Post by nyohah on Apr 6, 2007 22:53:08 GMT
I don't know if this is what we're supposed to do here, but I wrote this ridiculously long review for my livejournal. Feel free to disagree with me on any and all points.
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The newest Within Temptation album, The Heart of Everything, was released in Europe around March 12. This album will be their first to be released in the United States, but it reportedly won't be released here until July 24. The album is their fourth, and it combines everything they've done previously into one great sound.
Within Temptation have always said with each album that it will be different from the previous, and to this point, they've been correct. Their first album, Enter, was
a low-budget, fairly low-sound-quality, slow-tempo, beauty-and-the-beast type gothic album. This meant that while some of the songs featured only lead singer Sharon den Adel's soprano, most of them also had lead guitarist Robert Westerholt's growling. Mother Earth dropped the growls entirely and brought the band much of the way into the pop world with upbeat and catchy, though not necessarily radio-friendly, songs. The defining feel of this album was its frequent use of Celtic-sounding keyboards. Mother Earth was originally released on the same indie Dutch label that released Enter, but due to the success of the hit single "Ice Queen", which I still can't believe people call "gothic metal", the album was re-released throughout continental Europe on a major label. Their first album recorded for a major label, The Silent Force, followed the formula for many major label debuts: a real orchestra took over most of the keyboard parts, and the highly polished and over-produced songs followed a more traditional pop structure--no more were the eight-minute songs. The Silent Force was more an exercise in symphonic pop than symphonic metal, with nearly every song capable of being a breakaway pop single--and three of them were, with no more editing than a slight shortening of the introduction. The album is also highly energetic, with the big orchestra and choir dominating most songs.
The Heart of Everything leaves you with the sense that the band looked back on its history and borrowed the best aspects of its previous three albums, combining them to make the band's best and most balanced sound yet. From Enter, it borrows strong guitar parts, Sharon den Adel's frequent oohing with the background music, and even contains the very subtle background return of the growls (on "Our Solemn Hour" and in very short cameos in a couple other songs). From Mother Earth, it borrows a willingness to play with the classic song structure to mix things up and a more varied and dynamic use of Sharon den Adel's singing abilities. And from The Silent Force it brings the big sound of a real orchestra, inordinately catchy choruses, and highly polished sound, though it doesn't bring all of The Silent Force's indomitable energy.
The biggest feature of the album is, of course, Sharon den Adel's voice, which she utilizes better than ever before. Perhaps she doesn't hit a greater range of notes than on Mother Earth or Enter, but she effortlessly changes her singing style from nearly operatic to purely pop to a low, hoarse, near-growl. It's a nice change after The Silent Force's sole use of her high pop voice.
The second feature of the album is the guitars. For most rock or "gothic metal" bands, this would not be a surprise, but the first time I heard Within Temptation, one of my first reactions was, "Why are the guitars even there? You can only hear the keyboards." I've also called the guitars in Within Temptation music "background noise" rather than an integral part of the song. On The Silent Force, thee guitars were overwhelmed and obviated by the orchestra. On Mother Earth, the keyboards were the primary component of the music. Enter struck a nicer balance between the keyboards and the guitars, but the guitar parts were generally more boring. The Heart of Everything is really the album on which the guitars are the driving force of the song. The orchestra is still there, but it no longer carries the song, and on some songs it may not even be present. I can't remember, exactly, because on many of the songs on which it is present, it's almost subtle, mixed way into the background for much of the song, used for atmosphere and occasionally to emphasize a musical section rather than as the primary (or secondary, after Sharon den Adel's voice) component of the song. Overall, the greater use of guitars leads to a heavier, darker sounding album (but don't worry, this is Within Temptation--it still has its pop sensibilities).
