Mother Earth / the Silent Force

solid albums

When I first hear "The Silent Force", I thought it was "OK"...then the second time I heard it, I realized that most of it was already embedded in my brain, it is that insidiously catchy! I've been trying to get my own copy for years, but didn't see any reason I should have to pay approx. $30 for it. Now, this package deal comes along and I can get TWO albums for less than the price of "Silent Force" alone! The version of "Mother Earth" that came with mine has bonus material on it (that isn't listed on the back cover). "Silent Force" doesn't have any of the bonus songs on it that are avaialable on other versions, but it DOES have the video for "Stand My Ground" on it. Within Temptation is the band that SHOULD have gotten the recognition that the laughable evanescence got! Sharon's vocals are very airy and delicate, and she sings in a wide range of styles.....even some very Celtic-sounding material can be heard on "Mother Earth". I listen to mostly Black MeTal, but can say without any reservations that "Silent Force" is one of the most absolutely perfect albums I've ever heard(out of thousands)! and "Mother Earth" is a fantastic album as well, including the meltingly beautiful ballad "Our Farewell" WT is not as heavy as Nightwish, but not as pop-ish (and forgettable) as Lacuna Coil. Please,however,do not be influenced by their often ludicrous appearances(they have recently abandoned the practice of putting strange appliances on their faces...not kidding!)! The music is basically classical played in a rather catchy "pop" MeTal style...and as stated before, these songs WILL stick in your head and you won't be able to get rid of them! If you like so-called "gothic" MeTal, H.I.M. or Nightwish or Epica, you will LOVE Within Temptation! And, even if you are a blood-mad Black MeTal fiend like myself that can also appreciate musical beauty, you may want to investigate this band(be aware their first album, "Enter" is much more primitive and not as good, while their latest, "The Heart of Everything" is almost TOO polished sounding, with quite a bit more pop elements than these two reviewed albums).

I can't say that Within Temptation is really just something you call ''Gothic Rock''. It does have that kind of feel at some points within their music, but it's really a lot more than that. There is heartfelt expression in both the lyrics and music of all of their music.Within Temptation touches down on some of the mysterious aspects of things in a very tasteful, almost hypnotic way that will surely leave you seeking for more from them! It's great music to have at a gathering, or to just have some background music for literature inspiration.As a long-term fan of Within Temptation, even before they made it big, I'd have to say they are a representation of their very own genre of music that just about anyone can enjoy and appreciate! My personal favorites I'd recommend to listen to would have to be ''Ice Queen'' and ''Never-ending Story'' (no relation to the movie), because both have such in depth, poetic description to what the song is about!

This group features Sharon den Adel as their female lead and shows the progression/evolution of their music. While I do not care for their sound on their 1997 "Enter & The Dance" album I enjoyed their 2011 "The Unforgiving" album. Aside from the music I am attracted to Sharon's voice with its slight tremor/tremble. As you go from album to album you can hear her voice improving into the solid voice that you hear in their "The Unforgiving" album. So what did I hear here?Mother Earth (2003) - Don't let the way that this album opens fool you, you are going to get some interesting sounds and arrangements. At times you are going to get a good dose of heavy metal being backed up by a mixed choir, symphonic strings and percussion sections, and various forms of Sharon's voice. An example of an unexpected track is one where it opens with a light piano movement that slowly brings in Sharon while slowly bringing in a distant percussion sound to fill it out. Some of the tracks do get a little light for this style of music and you may tune them out until out of nowhere they build into something that makes you sit up and take notice. Something interesting about this album is that tracks 1 through 10, with some rearrangement or modification, could be a part of a larger classical symphonic/operettic score. My problem with this album is that the 2 live tracks (#13 & #14) are from the Utrecht 1998 Live show and they are hard to listen to. I don't know what the music style was for this show, but these two tracks break down into a monotonous warbling that could have been left off of this album.The Silent Force (2004) - Don't let the intro to this album put you off, this album builds, with Sharon's voice, into a mostly solid album that sounds like it is being backed up with the string and percussion sections of an orchestra along with a mixed choir. While the album is well orchestrated and produced, my problem is with some of Sharon's vocals. In some parts is sounds like her vocals are either just out of her vocal range or that she is trying too hard to hit and hold the high notes. When her parts are within her vocal range she is enjoyable to listen to. It is possible that her out of range parts were written in order to add a form of passion to or make her sound delicate.IMPORTANT NOTE: Based on some of the professional music reviewers of Within Temptation, a central theme for their studio music is to "tweak" it a little for each project. They change the amount of emphasis on different parts and formats. Within Temptation's reasoning for this to show their willingness to experiment, improve their style, show more of their musical range, and not to become predictable or boring.