Within Temptation – The Silent Force

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impulse buy

Roadrunner Records
Produced by Danielle Gibson

Holland’s Within Temptation have finally hit English soil. This, their third album, is the first to see domestic release in the UK courtesy of Roadrunner Records. And because it’s taken so long (it was released throughout the rest of Europe by GUN/BMG last November) we get a special edition with two bonus tracks. A further two-disc digipak edition also contains a DVD of footage from the Rock Am Ring 2005 Festival.

The double disc digipak edition proudly displays a quote from a recent review on a sticker on the front. It reads: “Extravagant, hopelessly romantic pop-metal at it’s best”. Pop Metal? I don’t think so. Vocalist Sharon den Adel doesn’t agree either. But still, there it is. Ah well, it’s from a very popular UK metal magazine, with a four-star rating, so the public will probably not bat an eye-lid. So long as it sells, that’s the important thing.

Many Within Temptation fans have been complaining that the band have suddenly gone “poppy”. They’re wrong. Perhaps the riffs are a little more modern-alternative than classic-metallic, but otherwise the band are no different now than they were on previous album Mother Earth. There are no strings though. The Silent Force has pretty much done away with the Celtic string melodies of previous efforts. This could be for one album, could be for good. We’ll have to wait and see. The other difference now, of course, is that the band are finally popular and less “underground”. Sold out, obviously.

Tracks like Jillian (I’d Give My Heart), Stand My Ground and Aquarius are equally strong, if not stronger than the bands previous output. With the Celtic strings of old gone there’s more room for the metal elements of Within Temptation’s sound. This gives the new songs more power than before, with the guitars benefiting from not being buried under layers of strings and choirs. The background choirs and the keyboards provide all the light and shade, while the bass and drums are brought to the fore. Of course, any band that comes into the public eye with an operatic female vocalist these days is instantly compared to Evanescence, which is both unfair and unrealistic, it’s just the only point of reference most people have.

There are a couple of mistakes in this package which could mislead. First off, Stand My Ground and Angels are the wrong way round in DVD tracklist. And secondly the booklet contains lyrics to A Dangerous Mind and The Swan Song, which were the bonus tracks on the original European digipak edition. They are not present on the UK edition and are replaced by Destroyed and Jane Doe.

The only problem with this record, and indeed previous records, is that too much of it in a row can get slightly dull. There’s not much variation from song to song, in terms of content, structure or sound, so while getting to the end isn’t difficult as such, you might be likely to stop paying a great deal of attention past track six.

“ more modern-alternative ”

Tracklist: Intro / See Who I Am / Jillian (I’d Give My Heart) / Stand My Ground / Pale / Forsaken / Angels / Memories / Aquarius / It’s The Fear / Somewhere / Destroyed / Jane Doe

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Gothic, Within Temptation