Formed in 1996 by guitarist Robert Westerholt and vocalist Sharon den
Adel, ably assisted by bassist Jeroen van Veen, the Dutch quintet set
out to create music that would strike a sublime balance between the
bold, evocative sweep of cinema soundtracks and the brooding, gothic
splendour of the finest dark-hued rock and metal of the modern age. A
well-kept secret in the Netherlands for the first few years of their
existence, the band exploded into the mainstream spotlight across Europe
upon the release of their second album, Mother Earth, in 2000. Since
then, they have gone from strength to strength selling in excess of 2.8
Million CDs & DVDs with releases in 48 countries, receiving 30 Gold
and Platinum awards and 4 Export Awards of the Netherlands as well 2 MTV
European Music Awards, 2 World Music Awards and many more.
Completed by lead guitarist Ruud Jolie and keyboard maestro Martijn
Spierenburg (drummer Stephen van Haestregt departed in 2010), the
current Within Temptation line-up has experienced huge commercial
success in their native country and elsewhere, as albums like 2004’s The
Silent Force and its sumptuous follow-up, 2007’s The Heart Of
Everything, have mesmerised an ever-expanding fan base, setting new
standards for symphonic rock and metal along the way. A formidable live
band, whose extravagant shows have become legendary thanks to releases
like 2008’s lavish Black Symphony DVD set, Within Temptation are now in
an unassailable position as one of the continent’s biggest rock bands,
but far from settling into complacency, this new year brings both a new
sound and new perspective to the band’s unique world.
Their brand new album, The Unforgiving, marks a radical change in
terms of both musical direction and imagery, as Westerholt explains…
“Our first feeling was that we just couldn’t do the same things
again,” he states. “What we’ve been doing for all these years is trying
to create our own sound. On our last album, The Heart Of Everything, we
achieved our goal. For us, it’s the perfect album in that style. So the
mission was over and now we had to do something new and free ourselves
from any rules. We wanted to do something fresh but what we also didn’t
want to do was force ourselves to do something different that we didn’t
feel. It had to be natural. As we started to write new songs we became
liberated and started to think ‘Yes, this is where we are now and it
feels good!’”
A dazzling tour-de-force of state-of-the-art hard rock, gleaming pop
melodies, razor-sharp arrangements and powerful, shadow-shrouded
atmospheres, The Unforgiving is quite unlike any previous Within
Temptation album. Every one of its 12 tracks boasts a huge, instantly
memorable melody, and yet there is enormous diversity and versatility on
display here, as the band move skilfully from the instant thrills of
the anthemic ‘Shot In The Dark’, the blissfully metallic ‘In The Middle
Of The Night’ and the soaring menace of Faster (the first radio single)
through to the epic bombast of ‘Iron’, the exhilarating drama of ‘Where
Is The Edge’ and the irresistible disco thump of ‘Sinéad’. This is the
sound of a great band on the form of their lives, as they explore every
facet of their own sound and their own music collections, revelling in
the multi-layered and consistently fascinating outcome.
“In a strange way, it also felt like we were getting back to our
roots on this album,” notes Westerholt. We come from the late ‘80s and
early ‘90s, that’s our musical birthplace. You always want to do
something new, but we also went back to that time and embraced it. All
these melodies and the feelings in the music of those times, bands like
Sisters Of Mercy and Marillion, Europe and A-Ha, Depeche Mode and
Metallica, those kinds of bands. That’s all inside of us, and that’s
what came out when we wrote these songs.”
In keeping with their fresh musical outlook, Within Temptation have
also moved purposefully away from the windswept fantasies of previous
albums this time round. The Unforgiving is not just an album: it is also
a comic book and a series of extended video clips that all form part of
a dark and compelling tale of life, love, revenge, rage and regret.
Based around a concept devised by American writer Stephen O’Connell
(BloodRayne/Dark 48) and its graphic novelette manifestation illustrated
by comic book artist Romano Molenaar (Witchblade/Darkness/X-Men), The
Unforgiving comprises 12 songs, (each) focusing on the perspective of
one of the story’s principal characters and their experiences.
“We didn’t want to make a traditional concept album where you just
make up a story and write lyrics to tell the tale,” explains Westerholt.
“What we’ve always done in the past when we read a book or saw a movie,
is that it inspires us to write a lyric or a song, and that’s how we
wanted to approach this. We have 12 tracks and they’re soundtracks to
the story.”
Although Westerholt and his band mates are eager to let fans discover
the dark wonders of The Unforgiving for themselves, the guitarist
offers this brief and enigmatic explanation of what the story itself is
about. “People’s lives can go in different ways, depending on where they
come from, who their family is and who or what crosses their path,” he
says. “So this is a story about how in certain lives things go very
wrong for people and some people get a second chance, after their death,
to come to terms with what happened in life. On the surface it’s about
bad guys hunting bad guys, but underneath the surface it’s more about
the stories behind these people, their lives, what they are searching
for and what’s life all about.”
In addition to the album and accompanying comic book, Within
Temptation have also been working hard on another visual adaptation of
The Unforgiving, resulting in three long-form promo videos for the songs
‘Faster’, ‘Shot In The Dark’ and ‘Sinéad’. All three begin with several
minutes of dramatic narrative action before the band appears to perform
the songs themselves, looking effortlessly stylish of course! “For me, a
comic book is not childish, it’s like a movie to me,” says Westerholt.
“By making these movies we can give the story a wider perspective and
bring in the people who aren’t so interested in the comic. I’ve always
loved comics but they’re not for everybody!”
Initial plans to tour immediately in support of The Unforgiving were,
of course, shelved after the announcement that the band’s resident
husband and wife team, Robert Westerholt and Sharon den Adel, are
expecting their third child later in 2011. However, even though fans are
now obliged to wait for a few extra months before seeing their
favourite band in action once more, Westerholt insists that the benefits
of this unexpected pause will far outweigh the disadvantages. Whatever
happens, 2011 will belong to Within Temptation…
“We’re in a luxurious position now because we’ve finished the album,
we’ve finished all of our videos and now we have months to really work
on the tour and the show,” states the guitarist. “We really want to make
this the most interesting and challenging show we’ve done. This album
is so perfect for that, so we’re in a great position creatively. It’s
worst for the people who bought tickets and now they have to wait for
months, but I think we can do something even better now for them.
It’s an exciting time!”
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