Within Temptation
Dutch symphonic metal heavyweights Within Temptation marry the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of classical music, and the results have made them one of the most popular bands in the genre. Emerging in 1997 with Enter, the group debuted with a sound that drew from both doom and gothic metal. 2000's Mother Earth found favor both at home and abroad, and saw the band shifting to the more symphonic style that would come to define later standout offerings like The Heart of Everything (2007), Hydra (2014), Resist (2019), and Bleed Out (2023).
Within Temptation were formed in 1996 by guitarist Robert Westerholt and vocalist Sharon den Adel. Within Temptation's early material caught the attention of the Dutch label DSFA, which signed the group to a record deal; the band's first album, Enter, was released in 1997. Up until this time, Within Temptation had been a studio project, but the success of the album led to invitations to play several live shows, including the Dynamo Music Festival, one of the biggest live music events in the Netherlands. Within Temptation demonstrated their strength as a concert act, and began playing in Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Booked to play Dynamo's main stage in 1998, Within Temptation felt recording new material was in order, and they released the Dance EP for the occasion. Shortly afterwards, Within Temptation went on hiatus as the group's members dealt with personal commitments and Westerholt and den Adel built a studio for their ambitious recording projects.
In late 2000, Within Temptation returned with their second full-length album (and first for Sony), Mother Earth, and the band continued to appear at major music festivals in Europe and the Netherlands; the album was a major commercial success, and the song "Ice Queen" was released as a single, rising to number two on the Dutch charts. After several years of steady touring (including major festival appearances in France and Mexico), Within Temptation returned to the studio to record their third album, 2004's The Silent Force, an ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band. It was their first disc to be released simultaneously in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, and became a major commercial success, going platinum at home and reaching the Top Ten in Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Finland. Having become the Netherlands' best-selling international act, Within Temptation finally landed an American record deal with the venerable metal imprint Roadrunner, which released their fourth album, The Heart of Everything, in 2007. Black Symphony, a live CD/DVD recorded at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam with a full choir and orchestra, followed in 2008.
Their 2011 effort, The Unforgiving, was a concept album heavily influenced by '80s pop and rock, and supported by a series of short films as well as a comic book written by Steven O’Connell. It was a great commercial success, hitting the Top Ten in seven European countries, and the band toured heavily to promote it. In 2012 the band's contract with Roadrunner came to an end and they decided to self-release their next album, signing distribution deals with Nuclear Blast in the U.S. and, strangely, Dramatico, Mike Batt's pop label and home to Katie Melua, in the U.K. Their sixth album, Hydra, was slated for release in February 2014 and saw them branching out into a number of new and unexpected styles, as symbolized by the titular, many-headed mythical beast. It included guest vocal performances by Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner, rapper Xzibit, and former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen on the single "Paradise (What About Us?)." In 2019 the band issued their seventh studio effort, Resist, which incorporated elements of industrial and EDM into the band's sound, and featured guest appearances from singer Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), Anders Fridén (In Flames), and Jasper Steverlinck (Arid). A trio of standalone singles, "The Purge," "Entertain You," and "Shed My Skin (feat. Annisokay)," appeared in 2020 and 2021, and were compiled on the 2022 EP Don't Pray for Me, which also included instrumental versions of the tracks. Bleed Out, the group's eighth long-player and first independent release, saw Within Temptation deliver a dynamic and wide-ranging set rooted in symphonic, gothic metal, metalcore, and djent with themes of oppression, women's rights, war, and freedom.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
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The Unforgiving
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Mar 25, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Resist (Extended Deluxe)
Metal - Released by Vertigo Berlin on Dec 14, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hydra (Deluxe Edition)
Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Jan 31, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Forgotten Songs
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Dec 9, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Silent Force
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Nov 12, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mother Earth
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Dec 24, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Fool's Parade
Within Temptation, Alex Yarmak
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Apr 5, 2024
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Forsaken (The Aftermath)
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Dec 2, 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Don't Pray For Me
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Jul 8, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Heart Of Everything
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Mar 9, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Q-Music Sessions
Pop - Released by Force Music Recordings on Apr 19, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Heart Of Everything (Special Edition)
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Mar 9, 2007
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Black Symphony
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Sep 19, 2008
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Enter
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Apr 6, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Faded Out (feat. Within Temptation)
Asking Alexandria, Within Temptation
Metal - Released by Better Noise Music on May 20, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Black Symphony (Live)
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Sep 19, 2008
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Let Us Burn (Elements & Hydra Live in Concert)
Hard Rock - Released by Force Music Recordings on Oct 11, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo