01	Restless						06:08
	02	Enter						07:14
	03	Pearls Of Light						05:14
	04	Deep Within						04:30
	05	Gatekeeper						06:43
	06	Grace						05:09
	07	Blooded						03:37
	08	Candles						07:10
	09	Memories (single version)						03:30
	10	Destroyed (unreleased demo track)						04:54
	11	Aquarius (orchestral version)						04:46
	12	A Dangerous Mind (live @ Bataclan Paris 2004)						04:08
	13	Memories (live @ Bataclan Paris 2004)						04:03
	14	Stand My Ground (single version)						03:58
	15	Overcome						04:03
	16	It's The Fear (demo version)						04:08

Within Temptation - Enter

Released: 1997
Label: DSFA Records
Cat. No.:
Total Time: 45:47


Reviewed by: Larry Daglieri, July 2000
Suffice it to say that I am not a big fan of what has been deemed "Beauty & the Beast" metal; technically described as symphonic, gothic, atmospheric, mostly gloomy and doomy metal fronted by females vocals and accompanied by a heavy, growling male vocal. The contrast in singing styles seems to have paid off a bit, as there are now tons of bands dabbling in this area, and they are starting to pop up everywhere; some good, some bad and some excellent. What constitutes the levels of performance from the other is really a matter of taste, and lately, who is doing something different with this type of music as opposed to the other bands. The style has really caught on, and now bands are scrambling to find a way to differentiate themselves from the other bands by trying to add certain elements, instruments, singing styles to their music to establish their own identity.

I’ve dabbled in the genre somewhat and not being a fan of the deathy, growling vocals in the least has pretty much kept me clear of the style, but for awhile I was sampling lots of the style compliments of Chris Mitchell, who has been on a mission to uncover every band in the world that plays this style. After hearing about all I could take in the genre, I settled for what I felt were the best bands in the genre that suited my particular taste. In this case, I’ve settled on Within Temptation as one of my favorites in the genre for many reasons.

THE STYLE:

This is gloomy, doomy, slow moving, atmospheric, symphonic gothic metal. The music is driven by heavy, thundering guitars totally complemented with tons of atmospheric and thick keyboards. It’s this combination that makes the music as beautiful sounding as it is. The style thrives on beauty - so what the bands do is crank up the guitar sound so that it’s chunky and heavy, and then pile on the layers of keyboards to give it that added melodic warmth and beauty. The soft, tantalizing voice of the female singer finishes out the beauty part of the style. From what I’ve heard, most bands in this style like to play the music in a very slow, dragging manner giving it the gloomy feeling that often is associated with this music. Some of the bands even inject progressive elements into their music. Within Temptation stays within the confines of that slow, dragging, gloomy approach to their music, adding in some exquisite vocals from Sharon den Adel, who I consider to be one of the best in the genre. Lush synths abound on this disc, along with the crunching guitars and growling vocals, and along with the soft, velvet-like vocals of Sharon, allow the listener to imagine a woman dressed in a bright, white flowing dress, engaged in some sort of contact with a black, shadowy figure. It makes for quite the contrast in music and in the imagery.

THE BAND:

Sharon den Adel / vocals
Robert Westerholt / vocals, guitar
Martijn Westerholt / synthesizers
Ivar de Graaf / drums
Jeroen Van Deen / bass
Michael Papenhove / guitars

THE VOCALS:

As far as I’m concerned, Sharon den Adel has one of the most beautiful voices in this genre. I don’t have any particular reason for saying this, it’s the fact that her voice seems the most velvet-like of most of the singers in this genre, and she doesn’t "chant" as much like some of the females tend to do instead of sing. I’m sure they are singing, but the vocal melodies are written in a way that it sounds like they are chanting the words, and the words become meaningless at that point. Sharon does chant at times, but she sounds like she is committed to singing the lyrics as much as possible and she does a fantastic job of it. Her angelic voice pitted against the evil growling voice really creates a fine contrast between the two vocal styles. Admittedly, the growling is kept to a minimum, popping in here and there to make a point and then letting Sharon take over again, and there is one song designated to him as well, but for the most part, Sharon is given most of the reign and rightly so. Both her voice and music are very emotional and beautiful; they go hand in with each other incredibly well.

THE PRODUCTION:

Seeing as how Oscar (Ayreon) Holleman mixed this disc, it only stands to reason that it’s a top- notch production, and it is. Most bands in this genre do focus on great sound in their music, and rightfully so considering how much is going on within the music.

Starting out with the guitars, they have a cutting, heavy, crunching edge to them, providing more than enough punch and thrust for the avid metal fan. The heavy sound of this band definitely emanates from the guitar firepower, rich with thunder and sustain.

