Within Temptation
The Heart Of Everything

THE REVIEW

Within Temptation started as a band of friends playing the type of music they were passionate about, without too many pretenses. In 1997, when the only leading names among the very few metal bands with a female voice were The Gathering and Theatre Of Tragedy, the group from Utrecht made their entrance into the scene with the album "Enter," an unripe but explosive mix of doom guitars, guttural vocals, female angelic voice, and solemn keyboards. Following the debut's pattern, the band released an EP the following year titled "The dance," containing unreleased tracks, remixes, and acoustic versions of already published songs.

In 2000, "Mother earth" saw the light, still an unsurpassable masterpiece of their career, crowned by melancholic atmospheres reminiscent of Celtic folklore. Despite the unparalleled quality, success was slow to come, and it was only thanks to the contract with Gun Records, able to offer the band a wider distribution, that the single "Ice queen" began to nest in many heads, transforming Sharon Den Adel and company from a small niche band to an international phenomenon. From here on, some minor tension within the band started to be felt. The fans have increased, and expectations toward the new album could not be disappointed. Four years of hard work led Within Temptation to release "The silent force," work that established them as a cult band even outside the old continent, granting them media visibility only Evanescence and Lacuna Coil enjoyed. However, their music underwent an unthinkable transformation. The self-imposed commercial shift is more than evident; they favor uniform songwriting and memorable choruses over the magical atmospheres of the past. Thanks to collaboration with an orchestra, the symphonic aspect is also highlighted, yet it damages the performance of the instrumentalists and offers the compositions a distinctly pop flavor. The only sign of improvement comes from Sharon's voice, more versatile and intense than ever. "The silent force" wasn't a bad album. Despite an evident economic mechanism tainting the band's sincerity, it even had the prerequisites to surpass the previous one; it was the heavy compositional staticity, the superficiality of the guitar parts, and the overabundance of orchestrations that prevented it from becoming a masterpiece.

In 2006, the beautiful country welcomed the band for the first time on one of its most renowned stages, that of the Evolution Festival. Thanks to a prominent position in the lineup and the disappointing performance of the evening's headliners, Within Temptation took home the trophy for the most heartfelt performance of the day. However, it was sad to see how there were more young girls infatuated with Sharon's moves than listeners enraptured by the sonic beauty like myself, who still can't consider the said performance as the best of the day due to an evident intention of the band to focus all its energy on the singer, the only pillar in rendering some simplistic songs, among which the sly "Stand my ground" prevails. The premises that led me to approach the new album were not among the best, especially considering the fact that after the Tarja Turunen-Nightwish split, something in the music market shifted; all the leading names of the female branch of the metal world decided to compete in a breathless race for the success the Finns achieved with the masterpiece "Once." In chronological order, Lacuna Coil, Theatre Of Tragedy, Evanescence, Tristania, Within Temptation, After Forever, and last, the renewed Nightwish (only Epica decided to wait) have made a return or will do so in the upcoming months. The verve of the past, which some had unfortunately lost along the way, seems not to have abandoned the Dutch sextet, who with "The heart of everything" decided to amaze critics and fans.

For what is defined as the first true metal album of their career, Within Temptation wanted to do things on a grand scale, perfecting what was done well in the past and purging their sound of some stylistic impurities that now seem a distant memory. The symphonic parts take a backseat, and the rough guitars of the Jolie-Westerholt pair, the diverse rhythms created by Stephen van Haestregt's drums and Jeroen van Veen's bass, upon which Martijn Spierenburg's romantic keyboards stand out, burst into the sonic economy. New ingredients are also added to the mix: acoustic guitar, mandolin, male backing vocals, and cinematic samples intensify the emotional impact of the tracks. Sharon's performance behind the microphone is superb: the singer has developed her style in an incredible way, interpreting each track differently. High tones often give way to low ones, and in some passages, we find surprising operatic parentheses. In other reviews, I have described Floor Jansen's as the best female voice in metal, but I was forced to reconsider. Sharon's interpretation is so intimate and delicate that it borders on perfection; I am increasingly convinced that if angels had a voice, it would probably be hers. The lyrics, written four-handedly by the beautiful singer and her husband, tackle deep themes such as love, sins, doubts, regrets, lies, and truths. Among decadent images, romantic emotional introspections, and amorous stylistic dedications, they search for the center of everything, of every system, and in particular, of man. The heart is seen as the compass rose of life, allowing one to understand their mistakes, suggesting how to remedy them, and what is right to believe in.

"The bowling," the opening track, is a clear demonstration of the new direction taken by the band. Not even the catchiness of the chorus undermines the hardness and power of the guitar plots and the roughness of the vocals in the verses. The lead single "What have you done" features Keith Caputo from Life Of Agony, and the duet between his voice and Sharon's is truly beautiful, their voices blend perfectly, but the coordinates on which the track moves are too indebted to the Evanescence of "Fallen"; those who don't appreciate the American band might struggle to appreciate this track, though it is intense and well-orchestrated. "Frozen" presents the band’s poppiest side to fans; here the guitars make room for vocal sweetness to give a subtly metallic tone to the whole, but here come majestic Latin choruses introducing us to the most operatic episode, also the first highlight of the opus, "Our solemn hour." Therion should learn from Within Temptation how to better balance choral parts; they might seem more digestible and less dispersive. The track that gives the album its title follows, resuming the discourse initiated by "The bowling." A piano, a mandolin, and a cello introduce us to "Hand of sorrow," the second peak of the record where the orchestra and guitars become a single body and Sharon's performance is superb, especially in the chorus. All the elements of previous tracks (pop, rock, metal, gothic, and classical music) are then summarized in "The cross." To describe "Final destination," one could use the term "Film score metal," not intended in the manner of Rhapsody, but identifying a type of song of clear metal matrix that could serve as a backdrop to cinematic images (the track is indeed inspired by the first episode of the homonymous American saga). Anyone wishing to melt their heart in a passionate love song must not miss "All I need," an anthological ballad entirely written and arranged by Sharon.

Until this point, the album settles on medium-high levels, but it is with the next two songs that it verges on absolute perfection. Nightwish composed a symphonic masterpiece like "Ghost love score"? So be it, Within Temptation can even do better. In "The truth beneath the rose," the masterpiece of the album and all of symphonic metal, all the elements that distinguished them in these ten years of activity converge. We find the Gothic solemnity of "Enter," the heartrending melancholy of "Mother earth," and the symphonic grandeur of the best episodes of "The silent force." Adding to all this an emotional crescendo that culminates in an incredible finale, which I still can't describe with simple words, the band arrogantly snatches the scepter that had so far belonged to Tuomas Holopainen's band. The lyrics revolve around the concept that it is important to always seek the truth, even when everything instilled in us since childhood by external influences has always tried to hide it from us. I can confidently say this is the most beautiful song ever written by Within Temptation, who demonstrate they have nothing left to envy from other bands. As if that weren't enough, a very delicate piano and Sharon's soothing and satisfied voice give us another masterpiece, another beautiful ballad named "Forgiven."

Forgive the length of the review, I assure you the album deserves even more attention than I have given it. Open your eyes and forget the little misstep of "The silent force"; only a few chosen ones will be able to offer us absolute works like "The heart of everything," so intense and disarming in their sincerity.