Within Temptation: The Unforgiving

So I just got the brand new album from one of my favourite bands, the Dutch symphonic rock band Within Temptation.

This latest one is a concept album called The Unforgiving and is based on a supernatural story of vengeance and redemption cooked up by the band. It’s kind of like The Crow with dead people being brought back to life to punish evil doers. But unlike The Crow, these reanimated souls also did bad things before they died and are now doing what they are doing in order to gain redemption. So I guess there’s a bit of Angel in there too. On a DVD that comes with the album is a prequel comic featuring the main character, Sinead, and three short films prefacing three music videos, the fir of which 'Mother Maiden/Faster' is above. The three films tell a loose story which is apparently going to be expanded in a proper ongoing comic book from the guy who did, amongst other things, Witchblade.

Anyway, the album itself is great. It’s kinda different to WT’s usual stuff being that it’s more pop and is very highly produced and with wider influences than their usual metal, Celtic and symphonic styles, with those latter two being noticeably lesser this time out. There are a few standout tracks on the album including the first single shown above called ‘Faster’. However I felt the song writing overall was slightly lacking. Not so many songs leapt out at me this time as in previous albums. Having said that they are all still good and I’m sure I’ll be appreciating them more and more over time. But this is something of an experiment for the band, pushing themselves in a slightly new direction, and mostly successfully. But I for one just hope they don’t abandon their old Celtic and symphonic tropes as that’s part of what I love most about them, that and Sharon’s gorgeous voice.

And speaking of the lovely Sharon - is it just me or does she look even more gorgeous than usual in this video? Those eyes, those lips, that voice... Hooboy!

I’ll be in my bunk.