However, The Heart of Everything doesn't seem to have as many fantastic songs as previous albums. I only really like about half of them, while I find the other half to be good songs or okay songs but nothing special. On the other hand, I forget, in my undying love, how many of their previous songs I don't particularly like ("It's the Fear", "Another Day", "Towards the End"...) or really dislike ("In Perfect Harmony", "Grace", "Say My Name"...). The stand-out songs on The Heart of Everything include "The Heart of Everything", with angry-sounding verses, a catchy-but-not-too-catchy chorus, one of the most interesting oohing bits Sharon den Adel has ever done, and, bringing it down a little, hackneyed Halloween organs at the beginning and end; "Our Solemn Hour", with huge choir involvement, fun melodramatic singing in the verses, and a chorus that seems to me to kind of lilty and circular; "The Truth Beneath the Rose", a very earnest eight-minute song; and "The Cross", which may be the most unusual song on the album but also quite possibly my favorite. It's at heart a sort of rock ballad, slow with guitars, but with unusual layers of instrumentation and vocals that make it anything but banal.
Besides "The Cross", the album has three other ballads, which seems unnecessary. "Frozen" is my least favorite song on the album and has a similar rock-ballad feel to "The Cross"--why include both? "All I Need" is purely orchestral and isn't bad, but "Forgiven", which comes almost on "All I Need"'s heels, is better. "Forgiven" itself is like a better version of the Mother Earth B-side "Bittersweet", which always had a tendency to get on my nerves, but it still meanders a bit, as Within Temptation's ballads usually do. Some will disagree with me, but I've always found their ballads a weak point. I would have preferred that they strike "Frozen" and "All I Need" from the album and replace them with harder songs--presuming that some of the as-yet-unreleased songs from this album session were harder. But then they would have no more singles on the album. Nothing on the album matches the perfect cheesy wonder of The Silent Force's last two singles, "Memories" and "Angels". The first single, "What Have You
Done", was the most single-worthy song on the album; despite it's un-Within Temptation-like use of male singing that was part of the reason many fans disliked it and despite its unintentionally funny lyrics ("Would you mind if I killed you?"), an occasional Within Temptation flaw, it was catchy and energetic. "All I Need" is simply nothing special, but I actually dislike "Frozen". I think it's the chorus, which I've finally come to pinpoint as the part of "Stand My Ground" that bugs me. Both songs have the feel of songs that have all the ingredients you might check off a list for the big gothic pop single but are lacking some spark that makes them truly good. I think it's the fact that both songs begin with interesting, promising verses, but move into boring and slightly irritating choruses. If I was given the option and allowed to be daring, I'd put "The Cross" as a single, and, aside from the opening and closing which could probably be made less odd in a single version, I don't think there's anything in the song that would keep it from being well received. Because it also seems to be the favorite on the album of at least two of the band members (Sharon den Adel and guitarist Ruud Jolie), I'll keep my hopes up. But not too high.
All Within Temptation albums must be taken with a strong tolerance or fondness for cheese. This is partly because Within Temptation bases so many of its songs on fantasy.This album is no different. Almost half the album is based on some sort of fiction. First, Within Temptation did some original music for an online MMORPG called The Chronicles of Spellborn. The album's first two tracks, "The Howling" and "What Have You Done" (if I heard the interview right), were written for this game, as was the as-yet-unreleased ballad "The Sound of Freedom". Three other songs on the album were based on movies or books--"Final Destination" on the series of films by the same name, "The Truth Beneath the Rose" on The Da Vinci Code and "Hand of Sorrow" on some fantasy novel. "Final Destination" is a good song, but I find it a little boring. I love the "Truth Beneath the Rose" despite hating The Da Vinci Code--both the music and the lyrics are quite good. "Hand of Sorrow", unfortunately, has the ill-fortune to sound lyrically like the malformed spawn of what I consider the single worst Within Temptation song, "In Perfect Harmony" from Mother Earth (a hippie ballad about the elf-child of the forest, or something), and what I consider one of the best, "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" from The Silent Force (also based on a fantasy novel). Consequently I spend half of the time (mainly verses) cringing and half the time enjoying it a lot. Musically, it sounds more like "Dark Wings" from Mother Earth only better. It has that more Nightwish-ish quality to it that makes "Dark Wings" also not quite blend in with the songs around it.
My overall impression of The Heart of Everything is that it's Within Temptation's best album yet. It may not have the best songs (though it has a few that are spectacular), but the more I think the more I realize it has as many good songs as any of their previous albums. And as a whole, it succeeds more consistently than they did. It has the feel of an album whose creators both finally figured out exactly what sound they wanted to have and had the resources to accomplish it.
