Within Temptation's Sinéad single

Today Sinéad video was officially released (no copyright blah blah finally). The single will be released in the beginning of July and will contain special remixes from four dance producers - Benno De Goeij, Scooter, VNV Nation and Groove Coverage.

WT said about the single: "Choosing to release “Sinéad” as the follow-up single, underlines our ambition to break down the walls between musical genres."

Within Temptation Baby News!

I love hearing about baby news! It was just announced today that Sharon den Adel gave birth to a baby boy named Logan yesterday! Little Logan was a tad bit early - five weeks - but mother and baby are reported to be well! Congrats to Sharon & Robert, and Sharon I wish you fast healing!

Full story complete with a picture of baby Logan here on WT's site.

CD review: The Unforgiving by Within Temptation

I know that Canuck already posted here her review but I will post my one as well. I must say that I agree in most of the things she wrote. Sharon sounds great! I read many comments bitching about the new direction of WT. But I absolutely don’t mind it. In my opinion the best what band can do is to try new things. Sometimes they fail but this is not a case for WT I reckon. They idea of an concept album was good after all. Also the orchestra fits in the songs very well. But I was like “here we go again” when I read, that there are at least 3 different releases of  the album. So I will wait some time, before I will buy this album. I don’t want to swear all over the place again if they release another "super deluxe version" after couple of months. And the cover? Well I was like wtf???? when I saw it for the first time. But as an album based on comic book series it is a logical consequence.

Why Not Me –  just a prologue.  

Shot In the Dark – this one belongs to one of my favourites ones. Very nice opening track with catchy chorus and about 30 sec long guitar solo.

In the Middle of the Night – when I heard this track for the first time I was a bit confused. It reminded me of a dance band and not metal band with very long and diverse history. But since it was said many time, that The Unforgiving is going to be different I am not surprised with all the new elements of WT’s sound and I like them.

Faster – the first official track, but second I heard from the album. I like it very much. In my opinion this is a rock song and not metal. Anyway Sharon has stated many times, that they consider themselves “a symphonic rock band” so I have no probs at all with this song. Acutally I would love to hear it live one day. It has a lot of  energy. Love it!

Fire and Ice – one of the slower tracks. I wish they made this one only as an acoustic/orchestral piece. It would be very nice in my opinion.

Iron – I can’t help myself, but this one sounds to me as some kind of warrior’s song at least the chorus sounds so. Ready to take the weapons and start the fight. :D

Where Is the Edge – I heard it many times now so I skip it but it doesn’t mean that it is bad. I like the acoustic version which was already posted here.

Sinéad – this is my favourite of all! I love the feeling of this track and chorus of course. It lights up my mood anytime I hear it. Also I think that this one will be a blast live.

Lost – another slower piece. I like the graduation of this track and the acoustic opening. Another favourite track of mine.

Murder – I don’t know how they did it, but the chorus of most of the tracks are so catchy. And this one is not an exception either.

A Demon’s Fate – this one is missing on my list of favourite pieces. It’s too long and I got bored after first chorus. Another track with “long” guitar solo.

Stairway to the Skies – the third slow track on this album and also the last one for the standard edition. I like it and in my opinion very nice track to finish the album.

The Last Dance – an amazing song in my opinion. The atmosphere is simply magnific! I wonder why it ended up only as an bonus track. Probably didn’t fit the concept after all.

Empty Eyes and I Don’t Wanna are another bonus tracks. Unfortunately I was not able to find them and just heard the sample. But they sound promising.

So all in all I LOVE this album! It was definitely worth waiting for it. Now I hope that I will be able to see them live soon. I do not expect them to play any near my country but as soon as I'll be in Britain and them too I'll go no matter what. This is a must go.
Here is the video of bonus tracks samples.




                

                   

CD Review: Within Temptation's "The Unforgiving"

After so much hype and so much promotion, finally, Within Temptation's The Unforgiving is in stores - if you're in Europe. If you're anywhere else, you're SOL. Unless you have the internet, then you can download a leaked copy, which is exactly what I did yesterday. To be clear, I have ordered the physical CD, but I won't get it until May, when the new Leaves' Eyes is released; this is because I combined a bunch of orders together to save shipping costs. I just couldn't wait to hear this after all the previews that have been posted on YouTube, Facebook, and WT's site.

