Quote:

If they really whish to be pop stars, then they should change genre of music.

This is a problem that occurs again and again and again... When do people realise that musicians USUALLY do not think or restrict themselves to genres (or other terms) when composing or recording music?

They do not want to be neither pop stars, nor underground metal band... They just want to be Within Temptation (whatever it meant in 2000 or means in 2014).

Ooook, this album will no doubt one of the most heated releases this year, but I dare to disagree with the peepz that just throw it to trash simply because 'it sounds poppish' or because of a guest musician. If pop music would sound at least 20% like this sounds, then mainstram music in general might still have some hope left (or anything to do with music in general).

Indeed, Tarja's contribution is almost none on Paradise, even that little bit adds some charm to the song. I've listened to the album entirely and I have to say it is an improvement when compared with the previous one. If I were to rank the songs this is how it would be:

1. Silver Moonlight - 9
2. Whole World Watching - 9
3. Covered By Roses - 8.5
4. Dangerous - 7.5
5. Let Us Burn - 7.5
6. Tell Me Why - 7
7. And We Run - 5
8. Paradise (What About Us?) - 4.5
9. Dog Days - 3
10. Edge Of The World - 1

Written by MHOE on 30.01.2014 at 17:11

Quote:

If they really whish to be pop stars, then they should change genre of music.

This is a problem that occurs again and again and again... When do people realise that musicians USUALLY do not think or restrict themselves to genres (or other terms) when composing or recording music?

They do not want to be neither pop stars, nor underground metal band... They just want to be Within Temptation (whatever it meant in 2000 or means in 2014).

Amen to that! But It's a metal website, so it's natural that people, that are more in heavy music found this weak. Nevertheless, the rating that will appear in few days, won't reflect the true quality of this record.

Written by lingus99 on 09.11.2013 at 08:42

Love the band and really looking forward to this, BUT can't help feeling that it is looking a little lazy. A 10 track album and the rest filled with song already available on the Q album and some pointless commentry tracks.

This has taken a little fire out of my anticipation.:noidea:

So this was my comment a few weeks ago when the only info we had was a track list and Paradise to go on. I have been listening to the album for a couple of weeks now and have to admit that I do like it. It isn't on the level of Mother Earth or Silent Force, but there isn't any point in making a comparison due to the vastly different style they are performing.

Big thumbs up from me, despite being a unimpressed to begin with. Sure they will be amazing when I see them in April.

Written by annodomini on 31.01.2014 at 12:10

But It's a metal website, so it's natural that people, that are more in heavy music found this weak.

This is the point
Unfortunately, not everyone can or even want to understand this matter.

New WT album by the way is not only weak, but also very dull in all aspects of heavy metal music craftsmanship.
Of course this is my personal opinion

Written by annodomini on 31.01.2014 at 12:10

Amen to that! But It's a metal website, so it's natural that people, that are more in heavy music found this weak. Nevertheless, the rating that will appear in few days, won't reflect the true quality of this record.

I understand, of course, that hardcore metalheads are not going to like it... People just should realise that Within Temptation band members do not add their albums to Metalstorm.net ,-) The fans do (and therefore, at the same time, mark Hydra as metal album). If it is not metal enough for Metalstorm fans, Hydra should be erased from the database - easy thing to do.

I personally do not care... I listen to many genres, from mainstream pop to classical or underground metal. That said, I agree that Hydra is nothing special as far as quality goes. I enjoy the album quite a lot, listening to it a lot in recent days, though I would give it a 6 or 7 at best. Very enjoyable but absolutely NOT original. Not generic but also not special in any way.

And by the way - production qualities of the album suck, once again... In busy passages (especially), music is too blurred and positional cues/imaging also lack significantly (even with Sennheiser HD800 and music in CD quality). It's on par with typical modern metal production... But I expected something better in this regard as Within temptation music becomes less "metal", with more money spend in production process (I guess).

