within temptation - hydra - album cover 2013

WITHIN TEMPTATIONHydra

1. Let Us Burn
2. Dangerous feat. Howard Jones
3. And We Run feat. Xzibit
4. Paradise (What About Us?) feat. Tarja
5. Edge of the World
6. Silver Moonlight
7. Covered by Roses
8. Dog Days
9. Tell Me Why
10. The Whole World is Watching feat. Dave Pirner

The Dutch symphonic rock band WITHIN TEMPTATION will release their sixth studio album, titled Hydra, on January 31rd. The band that – since years – clearly is the spearhead of dark rock music was founded in 1996 by Sharon den Adel (vocals) and Robert Westerholt (guitar). Since NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION already had the chance to listen to the entire album, we feel like sharing our thoughts on the record. What can fans expect? And what is special about WITHIN TEMPTATION and Hydra? Well, pretty much.

Coming from the gothic metal scene, WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s music developed over the years to more symphonic structures and with Hydra the band definitely is going to release its most mature and perfect album. Of course, it is a major production with a lot of budget behind. Everything is produced perfectly and you can clearly hear that every single sound took a long time to make it perfect. And in the end it became perfect. Maybe even a bit too perfect? Quite possible. But on the other hand it has to sound exactly like this since Hydra shall get tons of airplays and is produced for huge masses, not for a subculture that is into raw sounds. And so every song on Hydra is a hit, as made from scratch or from the schoolbook of how to write a hit that directly goes into the listeners’ ear and won’t get out of their ears for hours. While this might sound great, it also brings problems: it could get annoying pretty soon, it could be that the songs won’t get evergreens. But one thing is for sure: Hydra will be successful, because everything was done and produced until it got perfect. Even if it might be too perfect for some people.

Another fact why the album will be successful are the guest appearances by Howard Jones (ex-KILLSWITCH ENGAGE), TARJA (ex-Nightwish), XZIBIT and Dave Pirner (SOUL ASYLUM). If these artists collaborated, because they are fans of WITHIN TEMPTATION or if these collaborations were planned to get access to other fan-bases might be irrelevant, since the songs that came out in the end fit perfectly (of course). What the world can expect from the record is nothing but a symphonic rock / dark rock hit collection. Fans of the band will love it, fans of dark rock will definitely like it and even fans of harder tunes might listen to it when they want to listen to something that isn’t too hard. If you like WITHIN TEMPTATION, but are searching for a harder, more metal sounding, band with more or less the same atmosphere, you should check out DEADLOCK.

WITHIN TEMPTATION prove to be the spearhead of dark rock music. With more than three millions sold albums by now they are one of the most successful Dutch bands ever. With Hydra the success will go on and WITHIN TEMPTATION will probably write history in the world of music in the Netherlands.

WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s new album Hydra is a bit too perfect, but will definitely be a successful one. No evergreen, but an album that will be loved by the band’s fans and lovers of dark rock music.

NBHAP Rating: 3/5

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WITHIN TEMPTATION
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