Within Temptation

[Omega Weapon]

From left to right: Robert Westerholt, Stephen van Haestregt, Sharon Den Adel, Martijn Spierenburg, Ruud Adrianus Jolie and Jeroen van Veen.

Within Temptation is...:

Within Temptation is a Dutch rock band. The band was founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is variously described as symphonic metal, as well as gothic metal in some media, although in an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a symphonic rock genre with various influences.

Directly after the release of their first album Enter, the band became prominent in the underground scene. It would however take until 2001, when they became known by the general public, with the single "Ice Queen" from the album Mother Earth, which reached #2 on the charts.Since then, the band won the Conamus Exportprijs five years in a row. Their next album The Silent Force debuted at #1 on the Dutch charts. Their latest album, The Heart of Everything, also debuted at #1.

Well, I discovered Within Temptation very much by accident and wow! This band is surprisingly brilliant. It's been a long time since I haven't heard a group with such enthusiastic and excellent balance. I'm not exaggerating here, Within Temptation has absolutely blown me away. I fell completely in love with their music, it is dark, powerful, gorgeous and at times very disturbing. Their mix of orchestral music and heavy mettle riffing along with Sharon's amazing voice range landed their music as an instant staple in my collection.

Sharon is clearly the star of the band, She is truly a talented singer, her voice sounds so smooth and powerful. I have to say that she has the best female voice I've ever heard in my entire life. Thankfully, her band supports her with good guitar rifts, base lines and beats, letting her navigate the music with her voice.

I have all their studio albums, Enter, Mother Earth, The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything. My favorite is The Heart of Everything, It is definitely the best work Within Temptation has done.

The band's live performance is incredible, I think here's where the true quality and talent of Within Temptation becomes apparent. It's safe to say that Sharon is by far the best female singer I've ever heard live. If you haven't seen them live on YouTube yet you should definitely do so! You won't believe it but they sound even better live than in their studio work.

My favorite songs by Within Temptation are:

Enter (1997):

• Restless
• Pearls of Light
• Deep Within
• Grace
• Blooded
• The Gatekeeper

Mother Earth (2001):

• Mother Earth
• Ice Queen
• Dark Wings
• Our Farewell
• In Perfect Harmony
• Never-Ending Story
• Deceiver of Fools

The Silent Force (2005):

• Angels
• A Dangerous Mind
• It's the Fear
• Memories
• Pale
• Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)
• See Who I Am
• Stand My Ground
• The Swan Song
• Somewhere
• Forsaken

The Heart of Everything (2007):

• What Have You Done
• Our Solemn Hour
• The Howling
• Frozen
• The Heart of Everything
• Hand of Sorrow
• The Cross
• Forgiven
• Final Destination
• The Truth Beneath The Rose

Bottom line: Within Temptation has become one of my all-time favorite bands. They are by far the best symphonic rock band I've ever heard in my entire life and now I have all their albums I can say they have matured as artists in ways that most bands don't. They are just brilliant.

So yeah, Do you like Within Temptation?

[Tiger Lily]

Back when my sister and I were YouTube fanatics and looked up Final Fantasy montages, we came across one to Within Temptation's "Overcome". So... we got our hands on some of their CDs. I think we own all of them bar one in hard copies, but I can't remember which one we don't have. Think it's Enter. We downloaded it, though, so it's all good.

I love them; they're absolutely brilliant. They've got a really nice timbre to them.. not like anything else I've heard.

The song "In Perfect Harmony" NEVER fails to make me cry. Inconvenient when I'm sitting in class. >_>

[You]

They are pretty good, although they hold nothing on Nightwish, but still good. I discovered them around 2005 when they started to become big, it was the single Angels that I heard and it blew me away, Sharon can sing beyond belief. felt my ears breaking. All in all a pretty good band but nothing groundbreaking in my opinion.

[Dimi]

Haha. I know you'd eventually make a thread about them.

Within Temptation are awesome, what can I say? First album I listened was The Silent Force then Mother Earth, Enter, and The Heart Of Everything. Each album is completely different from one another if you've listened to them. With Enter, I would say that is their heaviest album to date. And they used the beauty and the beast vocals till Mother Earth was made and it's been Sharon since then.

Mother Earth's a good album. It has Celtic influences and the title of the album itself puts a thought in your head about what their sound might be like before listening. The Silent Force used the orchestra a lot. And you don't hear the guitars as much as you hear them On The Heart Of Everything.