Amazing... This may be the lamest opinion here but... "And We Run" > any of Linkin Park's song, even considering it is out of their style.

It's gonna be hard to listen to an album better than this in this year. I gave it 9 because it wasn't every song that glued me to my phones, so it's not perfect. I'd give it something like 9.7.

I think I enjoyed Elysion's new album more than this one. thought was a disappointment too -_-

Written by Byners on 02.02.2014 at 05:34

Amazing... This may be the lamest opinion here but... "And We Run" > any of Linkin Park's song, even considering it is out of their style.

Maybe not lame... but random? Definitely!
I don't see the point in that comparison

Written by Unhealer on 02.02.2014 at 22:07

Written by Byners on 02.02.2014 at 05:34

Amazing... This may be the lamest opinion here but... "And We Run" > any of Linkin Park's song, even considering it is out of their style.

Maybe not lame... but random? Definitely!
I don't see the point in that comparison

Linkin Park was full of good "rappy" songs. It was a great mix between screams, guitar and rap. Now, I'd say even Within Temptation (a completely unrelated band) does it better. And it did, with "And We Run".

Written by Byners on 02.02.2014 at 22:44

Linkin Park was full of good "rappy" songs. It was a great mix between screams, guitar and rap. Now, I'd say even Within Temptation (a completely unrelated band) does it better. And it did, with "And We Run".

Oh, I get you now. I feel that song more similar to those David Guetta ft. <girl> or Rapper ft. <girl> tunes.
It is a good song actually, I like it.

Well, I like it, and that's all that really matters. (really need an emoticon for poking out a tongue)

Pretty disapointed with this album. "Dangerous" and "Paradise (What About Us?)" are great songs, but the rest is just mainstream boredom. A make over would do this band good.

Written by deadone on 04.02.2014 at 02:30

Give me Lady Gaga any day - at least her voice is unique unlike Sharon Adel and the music has far more edge and intensity (yeah I like Born This Way).

That album is fucking awesome, seriously.

Written by deadone on 04.02.2014 at 02:30

Written by Guest on 28.01.2014 at 20:39

I listened to 'And We Run'.........

People seriously like this stuff?

I just listened to chunks of the album including this load of crap. That song sucks big hairy donkey bollocks.


Overall the album reminds me of some of the supposed "rock" entries in the Eurovision Song Contest. It's not metal or hard rock. It's pop with guitars.

Give me Lady Gaga any day - at least her voice is unique unlike Sharon Adel and the music has far more edge and intensity (yeah I like Born This Way).

Within Temptation have gone in utterly shameful direction, and I'm not only talking about them being pop band now. I'm just pointing out their crappy music. Bland, unoriginal, pointless. If this is pop music, than it's very bad pop music.

Written by Unhealer on 04.02.2014 at 04:04

Written by deadone on 04.02.2014 at 02:30

Give me Lady Gaga any day - at least her voice is unique unlike Sharon Adel and the music has far more edge and intensity (yeah I like Born This Way).

That album is fucking awesome, seriously.

...Have I just found two metalheads who like a Lady GaGa album?

Thank god, I thought I was the only one! Not a huge fan of her, but Born This Way is a really enjoyable listen if you aren't opposed to listening to a bit of modern pop.

Anyway, back to Hydra. I've not heard this yet, but I will admit that the rapper guesting on the album does have me slightly apprehensive about this (don't like rap much, although I do admit that there IS some talent needed to do a good rap...). I did quite like "What About Us" and "Dangerous", though, so maybe I'll pick this up after I've got the new Primal Fear and Stormwarrior...

Written by Nemo Atkins on 04.02.2014 at 18:50


...Have I just found two metalheads who like a Lady GaGa album?

Thank god, I thought I was the only one! Not a huge fan of her, but Born This Way is a really enjoyable listen if you aren't opposed to listening to a bit of modern pop.

