilation Albums

• The Q-Music Sessions (2013)

Videography

Awards and nominations