Within Temptation Album: “Mother Earth”

The album begins with a little dance in 3/4 time to start the title track, using the synthesizer to suggest Celtic flutes and horns. After four lines, the dance repeats, adding a chorus who lays down some chords in the background. Then the instrumentation goes electric, playing the same theme twice but with a hard rock feel-and a drum/bass riff added at the ends of lines 1 and 3. A series of dissonant chords on off beats set off the melody. After four chords as transition, the second instrumental verse repeats. The entire introduction conveys the sense of a Creation and evolution, with harmony, dissonance, and the entry of man's machines in the story. The music evolves nicely, introducing variations in both melody and instrumentation.

After this, Sharon den Adel's soprano enters over the electric instruments, retaining the rhythm of the dance but changing the melody. Drum and bass pick up some of the themes from the introduction, playing variations on the drum/bass riff among other bits. After this verse, den Adel moves to the chorus, sung impossibly high, with an effect that it as striking as the Queen of the Night in the "Magic Flute" (but not quite that high). The verse and chorus repeat, with some changes in instrumentation and drum parts, after which the male chorus sings a slow bridge. Though still in 3/4 time, the use of dotted half notes conveys the sense of a switch to common time, suggesting monks singing chant. When this passage repeats, single and then double drum strikes warn of the coming return of metal passages, and remind us of the underlying 3/4 time. Finally, the "monks" summon den Adel back in a call-and-response that return us to the main theme on metal. This summoning of forces takes us back to the main themes, which are further developed and the remaining tensions resolved. Then the piece is brought to a close with a bang, using reptitions of the original drum/bass riff.

In short: these are serious musicians at the top of their game.

The rest of the album never quite reaches the compositional skill of the title track, but it's still an astounding album. The second track, "Ice Queen," became a hit in Benelux, and once again plays den Adel's vocals against a metal instrumentation. It starts hard and switches into acoustic passages, much like classic Jethro Tull. (As a curious aside, native English speakers may be confused by the non-idiomatic title at first, since an ice queen is a particular kind of woman, and we probably would have called the lead character something like "Frost Queen" instead --- as if I could write lyrics in Dutch.)

"Our Farewell" is one of three ballads. The most impressive ballad, to my mind, is "The Promise," which tells a revenge story of two linked promises. It suggests late medieval Europe both lyrically and musically. Like most of the songs on the album, it either tells a story of Mother Earth or of some characters passing along her way.

"Dark Wings" follows classic rock structures most closely, and will satisfy those who want their goth (or metal) to rock hard. A few songs are overly repetitive both musically and lyrically, such as "Caged" and especially "In Perfect Harmony," but every classic album has a song for complaining about.

Will you like this album? If you're a genre-crosser, you'll love it from the first. It does have some features that might put some people a bit off. Almost everything is in a minor key, as one expects of a goth album. I think that a richer mix of minor and major keys probably would have made the album flow better between songs at times. The album as a whole uses a lot of 3/4 (and 6/8 and 12/8) time, and this might annoy some listeners who expect their rock in common or half time. It certainly doesn't lend itself to rock dancing, unless you like waltzing at a rock concert, but it sounds great for listening at home. Many of the songs lay down a fast drum and bass guitar part in 12/8 (or whatever), while den Adel sings a more ballad-like part in the high ranges. The effect is reminiscent of Heart - a band with hard rock roots that goes heavy on ballads. If you want your rock to rock out, the album will sometimes feel too slow. However, the dramatic tension of metal and soprano almost demands this structure.

But, as you can probably tell from my first two paragraphs, "Mother Earth" isn't for rocking out. It's progressive rock at its finest, joining those mostly European, mostly Goth bands that combine metal instrumentation with a soprano singer. In "Mother Earth," Within Temptation drops death grunts and growls entirely, playing den Adel's voice solely against the instruments instead of having her duel the growls. It works. Den Adel has a lovely voice, the finest in progressive rock since Annie Haslam of Renaissance.

My only objection is that it's hard to get my daughter to give me the CD back.

Well dear reader, you're in for a real treat! Mother Earth was released in 2001 and it's still selling strong around the world. In fact two years later it seems to be picking up steam.

For an album to sell 100,000 copies in tiny Holland it has to be something special. Initially, this blockbuster CD was only released in selected parts of Europe. When customers throughout Europe started clamoring for it they rectified the problem. Mother Earth is also starting to make waves in the good old US of A as well, apparently by word of mouth, since, to my knowledge, it doesn't get airtime.