Anyway, back to Hydra. I've not heard this yet, but I will admit that the rapper guesting on the album does have me slightly apprehensive about this (don't like rap much, although I do admit that there IS some talent needed to do a good rap...). I did quite like "What About Us" and "Dangerous", though, so maybe I'll pick this up after I've got the new Primal Fear and Stormwarrior...

Lady Gaga is pretty dope, at least her old stuff. I havent listened to Artpop yet.

I have not fully listened to THIS yet, but I don't find anything wrong with pop WT, Sharon's voice is far more built for pop singing than the type of stuff they played on Enter imo, and their last album was quite great.

Written by Uldreth on 04.02.2014 at 22:32

Lady Gaga is pretty dope, at least her old stuff. I havent listened to Artpop yet.

We should be discussing this in the Lady Gaga thread, but I'll just say that Artpop was shit, only a few good tunes (at least Aura is probably her best song yet).
Her very first album was even shittier and boringly generic, but the Fame Monster EP and Born This Way are amazing.

While there's some catchy choruses and nice guest vocalists (Howard and Dave being the most impressive, xzibit is an unadulterated, yo-dawg WTF, and Tarja was as unnecessary as she was overshadowed into submission throughout her entire song), this album is clearly an attempt to showcase the vocals over anything else. It seems like very little effort in the songwriting went towards the instrumental aspect of the album, and what effort was taken was solely to compliment the vocals. Case in point, their drummer has the easiest job in the world. I'm no drummer, and I feel I could cover this entire album with minimal training on a drum-set with one snare, one cymbal, one bass drum, and one drum-stick. I'll give it a solid several listens through, maybe skip a song or two, but it's largely forgettable, unfortunately, not surprisingly.

I will say it was nice to see a slight spin on some of the songs they've previously released to try and keep it a little fresh. But oh!! Whaddaya know, if there is a slight deviation from their previous release of the song (e.g. Let Us Burn), it's just Sharon's vocals. Big surprise after my aforementioned pessimism.

And this band couldn't get anymore commercial, between a 6 and a 7 for me. The rap parts in 'As We Run' surprising wasn't as bad as I thought.

I have nothing against commercial music as long as it's good music, and this is, it's just, well, commercial music which may not appeal to everyone. And I think it's good for the metal community, lots of people will listen to the new Within Temptation, go back and listen listen to their older albums, and then progress from there. I know people who became Within Temptation fans because they heard Sharon's collaboration with Armin van Buuren and before that they only ever listened to dance music, and now they like even more metal. WT are kind of like metal ambassadors.

But on to the album, it's quite beautiful. The vocals are excellent as usual and these are new songs, a little generic in some ways but certainly not without their unique appeal. The Xzibit track make me laugh at first but it's enjoyable. Dangerous is kind of meh, and Paradise is great. Tarja can add an ethereal quality to a song and everything blends well. Edge Of The World and Let Us Burn are lovely. Silver Moonlight, Covered By Roses and Dog Days are extremely catchy and stirring.

Though even after all of that praise I'll still concede that most of these songs don't have a timeless quality like on some of the older albums. I can't listen to this over and over, but it's good now and then.

This was a long time coming, we knew it, and by the standard of what it sets out to be it's a pretty good album.

Written by Guest on 06.02.2014 at 09:30

I have nothing against commercial music as long as it's good music, and this is, it's just, well, commercial music which may not appeal to everyone. And I think it's good for the metal community, lots of people will listen to the new Within Temptation, go back and listen listen to their older albums, and then progress from there. I know people who became Within Temptation fans because they heard Sharon's collaboration with Armin van Buuren and before that they only ever listened to dance music, and now they like even more metal. WT are kind of like metal ambassadors.

But on to the album, it's quite beautiful. The vocals are excellent as usual and these are new songs, a little generic in some ways but certainly not without their unique appeal. The Xzibit track make me laugh at first but it's enjoyable. Dangerous is kind of meh, and Paradise is great. Tarja can add an ethereal quality to a song and everything blends well. Edge Of The World and Let Us Burn are lovely. Silver Moonlight, Covered By Roses and Dog Days are extremely catchy and stirring.