---
The newest Within Temptation album, The Heart of Everything, was released in Europe around March 12. This album will be their first to be released in the United States, but it reportedly won't be released here until July 24. The album is their fourth, and it combines everything they've done previously into one great sound.
Within Temptation have always said with each album that it will be different from the previous, and to this point, they've been correct. Their first album, Enter, was
a low-budget, fairly low-sound-quality, slow-tempo, beauty-and-the-beast type gothic album. This meant that while some of the songs featured only lead singer Sharon den Adel's soprano, most of them also had lead guitarist Robert Westerholt's growling. Mother Earth dropped the growls entirely and brought the band much of the way into the pop world with upbeat and catchy, though not necessarily radio-friendly, songs. The defining feel of this album was its frequent use of Celtic-sounding keyboards. Mother Earth was originally released on the same indie Dutch label that released Enter, but due to the success of the hit single "Ice Queen", which I still can't believe people call "gothic metal", the album was re-released throughout continental Europe on a major label. Their first album recorded for a major label, The Silent Force, followed the formula for many major label debuts: a real orchestra took over most of the keyboard parts, and the highly polished and over-produced songs followed a more traditional pop structure--no more were the eight-minute songs. The Silent Force was more an exercise in symphonic pop than symphonic metal, with nearly every song capable of being a breakaway pop single--and three of them were, with no more editing than a slight shortening of the introduction. The album is also highly energetic, with the big orchestra and choir dominating most songs.
The Heart of Everything leaves you with the sense that the band looked back on its history and borrowed the best aspects of its previous three albums, combining them to make the band's best and most balanced sound yet. From Enter, it borrows strong guitar parts, Sharon den Adel's frequent oohing with the background music, and even contains the very subtle background return of the growls (on "Our Solemn Hour" and in very short cameos in a couple other songs). From Mother Earth, it borrows a willingness to play with the classic song structure to mix things up and a more varied and dynamic use of Sharon den Adel's singing abilities. And from The Silent Force it brings the big sound of a real orchestra, inordinately catchy choruses, and highly polished sound, though it doesn't bring all of The Silent Force's indomitable energy.
The biggest feature of the album is, of course, Sharon den Adel's voice, which she utilizes better than ever before. Perhaps she doesn't hit a greater range of notes than on Mother Earth or Enter, but she effortlessly changes her singing style from nearly operatic to purely pop to a low, hoarse, near-growl. It's a nice change after The Silent Force's sole use of her high pop voice.
The second feature of the album is the guitars. For most rock or "gothic metal" bands, this would not be a surprise, but the first time I heard Within Temptation, one of my first reactions was, "Why are the guitars even there? You can only hear the keyboards." I've also called the guitars in Within Temptation music "background noise" rather than an integral part of the song. On The Silent Force, thee guitars were overwhelmed and obviated by the orchestra. On Mother Earth, the keyboards were the primary component of the music. Enter struck a nicer balance between the keyboards and the guitars, but the guitar parts were generally more boring. The Heart of Everything is really the album on which the guitars are the driving force of the song. The orchestra is still there, but it no longer carries the song, and on some songs it may not even be present. I can't remember, exactly, because on many of the songs on which it is present, it's almost subtle, mixed way into the background for much of the song, used for atmosphere and occasionally to emphasize a musical section rather than as the primary (or secondary, after Sharon den Adel's voice) component of the song. Overall, the greater use of guitars leads to a heavier, darker sounding album (but don't worry, this is Within Temptation--it still has its pop sensibilities).
However, The Heart of Everything doesn't seem to have as many fantastic songs as previous albums. I only really like about half of them, while I find the other half to be good songs or okay songs but nothing special. On the other hand, I forget, in my undying love, how many of their previous songs I don't particularly like ("It's the Fear", "Another Day", "Towards the End"...) or really dislike ("In Perfect Harmony", "Grace", "Say My Name"...). The stand-out songs on The Heart of Everything include "The Heart of Everything", with angry-sounding verses, a catchy-but-not-too-catchy chorus, one of the most interesting oohing bits Sharon den Adel has ever done, and, bringing it down a little, hackneyed Halloween organs at the beginning and end; "Our Solemn Hour", with huge choir involvement, fun melodramatic singing in the verses, and a chorus that seems to me to kind of lilty and circular; "The Truth Beneath the Rose", a very earnest eight-minute song; and "The Cross", which may be the most unusual song on the album but also quite possibly my favorite. It's at heart a sort of rock ballad, slow with guitars, but with unusual layers of instrumentation and vocals that make it anything but banal.