It’s a clean, crisp, sound with maximum sustain engaged. The bass pounds out thunderous bottom end worthy of any subwoofer and mine rattles the walls easily with this music being fed into it. Heavy, menacing and powerful, the bass complements the guitar sound perfectly to give this that metal and thunder feeling we all crave. The keys are one of the two standouts of sound on the disc. Precisely placed in the mix, whether it be to accent or to lead into a song, the keys are lush, up in the mix, and they are one of the two driving forces behind the beauty of this music. The other force behind the beauty is the beautiful recording of the vocals. When Sharon sings alone, or behind a thunderous wall of epic sound, she is always heard. Of course, when she sings solo, it’s a sound to behold as her voice is filled with cavernous reverb at times, and other times it’s left alone in a natural environment. I believe that the key to successful recordings in bands with this style, is to make sure that the soft, velveteen-like vocals of the female must be captured properly. Oscar Holleman does a fantastic job of keeping the delicate balance between voice and heavy music, making this disc one of the better sounding discs I’ve heard in this genre. The drums are heavy, boomy and also produce much thunder. My only minor complaint with this sound is the noise gate placed on the snare drum. It’s not the tinny, cardboard sound that plagues many discs these days, however, the snare drum sound has been altered a bit, almost as if he is hitting the side of the drum every single beat. I’m not sure of the affect used to achieve this sound, but I would have preferred a thundering, full snare drum to complement the rest of this majestic sound, but it’s a slight complaint because at high volumes, this artifact goes unnoticed.

THE VERDICT:

Anyone who is looking to venture into this style to see what all the ravings are about, needs to start here with this band. This is about as melodic, symphonic and beautiful as it gets for me being able to withstand the growling male singer that complements the female singer. This disc defines the word epic in most cases, and words like "majestic", "regal" come to mind instantly. I admit that I am not a fan of these growling vocals, but I have not been able to put this disc down since I got it, and that says a lot for this type of music. Whether or not you’re looking for beauty, heaviness, gloomy, dark, atmospheric, symphonic music, it’s all here wrapped up into one incredible disc called Enter. The title says it all about this disc, it cries out to at least be heard and tested. My senses have not been the same since.

More about Enter:

Track Listing: Restless / Enter / Pearls Of Light / Deep Within / Gatekeeper / Grace / Blooded / Candles

Musicians:
Sharon den Adel - vocals
Robert Westerholt - vocals, guitar
Martijn Westerholt - synthesizers
Ivar de Graaf - drums
Jeroen Van Deen - bass
Michael Papenhove - guitars
George Oosthoek (Orphanage) - additional vocals (4)
Lex Vogelarr (Orphanage) - guitars (3)
Guus Ikens (Orphanage) - synthesizer/sound advice

Contact:


Website: www.within-temptation.com
Note: will open new browser window

Email: info@within-temptation.com

Discography

Enter (1997)
The Dance (1997) (EP)
Mother Earth (2001)


Mother Earth Tour (2002) (DVD)




Within Temptation - Stand My Ground (EP)

Released: 2004
Label:
Cat. No.:
Total Time: 19:17


Reviewed by: Duncan N Glenday, October 2004
See if you remember this: In the late ‘70s there was a rather good pop / punk / new-wave band called Blondie. They were good musicians, but their stunningly beautiful and musically unconventional vocalist Debbie Harry eclipsed everyone else and in the eye of the media, she alone personified the band. So to try to refocus their fans’ attention, they issued T-shirts and bumper stickers with their oft-repeated mantra “Blondie Is A Band”.

Don’t be surprised if Within Temptation is inclined to do the same thing. There’s no question that the gorgeous Sharon den Adel is a wonderfully talented singer, and that the compositions revolve around her voice. But like Blondie, Within Temptation is so much more than their singer and their musicianship is very apparent on this CD.

Stand My Ground is a 19-minute thing of beauty. Track 2, “Overcome," has an eerie high-pitched emotional quality to it that recalls Kate Bush - a style Den Adel has richly adapted to suit herself and the band, and wholeheartedly adopted. Imagine a less quirky Kate Bush backed by instrumentation that is slow and deep and based in heavy metal, but also extending into elegant orchestral sounds, the rich backing of Mellotron-choirs, and compositions that hint at classical training.

Track 5 is a purely instrumental piece, with brooding orchestral instrumentation played in the deep registers, and with the plaintive melody of a violin wailing over the top. Not a bass or lead guitar, and not a drum beat or a power chord to be heard. It’s less than 4 minutes long, but you could play that short piece again and again. Nicely "progressive," rather dark, very moody, truly beautiful.

Sharon’s singing is angelic, but my lasting impression was of the solid compositions and the musicianship that goes way beyond the goth-metal label that has been attached to Within Temptation.

Get their previous album, Mother Earth. Get their new EP, Stand My Ground. Then get a cellphone that can download ringtones, because Within Temptation’s web-site has a ringtone based on the title track!

So to paraphrase Blondie: Within Temptation Is An Excellent Band.

Rating: 4.75 / 5

More about Stand My Ground (EP):

Track Listing: Stand My Ground (3:58) / Overcome (4:04) / Its The Fear (4:08) / Towards The End (Bonus Track) (3:27) / The Swan Song (Bonus Track) (3:40)

Musicians:
Robert Westerholt – guitar
Sharon den Adel - singer
Jeroen van Veen - bass guitar
Martijn Spierenburg – keyboards
Stephen van Haestregt - drums
Ruud Jolie – guitar

Contact:


Website: www.within-temptation.com
Note: will open new browser window

Email:

Discography

Enter (1997)
The Dance (1997) (ep)
Mother Earth (2001)
Stand My Ground (2004) (ep)