My CD finally arrived. Wow....great, great album, definitely better than Unforgiven, which, while a great album itself, was a little too synth/electronic at times.
I loved the first two releases (videos) and still do. Paradise & Dangerous will continue being my favorites. I mean, Sharon and Tarja together? Unbeatable.
I'm surprised how much I love And We Run w/Xzibit. I really, really don't like rap for the most part. I've listened to RunDMC & Cypress Hill in the past,
and Ice T on The Illusion Of Power from Black Sabbath sounded good to me, though he only did one line on that track. And We Run is an epic song that isn't ruined by the rap.
I might even check out Xzibit on youtube. I probably won't ever buy any of his albums because, again, rap isn't my thing.
Whole World.... is my least favorite of the guest vocal tracks. A good song in itself, but the least Within Temptation of all the tracks on Disc 1.
Silver Moonlight brings back some growling vocals not heard since Enter. The growls aren't as front & center as they were on Enter.
Overall, the album has a definite Heart Of Everything sound/feel to it. Sharon's vocal range is the best it's been since that album.
If Unforgiven was the concept/experimental album, Hydra is the return to form.