As for my favorite songs...

Enter: Restless, Enter, Deep Within, Gatekeeper, Grace, and Blooded.

Mother Earth: Mother Earth, Ice Queen, Our Farewell, Caged, Never-Ending Story, Deceiver Of Fools, Dark Wings, Jane Doe, and Running Up That Hill.

The Silent Force: See Who I Am, Jillian, Stand My Ground, Pale, Forsaken, Aquarius, It's The Fear, A Dangeous Mind, and The Swan Song.

The Heart Of Everything: The Howling, Our Solemn Hour, Frozen, The Heart Of Everything, Hand Of Sorrow, The Truth Beneath The Rose, Final Destination, and Forgiven.

Other songs that are not in their main albums include Blue Eyes, Gothic Christmas (Funny song.), Another Day, The Other Half (Of Me), and Destroyed.

[Dark Squall]

This band ROCKS!!
I have 16 tracks *Not full albums* and it's so ****ing awesome!!
My fav song is "What have you Done"...I think this is the best songs they got so far.
Ice Queen is great too and I like Hand of sorrow..yea, this band rocks

[Raider]

i hate this band, i don't know why cause i like nightwish and other like them i just can't stand them

[Dimi]

Originally posted by Mona Lisa Overdrive
hate this band, i don't know why cause i like nightwish and other like them i just can't stand them

Nightwish and Within Temptation have a different style in music their dude. The only thing that they have in common is they have a female vocalist and use symphonic elements in their music. Nightwish also uses Power Metal. Within Temptation has a more noticeable Symphonic sound then Nightwish's. So that could be it.

[ChloChloAriadne]

I can really appreciate Within Temptation, but it's just not my style. I've listened to them and I think as far as softer metal goes, they're absolutely fantastic. Not tops in originality, but they're all very talented and everything's very well done.

Just not my choice in music, really.

[ZantetsukeN]

I love Within Temptation. I saw them with Iron Maiden at Twickenham in July, and they were the best support act of the day.

Their best songs are Angels, What Have You Done (which was awesome live!) and See Who I Am.

[Clint]

Nightwish and Within Temptation have a different style in music their dude. The only thing that they have in common is they have a female vocalist and use symphonic elements in their music. Nightwish also uses Power Metal. Within Temptation has a more noticeable Symphonic sound then Nightwish's. So that could be it.

Within Temptation is goth metal, as was Nightwish's first album. Up until the most recent Nightwish album, they kept specific elements from their goth metal days, and combined that in with their symphonic/power metal type sound. That could have been what Mona Lisa Overdrive was referring to.

[Dimi]

Originally posted by The LionHearted
Within Temptation is goth metal, as was Nightwish's first album. Up until the most recent Nightwish album, they kept specific elements from their goth metal days, and combined that in with their symphonic/power metal type sound. That could have been what Mona Lisa Overdrive was referring to.

I wouldn't consider Within Temptation gothic metal or Nightwish either for that matter. The closest thing to having a Gothic Metal sound with Within Temptation is their Pre-Mother Earth stuff which was Enter. Their recent albums have been pushed in a more commerical symphonic direction with gothic influences. But again, they're not gothic metal. Even Sharon stated the band is Symphonic Rock these days.

[Clint]

I wouldn't consider Within Temptation gothic metal or Nightwish either for that matter. The closest thing to having a Gothic Metal sound with Within Temptation is their Pre-Mother Earth stuff which was Enter. Their recent albums have been pushed in a more commerical symphonic direction with gothic influences. But again, they're not gothic metal. Even Sharon stated the band is Symphonic Rock these days.

Maybe I'm confusing Within Temptation for another band. Lacuna Coil, perhaps? I don't know. I can't tell these bands apart. They all sound the same to me.

[musicrocksgbv]

Ahhh no, you don't know how loud I was when I saw this thread. *glances at my friend next to me who witnessed it* Okay, ever since I heard "Angels," I have been hooked. I don't generally find anything that gets me very obsessed with anything, but Within Temptation has now been added to the list. Oh, and Leaves' Eyes too, recently, but that's beside the point. *thanks her Pandora station and brother-in-law with the best and most thorough collection of music I have ever seen*

Anyway, I love "I'd Give My Heart," "Angels," "What Have You Done," "Frozen," and "Memories." Ahhh, there are a ton that I love, but yes, I love Industrial/Symphonic Rock styles. ^^