Besides "The Cross", the album has three other ballads, which seems unnecessary. "Frozen" is my least favorite song on the album and has a similar rock-ballad feel to "The Cross"--why include both? "All I Need" is purely orchestral and isn't bad, but "Forgiven", which comes almost on "All I Need"'s heels, is better. "Forgiven" itself is like a better version of the Mother Earth B-side "Bittersweet", which always had a tendency to get on my nerves, but it still meanders a bit, as Within Temptation's ballads usually do. Some will disagree with me, but I've always found their ballads a weak point. I would have preferred that they strike "Frozen" and "All I Need" from the album and replace them with harder songs--presuming that some of the as-yet-unreleased songs from this album session were harder. But then they would have no more singles on the album. Nothing on the album matches the perfect cheesy wonder of The Silent Force's last two singles, "Memories" and "Angels". The first single, "What Have You
Done", was the most single-worthy song on the album; despite it's un-Within Temptation-like use of male singing that was part of the reason many fans disliked it and despite its unintentionally funny lyrics ("Would you mind if I killed you?"), an occasional Within Temptation flaw, it was catchy and energetic. "All I Need" is simply nothing special, but I actually dislike "Frozen". I think it's the chorus, which I've finally come to pinpoint as the part of "Stand My Ground" that bugs me. Both songs have the feel of songs that have all the ingredients you might check off a list for the big gothic pop single but are lacking some spark that makes them truly good. I think it's the fact that both songs begin with interesting, promising verses, but move into boring and slightly irritating choruses. If I was given the option and allowed to be daring, I'd put "The Cross" as a single, and, aside from the opening and closing which could probably be made less odd in a single version, I don't think there's anything in the song that would keep it from being well received. Because it also seems to be the favorite on the album of at least two of the band members (Sharon den Adel and guitarist Ruud Jolie), I'll keep my hopes up. But not too high.
All Within Temptation albums must be taken with a strong tolerance or fondness for cheese. This is partly because Within Temptation bases so many of its songs on fantasy.This album is no different. Almost half the album is based on some sort of fiction. First, Within Temptation did some original music for an online MMORPG called The Chronicles of Spellborn. The album's first two tracks, "The Howling" and "What Have You Done" (if I heard the interview right), were written for this game, as was the as-yet-unreleased ballad "The Sound of Freedom". Three other songs on the album were based on movies or books--"Final Destination" on the series of films by the same name, "The Truth Beneath the Rose" on The Da Vinci Code and "Hand of Sorrow" on some fantasy novel. "Final Destination" is a good song, but I find it a little boring. I love the "Truth Beneath the Rose" despite hating The Da Vinci Code--both the music and the lyrics are quite good. "Hand of Sorrow", unfortunately, has the ill-fortune to sound lyrically like the malformed spawn of what I consider the single worst Within Temptation song, "In Perfect Harmony" from Mother Earth (a hippie ballad about the elf-child of the forest, or something), and what I consider one of the best, "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" from The Silent Force (also based on a fantasy novel). Consequently I spend half of the time (mainly verses) cringing and half the time enjoying it a lot. Musically, it sounds more like "Dark Wings" from Mother Earth only better. It has that more Nightwish-ish quality to it that makes "Dark Wings" also not quite blend in with the songs around it.
My overall impression of The Heart of Everything is that it's Within Temptation's best album yet. It may not have the best songs (though it has a few that are spectacular), but the more I think the more I realize it has as many good songs as any of their previous albums. And as a whole, it succeeds more consistently than they did. It has the feel of an album whose creators both finally figured out exactly what sound they wanted to have and had the resources to accomplish it.