Though even after all of that praise I'll still concede that most of these songs don't have a timeless quality like on some of the older albums. I can't listen to this over and over, but it's good now and then.

This was a long time coming, we knew it, and by the standard of what it sets out to be it's a pretty good album.

Maybe, but I can pinpoint a song (that you missed) and that is memorable material, Whole World Is Watching. The message and the instrumental, though they are simply, they're endearing. If anything, this track and Silver Moonlight saves the record as these are good tracks top to bottom, the others have moments and some of them are crap.

Written by ManiacBlasphemer on 06.02.2014 at 15:39

Written by Guest on 06.02.2014 at 09:30

I have nothing against commercial music as long as it's good music, and this is, it's just, well, commercial music which may not appeal to everyone. And I think it's good for the metal community, lots of people will listen to the new Within Temptation, go back and listen listen to their older albums, and then progress from there. I know people who became Within Temptation fans because they heard Sharon's collaboration with Armin van Buuren and before that they only ever listened to dance music, and now they like even more metal. WT are kind of like metal ambassadors.

But on to the album, it's quite beautiful. The vocals are excellent as usual and these are new songs, a little generic in some ways but certainly not without their unique appeal. The Xzibit track make me laugh at first but it's enjoyable. Dangerous is kind of meh, and Paradise is great. Tarja can add an ethereal quality to a song and everything blends well. Edge Of The World and Let Us Burn are lovely. Silver Moonlight, Covered By Roses and Dog Days are extremely catchy and stirring.

Though even after all of that praise I'll still concede that most of these songs don't have a timeless quality like on some of the older albums. I can't listen to this over and over, but it's good now and then.

This was a long time coming, we knew it, and by the standard of what it sets out to be it's a pretty good album.

Maybe, but I can pinpoint a song (that you missed) and that is memorable material, Whole World Is Watching. The message and the instrumental, though they are simply, they're endearing. If anything, this track and Silver Moonlight saves the record as these are good tracks top to bottom, the others have moments and some of them are crap.

Yeah they're memorable because they have distinctive vocal melodies and sound good, but there aren't any knockout amazing songs on the album for me. But that could simply be due to the style, I find it hard to connect with the album but some other people might not have that issue. The Whole World Is Watching is great, I probably should have said something about it, but it doesn't change things for me. Good but not quite addictive.

Written by Guest on 06.02.2014 at 19:59

Yeah they're memorable because they have distinctive vocal melodies and sound good, but there aren't any knockout amazing songs on the album for me. But that could simply be due to the style, I find it hard to connect with the album but some other people might not have that issue. The Whole World Is Watching is great, I probably should have said something about it, but it doesn't change things for me. Good but not quite addictive.

I can find more redeeming quality in this one compared to The Unforgiving, but then again this is my opinion. I do not appreciate their new direction either, but they are still able to offer a couple of good songs.

Symphonic pop album with all its positives and negatives. Next time please more homogenic product instead of this multigenre experiment. Few songs are really catchy but rest lacks complexity or even the mentioned "catchiness", which Unforgiving had loads. For me slight disapointment.

Yeah, they've sold out. Gave it a chance, but.......

I really don't like the direction this band took with "The Unforgiving". Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they want to do anything different from pop anymore.
Their music is catchy (I wouldn't dare call it bad), but sooooooooooooooooo forgettable - this I think is due to songwriting, which focuses on Sharon's vocal and the "orchestral" samples over everything else. If they wanted an entirely vocal album, might have as well tried acapella.

Weakest Within Temptation's original album ever, very bombastic (exaggerated) I don't know why!!!

Hey, it wasn't bad at all... I actually found some of their highly regarded albums a lot worse than this one.

Sorry, I think this album is perfect. I love the vocals and how unique these songs are.