What is Mother Earth? Possibly the best Gothic-metal CD ever made! Previous releases by this group included beauty and the beast style growls, which is common for this sub-genre of music in Europe. Fortunately that was waived for this wonderful album, which, I think, helped the band get to another level.

Within Temptation consists of:

The founder of Within Temptation - Robert Westerholt - sure hit gold when he found the sensational vocalist, Sharon den Adel (his former? girlfriend). She has the most impressive voice this side of Celene Dion. In fact some reviewers have anointed her the current best soprano around. "the new Annie Haslam" of Renaissance fame. I can't disagree, her singing is exquisite, powerfully delivered and emotional. And the music, which is also fabulous and oh so pretty, is in the celtic/symphonic/gothic vein with varied but mostly medium tempo and large production orchestral segments featuring strings, horns, guitars and organs. Also contributing to the album are arranger Rene Merkelbach and a small choir. All songs are way above average with my favorites being "The Promise", "Deceiver of Fools", "Ice Queen" and the title track "Mother Earth".

A brief summery of the songs

In addition their are four bonus songs included in this issue: Restless, Bittersweet,Enter (live) and The Dance (live) for a total of fourteen high powered tracks.

Within Temptation's distinct sound doesn't compare well with any other bands I can think of but there are similarities to Lacuna Coil (more progressive), After Forever (another great vocalist but male growling - also from Holland), and the English band, Edenbridge. Do yourself a favor and see what the biggest selling album in Europe sounds like. I think you'll like it.

I read the reviews and finally caved in to the pressure that was bellowing inside of my and finally bought this cd, god i wish i wouldn't have waited so damn long, this cd is amazing, everything, from the singer's voice to the production, i have some other music along these lines, like After Forever, and my previous fav Epica "the phantom agony", but this cd has pushed those aside, it blew away the after forever cd i have and squeeked by the epica cd barely but, hell i'm not ever finished listening to this cd i'm on track 5 and i was compelled to write this review, thats how good the cd is, like another reviewer said before me. BELIEVE THE HYPE, this cd is worth every penny. look foward to there next cd whenever it may come out.

Within Temptation started out as another Goth/symphonic metal band with an operatic female lead singer counterpointed by growling male vocals. Hardly original for the genre. But well done.

Mother Earth (wisely) casts off the demonic male vocals and strives instead for superb melodic construction and songs that stick with you all day long.

Sharon den Adel's voice reminds me of a cross between Tori Amos, Loreena McKennit, and -- believe it or not -- Sinnead O'Conner. With her own unique style mixed in with it. She soars, swoops, dives, and paints aural pictures that leave me breathless. Of the vocalists in this genre, den Adel's voice sounds a bit more "commericial." That's not a bad thing, though.

Musically, there are some hard and fast moment on Mother Earth (way cool guitar riffs abound!), but there are also very tender vocal and piano songs that never stoop to being maudlin.

Within Temptation has three albums out. This is their third and best. I hope their career lasts a good long time -- AND they make it to the States for a tour.

I highly recommend Mother Earth.

If you take the best, most pure sounding female vocalist since Renaissance's Annie Haslam, the orchestrated power of "Live at Carnegie Hall", or Metallica's S&M, the most spectacular performances of keyboard, Pink Floyd type guitar, and drums, you may come close to imagining the sheer beauty, brilliance and epic dimension of this disc. This is a gothic/doom band on their previous releases "Enter" and "The Dance", but the complete absence of male death growl vocals, takes the band in a more progressive, not commercial direction. Their previous releases are also quite spectacular, but this moving symphony is almost beyond description. Anyone who's into Theatre of Tragedy, Sins of Thy Beloved, Lacuna Coil, or Nightwish, and that style of epic doom with female vocals, will love this album. Any fan of symphonic/prgressive rock will have also found your Mecca. (The singer, Sharon den Adele, can be found on Ayreon's "Into the Electric Castle") BUY THIS DISC...you will be amazed and affected by its message and its content. Favorites are the title track, "Mother Earth", "Ice Queen", and "Dark Wings", but there is not a weak spot on any of the 10 songs. This has quickly become the absolute best, and my absolute favorite, of the 750+ CD's I own.