Within Temptation's THE SILENT FORCE

The latest album from Dutch metal band Within Temptation has just come out in Germany, and is one of the most triumphant progressive rock/gothic/metal CDs of the year (A British release on BMG is due on January 10^th; the band has yet to crack the US market). With their previous album, 2002's Mother Earth, the band thankfully shed the roaring death metal vocalisms that (for some of us, anyway) tarnished the purity of its sonic attractiveness. With The Silent Force, the band has fully adopted this new vocal clarity, and has definitely shown that it ranks evenly with any of the other gothic/metal bands featuring a strident female voice in the lead vocal spotlight.

The fragility of a soprano singer contrasted against the low-end power of the band's heavy/progressive metal instrumental edge has resulted in a number of remarkable bands, mostly European, such as Edenbridge, Nightwish, After Forever, Lacuna Coil, Epica, Xandria, Evanescence, Tristania, and others, most of whom have found a niche with their own particular embodiment of the style. Within Temptation, with this, their third full album, has achieved a potent musical "force" that resonates with each song, lyrically, vocally, and musically.

All of the vocals in The Silent Force show vocalist Sharon den Adel at her very best thus far. She has put aside the playful Kate Bush style that imbued most of Mother Earth with its own very likable yet fragile vocal sonority, and gives Silent Force a stronger dynamic that is every bit the equal of the hard-driven pulse laid down by guitarists Robert Westerhelt and Ruud Julie, bassist Jeroen van Veen, keyboardist Martijn Spietenburg, and power drummer Stephen van Haestregt. But Sharon is the obvious and recognized star of the show, at home in the more powerful tracks, like "See Who I Am" and "Stand By Ground," as well as those with a somewhat more intimate vocal sound (the gorgeously intoned "Pale" and the intricately patterned "Somewhere").

Opening, as is characteristic with most progressive metal albums, with an ambient intro track for synth and choir giving the album a very cinematic and gothic atmosphere culminating in an introduction Sharon's operatic vocal sensibility with a wordless vocal aria. The rock and roll kicks into high gear with "See Who I Am," thrusting heavy metal guitar riffs and smashing drums into the foreground, quieting for Sharon's first verse, and then rebuilding with a tremendous power, raising both the melody and the rhythm into the stratosphere. The tune grabs you immediately, crafting a relentless cadence that will resonate throughout each of the tracks.

The Silent Force takes a diversion from the fantasy storytelling that embodied much of 2002's Mother Earth and their first album, 1997's Enter. The lyrics in the new album are more personal and more down to earth. Even a song as seemingly fantastic as "Angels" reaches down to a very accessible and personal message of essential truths, of perception, of responsibility, and of survival. The album's first single, "Stand My Ground," is a powerfully structured and positive song about conscience and integrity. "Forsaken" (which contains a wonderfully progressive orchestral riff around the four-minute mark) is about consequences. "Memories" is a simple but robust tune about loss and endurance. There's nothing superficial or mainstream about these lyrics; they simply echo a more personal stance beyond the band's capable storytelling. Perhaps "Aquarius" comes closest to reflecting some of the atmosphere of Mother Earth, with its mythic imagery and provocative ascending vocal atmospheres.

But it remains the music and the performances that really make The Silent Force the outstanding recording it is. The music carries a potent melody and a hard-edged metal rhythm, solidly accentuated by a Russian choir that really gives the music a huge, almost symphonic intensity. The use of Celtic and other orchestral instruments provide a compelling depth of musical texture to the songs, and the progressive development of each song, even in a traditional verse-verse-chorus type of format, gives each track an incredible persuasion and power. The music grabs you immediately, heightened by Sharon's tremendous voice.

Calling the album a metal album perhaps does it a disservice, since it's really a mixture of different styles and forms that have found their way into what's become known as progressive metal or gothic or what's now being called epic-symphonic metal. But even at that, the intriguing power of the music surpasses any such labels and really becomes something of its own. It's not merely this or that form of metal; it's not merely this or that category of rock and roll. With The Silent Force, the band has succeeded in defining its own style. It is, simply (and powerfully), Within Temptation.

Two bonus tracks are included in this very attractive digipack release ("A Dangerous Mind" and "The Swan Song", as well as a variety of multi-media CD-ROM material collected on track 14 (some of which was included on the DVD side of the GUN's Stand My Ground dual disk German single). A 26-page songbook is bound into the package, which has an exceedingly attractive and compelling art design. Also included inside are four postcards featuring cover art and other extremely striking photos of the band.

The album and others can be had from amazon.com or via any of its European franchises.

For more information on the band, see: www.within-temptation.com.