Within Temptation

Within Temptation

Within Temptation is a band that was founded in 1996 by guitarist Robert Westerholt and vocalist Sharon den Adel. They quickly added Jeroen van Veen on the bass guitar, Martijn Westerholt at the keyboard and following a succession of short lived drummers Ivar de Graaf on the drums. The band is from the Netherlands and their music is described as symphonic metal. They were quickly offered a recording contract and signed with DSFA Records. Then they began working on their first release. Their debut album, Enter, was released in 1997. The album was well received and the band then embarked on a four stop tour across the country, after which they were asked to perform at the Dynamo Open Air Festival in Eindoven,, one of the Netherland’s largest heavy metal festivals. The band finished 1997 by embarking on their first international tour, of Germany and Austria. In 1998 the band continued to tour actively, their profile had elevated them to the main stage at the Dynamo for the 1998 event. However, Within Temptation had not released new material and did not have plans for a second album at that point. Thus they elected to release an EP called The Dance. Finally taking a break from touring in 1999, the band took a sobatical and took the time and opportunity to construct their own studio. They returned to work in 2000 and played at three Dutch Festivals; Waterpop, Bospop, and Lowlands. They went to work on their second album, releasing Mother Earth on December 1, 2000. The album was a hit, receiving postive reviews throughout Europe and the album was a favorite of the Dutch music charts. The band first released a single, Our Farewell, which never entered the charts. The second single from Mother Earth, Ice Queen, was regarded as the breakthrough rlease for the band. In 2001 it climbed to number four in the Netherlands but was teh first number one single when it climbed to the top in Belgium. The success rebounded to Mother Earth, which continued to climb in the Dutch album charts, ending the year at number three. They also saw a number of changes in personnel in 2001. Ruud Adrianus Jolie was added as a second guitarist. Drummer Ivar de Graaf was replaced by Stephen van Haestregt, and Martijn Westerholt whom was suffering from infectious mononucleosis was replaced by Martijn Spierenburg. Martijn Westerholt would later start the band Delain. The band’s appeal grew in 2002 with their first concert in France and even a headline gig in Mexico City. They attended their first major award, the Dutch Silver Harp. They bostered this by embarking on a major international tour supporting Paradise Lost in 2003. They rereleased Mother Earth on the GUN Records label across more European countries. It was a particularly large succes sin Germany where it went platinum and reached number seven in the charts. Running Up That Hill was released the same year in the Benelux regions of Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) and it is a compilationg of the bands work at music festivals across the Netherlands. Their Mother Earth Tour DVD claimed the prestigious Edison Award. The band released The Silent Force on November 15, 2004 across Europe. It almost instantly reached number one in their homeland and charted well in many European countries. In support of the release of The Silent Forced they embarked on another large international tour in 2005. In January of 2006, Within Temptation won the Dutch Pop Prize (Best Dutch Pop Contribution) and the Dutch Export Prize (Best-selling Dutch artist outside the Netherlands), the latter 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. The new album, The Heart of Everything from Within Temptation has been released in March in the Netherlands and most of Europe and is due for release in the United States toward the end of July. Their tracks can be heard on their my space along with two songs The Howling and The Sound of Freedom both of which were recorded as promotion material for the video game The Chronicles of Spellborn. The band will embark on their first North American tour with Lacuna Coil in May. The album has already debuted as the number one album in the Dutch Alnum 100 making it their second number one album. It’s also the first any Dutch act has ever charted within the United World Chart. Keith Caputo of Life of Agony guests on the song What Have You Done.

Discography (That I Own)

1. Enter 1997 – The very first album released by Within Temptation. The first thing I noticed about this album was the marvelous atmospheric music. Then came the beautiful voice of Sharon den Adel. After hearing this album, I could understand why they quickly became a hit in Europe.
2. The Dance 1998 – Their first EP album. This album has a bit of a gothic edge to it with angelic vocals by Sharon den Adel and the occasional male vocals by Robert Westerholt. I liked the atmospheric sound of this album.
3. Mother Earth 2000 – The second full length album by Within Temptation. This is the album that gained them recognition throughout Europe. This album alternates between a heavy metal symphonic sound to an atmospheric symphonic goth sound.
4. The Silent Force 2004 – The third full length album by Within Temptation. This is the first album by Within Temptation that I got my hands on. I had heard a song called Forsaken that came from this album and decided that the song was so good that I should check out the album. Thus I did and found that there were songs I liked far better on the album. The Silent Force was such a marvelous album that I became interested in learning more about Within Temptation and thus got their other albums. This album can very easily be classified as symphonic metal and the angelic vocals of Sharon den Adel are magnificent on this album.
5. The Heart of Everything 2007 – The fourth full length album by Within Temptation. This album is due for release in the the States in July of this year. I downloaded this album at one of the paid download sites. The first song I heard from this album was What Have You Done in which Sharon den Adel sings with Life of Agony’s Keith Caputo. I really liked the song but found that I enjoyed the first song of the album, The Howling, far better. This album is not quite as symphonic as their previous album and possesses more of a metal rock edge to some of the songs. Sharon den Adel’s voice is marvelous and she seems to play around with her range showing more of what she can do. The musicians were simply marvelous! I adored the music almost as much as hearing Sharon sing.

In Conclusion
Within Temptation has become one of my favorite bands if not the very favorite (Depends on my mood). With each album they managed to move forward instead of following the trends of most bands who seem to only want to produce exactly what they did before.