Within Temptation (Official Thread)

Riff Raff

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I enjoy this album so far but the song with that rapper on it ****ing sucks nuts. He ruins the flow of the song with his rapping. It does not mix with the style of music WT plays in my opinion. **** that song but the one with Tarja and Howard Jones are excellent. The one gripe I have with the last couple of albums including this one is the more poppy path these albums went down. I loved The Unforgiving and The Heart of Everything but simply put the more epic direction of albums like Mother Earth, Silent Force are what I wish they went for on this new album Hydra. It has bits and pieces of that but feels a bit watered down to an extent. Ill buy the album because I did actually enjoy it but it does deserve some criticism for stagnating towards the poppy sound.
 

Sharp Dressed Man

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Oh man, a rapper. Really? I am a big fan of Within Temptation, but I'm starting to feel less and less excited about this album. I'm not a fan of Howard Jones and I was not blown away by the track with Tarja. At least you sound generally positive. Just like you I wish they'd return to the style of "Mother Earth", or at least go slightly more in that direction, but I do enjoy their new sound as well. "The Unforgiving" was brilliant!
 

Riff Raff

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Oh man, a rapper. Really? I am a big fan of Within Temptation, but I'm starting to feel less and less excited about this album. I'm not a fan of Howard Jones and I was not blown away by the track with Tarja. At least you sound generally positive. Just like you I wish they'd return to the style of "Mother Earth", or at least go slightly more in that direction, but I do enjoy their new sound as well. "The Unforgiving" was brilliant!

The Unforgiving was definitely better than the new album in my opinion.
Like said I do enjoy the Hydra release and the Tarja song was the best moment on it but in terms of direction or sound they have kind of stagnated to that more watered down, poppish sound to them and that deserves to be critiqued a little.
 

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I actually preferred the songs with just the band on them. Let Us Burn, Silver Moonlight, Roses. The rap song is what it is. I would assume it's the only time they'll ever do so it's not a big deal to me. Not the worst metal/rap collaboration ever. I kinda wish they did a record with just themselves and maybe an EP with guests.
As far as the poppier sound. At least they are good at it.
 

Ar-Pharazon

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Riff, where did you hear the entire album and did you hear any of the bonus CD cover tracks?

As a completist, I would buy the album even if I didn't love the 2 tracks I've heard a lot. I plan on getting the 2 CD set.
 

Riff Raff

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I actually preferred the songs with just the band on them. Let Us Burn, Silver Moonlight, Roses. The rap song is what it is. I would assume it's the only time they'll ever do so it's not a big deal to me. Not the worst metal/rap collaboration ever. I kinda wish they did a record with just themselves and maybe an EP with guests.
As far as the poppier sound. At least they are good at it.

They are decent at the poppier sound but not fantastic. Everything up to and including The Silent Force is their best work in my opinion.

The Tarja song was great but I do agree the rest of the album with just the band were best.
 

Sharp Dressed Man

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I kinda wish they did a record with just themselves and maybe an EP with guests.

That's exactly what they should have done!

Anyway, I listened to the whole album yesterday and much to my surprise, I actually think the track with Xzibit is the better of the three tracks with guests. I really like the epic stuff going on in the background on some of the rap parts. As for the whole album, I was not impressed. Yes, it's well done and by God, anything with Sharon singing cannot be bad, but most of the riffs feel uninspired and pretty much all the songs are build the same way. It's probably the first WT album to leave me unsatisfied on first listen, but hopefully it'll grow on me.
 

Riff Raff

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That's exactly what they should have done!

Anyway, I listened to the whole album yesterday and much to my surprise, I actually think the track with Xzibit is the better of the three tracks with guests. I really like the epic stuff going on in the background on some of the rap parts. As for the whole album, I was not impressed. Yes, it's well done and by God, anything with Sharon singing cannot be bad, but most of the riffs feel uninspired and pretty much all the songs are build the same way. It's probably the first WT album to leave me unsatisfied on first listen, but hopefully it'll grow on me.
Yeah I felt a little bit underwhelmed but an album requires a few listens and I bought the album so maybe it will click better. I do still think it was a solid album but a little but underwhelming at the same time initial reaction.
 

Ar-Pharazon

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I was thinking about the Japanese import, but an extra $25 for 2 tracks is a little much.

I'll get the regular 2 disc version and find those other 2 songs later.
 

Sharp Dressed Man

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I was slightly annoyed with the fact that the bonus disc of the regular 2 disc media book version was just demos (worthless imo) and cover songs (all of which I already had, since they were released on the "The Q-Music Sessions" album). As far as I can see, the 2 japanese bonus tracks, are also cover versions found on "The Q-Music Sessions". So if you get the normal album and "The Q-Music Sessions", you are actually covered as far as the music goes. The media book is nice, it has all the lyrics and tons of black and white photos, but alas, all the extra music on it can be found elsewhere!
 

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