My gut reaction right off the top: FUCKING AMAZING! I am so impressed and thrilled I barely know where to start and what to say. WT has said from the star that this release would sound very different from all their previous stuff, and very different it is indeed. The Unforgiving shows a definite evolution in the band's sound. It's faster than anything before, for one thing. You can hear the influence of 80s and 90s sountrack music in it, which I love because I have always loved rockin' soundtrack tunes. There are a lot of symphonic elements in the songs, which are woven in so seamlessly and so deftly you might you cannot compare them to the symphonic elements to previous WT CD's at all. Sharon den Adel's voice is also a big change here; she's very powerful, and I can tell that she is utilizing a completely different vocal style than she has before. She's a rock belter in this case, and it works so well, reminding me somewhat of Heart's Ann Wilson. In a way, too, this album has a much heavier overall sound. Before, I wondered why they had a second guitarist; he never seemed to add much to the sound and at times I wondered why they even had him - he was barely evident in most songs. The music The Unforgiving makes full use of their rhythm guitarist, Robert Westerholt; his parts are more discernable and add a richness to the band's sound and vibe. Lead guitarist, Rudd Jolie, gets way meatier material and there are some great solos to be heard on this album.

The Unforgiving is a concept album based on a comic book written by Steven O'Connell and illustrated by Romano Molenaar. Accompanying the comic book are a series of short films that play into the concept. The first one, Mother Maiden, introduces us to some of the characters and gives some insight into the overall plot. It also includes the video to "Faster", the album's first single - unedited as opposed to the official "Faster" video which had to be dumbed down for those with shorter attention spans. Upon watching this first short film, "Faster" took on new meaning for me, and I started making connections already as I had just seen the second short film, Sinéad, a few minutes previously. The music video for "Sinéad" of course tells more of the story.

All in all, as an experience, this is great shit! There is an epic background story with a discernable plot (Tobias Sammet, take notes here; your concepts are shite in comparison) and when you see all the parts combining into a whole through the videos, mixed with the music, The Unforgiving is pure win in terms of overall concept, vision, and writing. I used the word "experience" pointedly; that's what putting all these pieces together creates, and I am loving it to bits.

My personal favourites on the CD are "Faster"; "Sinéad", which has as cool club music feel in the background, which makes sense if you watch the video; "Where is the Edge" which was made into this music video for the Dutch movie Me & Mr Jones; and "In the Middle of the Night". But honestly, there isn't a weak song on this album at all, IMHO.

I can't say enough positive things about The Unforgiving. I can't wait for my CD to arrive in the mail; I I have the special edition coming, which includes a DVD with a bunch of videos. So excited! I hope WT comes to a bigger centre in western Canada because they are another band on my bucket list I'd kill to see live!

Go Sharon!

Within Temptations "Faster" - Live & Acoustic

For some reason, the site won't let me copy the code to embed the video here, but here is the link to Within Temptation peforming a live, acoustic version of their new song, "Faster." Gotta say, I really dig it.

In other news, the band announced today that they're performing once concert in the States in September, in New York City on the 10th. I have so say I was kind of disappointed to hear this; the buzz they'd been creating on FB had me hoping that there would be a North American tour, and I'd hoped that that would include some dates in larger centres I could conceivably travel to.

Alas, no. Sigh...

Edit a few minutes later: Ana Mladinovici, the singer of Magica, just posted this video on her FB page. It's a 6 minute+ preview of all the songs on WT's The Unforgiven. Woo-hoo! Very cool!



Awesome! The album sounds totally rockin' from what this video indicates!

UPDATE: Finally, I found a YT video of the acoustic version of "Faster" mentioned above. Here it is:



There is also an acoustic version of "Where is the Edge". Man, Sharon is the loveliest pregnant mamma ever, I just have to say.

Within Temptation's Faster Video

It's out!

Unfortunately, this version of the song is about 50 seconds shorter than the original version, which is a bit of a tick-off, if you ask me. The radio gods must be appeased, I guess. Gr.




Enjoy!

Within Temptation Update

Since my last post, Within Temptation has released some new information about their upcoming album and European tour.

The album, entitled The Unforgiving, will be out in March 2011. It's a concept album based on a comic book story written by someone named Steven O'Connell and the album art is being done by Romano Molenaar. You can read more details about this here.

Regarding the tour in 2011, Sharon den Adel announced that she is pregnant with her third child and the tour will be postponed until the fall of 2011. Details here.

