WITHIN TEMPTATION – The Heart Of Everything

Within Temptation should not be an unknown name to Metalheadz around in the world. Since the start of 1999, the Dutch band has had a quite successful career and has gained a lot of loyal fans all over the world. Their previous album, The Silent Force, sold 1.5 million copies in Europe and gained them gold and platinum records in numerous countries. Awarded “The Best Video of 2006” at the Metal Hammer Awards, they have earned a lot of publicity and lots of new fans. Now they have a fifth release out and they sound fresher than ever! Within Temptation is out to gain something big this year. There’s no doubt!

The band is releasing a completely new ground-shaking record these days. The Heart Of Everything is a masterpiece! It’s epic, rough, and heavy, with a nice combination between intense, heavy guitar riffs and beautiful orchestrations. On top of this, you have Sharon den Adel’s instinctive Pop voice. On this record, den Adel really shows her vocal abilities. She introduces the listener to a rough and powerful voice as well as singing with a more melodic-sounding voice. During the soft parts of songs, she sounds very emotional and sensitive, which makes the setting amazingly good. This is an album that features a lot of energy. It’s very dynamic, energetic, and intense, as well as romantic and emotional. The Heart Of Everything has what the band calls “a more natural sound.”

Opening track “The Howling” is an epical masterpiece. It starts out with a symphonic intro and goes over into an intense, heavy part involving the whole band and the entire orchestra/choir. It sounds very interesting. Everything sounds so massive and majestic; most of that is thanks to the orchestra. Towards the end of the song, there’s a beautiful soft part with only orchestra and Sharon. Her voice sounds amazing, filled with the greatest passion. Then they kick into the last refrain and end the song with the intro orchestral riff. It’s a terrific track and is a good enough reason alone to check out this album.

The hit song from The Heart Of Everything is said to be “What Have You Done,” which features Keith Caputo on vocals. It’s not a bad song, but the male vocal puts a bad twist into it. The intro sounds pretty good until Caputo comes in. The way he sings during the refrain could remind you of Linkin Park, and that’s not a compliment! He does a fine job during the verse, though, highly assisted by Sharon. The music itself sounds incredible. All in all, a fine piece of work, but the male vocals should have been seriously considered before they entered the studio.

“Frozen” is a track that begins with a lovely piano/vocal part on violins. Sharon’s voice sounds really great and the soft parts are maybe what she does best when it comes to the vocals on this record. Of course, she is amazingly good in the heavy parts as well, but her voice is something different when the more romantic parts come in. You can actually feel all the fervency she brings out through the music.

All in all, The Heart Of Everything stands out as one of the greatest Symphonic Metal releases so far this year. The material on this one is very strong musically. Can they stand the test of time is another consideration. Within Temptation has not created anything new with this one. They’re still where they were during their previous releases, but there’s nothing bad about that. As long as they keep writing good music, they’ll still be looked upon as a great band. And with an album like this, their career will follow the same direction as before; towards the top. Within Temptation will hit the road in April, touring the U.K for a few dates. They are well-known for their great shows and should definitely be seen live!

Lineup

Sharon den Adel – vocals
Robert Westerholt – guitar
Ruud Jolie – guitar
Jeroen Van Veen – bass
Stephen van Haestregt – drums
Martijn Spierenburg – keyboards