Rocking 30-Something (and one 40-something) Metal Chicks

In less than two weeks, I will be having a birthday myself. I'll be 36. At this time of my life, I'm doing a lot of reflecting, and I do this with a sense of amazement because for me, life has just started to really take off in so many ways. I look at what I have now, what I have accomplished, and I feel so full of gratitude. I really feel this past year that I have grown younger, not older.

I thought I'd write a post about metal women around my age who totally rock, both in celebration of being immensely cool in your mid to late 30s, but also in response to those people on MFF who have particularly agist attitudes towards a certain female vocalist. The target of this agism recently turned 39, but even before this, she was accused of being "middle aged" and "a granny" and the rounding up of her age to 40 was done with derision, as if 40 is a bad age. I find this extremely offensive, to say the least. Mind you, most of these nay-sayers are in their 20s, so yeah, a woman in her late 30s might seem so dreadfully old, but fuck, people, you have a lot to learn.

So here is my list of 30-something women who are still rocking, and still as metal as hell.

1. Liv Kristine. Born February 14, 1976. Age: 34. Lead singer of Leaves' Eyes and killer solo artist in her own right. I love this woman. She is so ethereally beautiful it almost makes me want to cry, and she is sexy and talented as hell. Will she be granny-ish in a few years? I think not.

2. Cristina Scabbia. Born June 6 1972. Age: 38. Lead singer of Lacuna Coil. This is no "middle aged granny" let me tell you.

3. Sharon den Adel. Born July 12, 1974. So, she will be 36 tomorrow. Lead singer of Within Temptation. God, I love this woman. She has two little children, a wicked partner, a wicked career, does a lot of her own costume designs, which I love, and is a wicked talented woman. And she is ridiculously gorgeous. Even in 3 years, she will be no "middle-aged granny." She is just getting better and better, as far as I'm concerned.

4. Anneke van Giersbergen. Born March 8, 1973. Age: 37. Ex-The Gathering, now of Agua de Annique. I will always remember her headbanging away on stage with The Gathering, with that amazing long hair she used to have. She rocks!





5. Stephanie Luzie. Born April 6, 1974. Age: 36. Lead singer of Atargatis and Darkwell. Talk about amazing hair! I have hair envy when ti comes to Stephanie! Fucking gorgeous, fucking amazing singer, fucking amazing on stage, and pretty fucking decent lyricist. I think she is fucking awesome.

6. Sandra Schleret. Born June 26, 1976. Age: 34. Lead singer of Elis. Now, I don't know all the details, but it is well known that Sandra had a very severe illness that almost killed her at one point, but she survived with gusto, so you go and ask her how granny-like she is feeling these days!

7. And how about Doro? Born June 3, 1964. The Queen of Metal is 46. She is the only officially middle-aged woman on this list (because, over here in my culture, middle age starts around the mid to late 40s), but is she granny-like? I think not! She still looks and sounds amazing, and she still fucking rocks.

I'm sure there are others I could mention, but these are the ones I came up with on the fly. Let me know of any others you know of!

Happy May Day

While people protested all over the world today, this "day of the labourer," I spent some time feeling grateful that one of my jobs is unionized, pays well, and I don't have to go in too often to make it work for me. We don't have any big May Day traditions in Canada, so it's kind of a non-event here. Lots of European countries celebrate this as Walpurgis Night, with all sorts of community celebrations happening. On the Celtic calendar, however today is Beltane. For the Celts, this was the official start to summer, when the livestock were let loose for summer grazing, and bonfires were lit for various reasons - cleansing rituals and to represent the light heralding the longer days back to the land, to name two. It's a day for feasting and community, and like the other sabbats, a day that recognizes the powerful aspects of the natural world.

Bearing in mind this day's connection to nature, it is an interesting coincidence that today also saw the giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico reach the shores of Louisiana. The devastation will be unspeakable. Here we have the ultimate power struggle: Mother Nature versus Man.

I will always root for Mother Nature, even though we seem so intent on continually kicking her ass.

Thanks to Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation, I now envision Mother Earth as a headbanging metal mamma!

So, in celebration of all things natural and powerful, and in celebration of the coming of summer, the warmth, the longer days, and all the other stuff this season brings, and to show my support and passion for Mother Nature's fight against Man, her nemesis, here is Within Temptation's "Mother Earth."