Within Temptation thread

[cramx3]

Well, I like that they are at least giving lip service to the metal aspect of the music.  IMO, that bodes well.  I am anxious to see whether or not that actually ends up being the case.

Yea, they seem to be drifting away from that and the rest of that quote doesn't give me a "metal" feel.  Whatever, I'll still check it out, it may be pretty cool. 

[Cool Chris]

More futuristic? What the heck does that mean? Don't care really, will buy it upon release, they haven't let me down yet.


I see they are targeting the Liberal American demographic. Anxiously await the subsequent Social Justice tour, and the follow-up album "Check Your Privilege."

[Zook]

Resist Your Privilege?

I didn't care much for Hydra. I don't mind a pop direction though, so hopefully this one is better.

[Cool Chris]

Hydra was definitely a step or two down from The Unforgiving, but that is my favorite WT album, so I expected some drop-off.

[Adami]

Didn't care much for Hydra.

Unforgiving was cool.

Honestly, they seem (to my personal tastes) to be moving down each album. Low expectations for this one, but I'll check it out.

[cramx3]

Hydra was definitely a step down from Unforgiving, which may also be my favorite of theirs.  I definitely feel this album will continue going in the same more poppy direction.  There were a bunch of really good songs on Hydra, so I can't shit on that album at all, but I do hope Resist is better and maybe has more interesting guests.

[ronnibran]

I must be missing something - how are they targeting American liberals? I reread the articles I could find and don’t see it.

[Adami]

I must be missing something - how are they targeting American liberals? I reread the articles I could find and don’t see it.

Eh, don't worry. Chris does not like liberalism and modern perspectives of social justice and all that stuff. It just tends to come out at odds times now and then.

[Cool Chris]

Who you calling "odd?"

TRIGGERED!

[Adami]

Who you calling "odd?"

TRIGGERED!

Dammit! Who is your version of Jessie Jackson? I"ll start the apology tour tomorrow.

[Cool Chris]

I laughed a little too hard at "my version of Jesse Jackson."

No tour needed. I will just give your counseling session business a 1 Star review on Yelp (I am sorry I believe you are a counselor or therapist of some sort..)

[Adami]

I laughed a little too hard at "my version of Jesse Jackson."

No tour needed. I will just give your counseling session business a 1 Star review on Yelp (I am sorry I believe you are a counselor or therapist of some sort..)

Therapist. Calling me a counselor is insulting enough, a 1 Star review would just be kicking me when I'm down.

[ronnibran]

Lol. Regardless I’m sure I’ll probably buy when it comes out. Hydra has some really good songs but as an album thought it wasn’t as good as the previous couple of albums.

[Ben_Jamin]

I enjoyed Hydra, it was great I thought. This sounds like it'll be interesting.

One thing with this band is I wish they released Skyfall someway.

[nattmorker]

I don't have great expectations either, IMO every album has been a down step from the previous. My favorite album is Mother Earth (it's actually one of my favorite albums by any band). But I will check it out anyway.

[Adami]

Anyone hear the new single yet? Guesting the singer of Papa Roach of all people.

It's.......fine. Extremely predictable and formulaic. Feels like the same pop metal songs that come out of the same pop metal factory that all modern radio friendly bands go through. Catchy, nothing really at fault other than how unimaginative and bland it is. Disappointing, but not expected.

[Grappler]

I only like 3 or 4 songs from Hydra, so if they move any further into pop-metal territory, I may not enjoy any future music from this band, which sucks. 

The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything are the best.   

[kaos2900]

I agree that the song was meh. I'll check this out though.

[bosk1]

I only like 3 or 4 songs from Hydra, so if they move any further into pop-metal territory, I may not enjoy any future music from this band, which sucks. 

The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything are the best.   

I would go:
The Heart of Everything
The Unforgiving
The Silent Force.

In that order.  With Hydra FAR below those three.

[Grappler]

The Reckoning featuring Jacoby Shaddix:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGH8R5VwI2k

Hydra 2.0 right here with a less interesting guitar riff.  Certainly nothing exciting, hopefully there's some better songs on the album.


I always forget about The Unforgiving!  That's up there with Silent Force and Heart of Everything too.

[Anguyen92]

Anyone hear the new single yet? Guesting the singer of Papa Roach of all people.

It's.......fine. Extremely predictable and formulaic. Feels like the same pop metal songs that come out of the same pop metal factory that all modern radio friendly bands go through. Catchy, nothing really at fault other than how unimaginative and bland it is. Disappointing, but not expected.

As an occasional fan of those kinds of songs, where I feel like when that formula is solid, those radio songs are solid (there are times I feel like those radio songs and the formula is stale, but that's a discussion for another day).  I found this song to be "ok."  I like Papa Roach more than most people in the forums and I thought the lyrics would not be too out of fit from a Papa Roach (there's more to them than Last Resort, you know), so them getting Jacoby Shaddix in this song works well in context (they had a rapper name Xzibit in the last album and I like the song they did, And We Run).

Overall, I like the song, but yeah, as the first song out, it's a bit on the meh side.

[Zook]

That song was kind of boring, but I'm glad Shaddix wasn't annoying like those songs at the end of every WWE YouTube video.

Definitely in no rush to buy this.

[bosk1]

To me, it doesn't bode well for your metal band's new "metal" album when the best thing I can say about it is, "Oh, good, at least they seem to have remembered that they have guitars in this band again."  I didn't mind the guest vocals, and I liked the song initially, but it never went anywhere. 

It's funny to me to see all the gushing comments and people saying "YES!  WT IS BACK!"  I dunno.  Maybe it's just me, but I am not hearing anything to get excited about.  As I sometimes do when a band's new material is different, I ask myself, "If this was the first time I ever heard this band, would this make me a fan?"  Here, the answer is "no."  And to be fair, that isn't necessarily fatal.  If I liked a band before, chances are, I may likely find something I like in their new material, even if it takes a bit longer than expected to grab me.  But it is a big strike and, as I said above, doesn't bode well.

I guess I'll just say that this continues to be a band that frustrates me.  The Heart of Everything was right up my alley.  That was when I discovered the band.  The Unforgiving was pretty solid as well.  But when they completely blew off touring the U.S. in support of it, blew off the U.S. fan base again by not releasing their next album/EP here, and then started writing electronic pop songs, I started to lose interest.

[Ben_Jamin]

I liked it. Reminds me of What Have You Done? But more heavy. So they're taking the pop-metal route. We'll see how the rest of the album is though.

[cramx3]

I think it's alright.  Doesn't blow me away, and kind of sounds like what I expected, but it's really a decent song otherwise.  Doesn't really change how I feel about the upcoming album, I'll still get it but my expectations aren't high.  I do however hope they come back for a US tour again though.  That I wouldn't want to miss.

[Cool Chris]

Channeling my inner Col Nathan Jessup… Who the fuck is Jacoby Shaddix?

Guys, you not only write great music but have one of teh most respected, talented, and popular vocalists in the genre. Quit with the damn guest vocals.

[Adami]

Channeling my inner Col Nathan Jessup… Who the fuck is Jacoby Shaddix?

Guys, you not only write great music but have one of teh most respected, talented, and popular vocalists in the genre. Quit with the damn guest vocals.

He's from Papa Roach. The "CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES!" dude from like 20 years ago.

They seem to be happy with the trend of formerly famous American rock singers guesting on their first single. I assume the next album will have Fred Durst or something on the single.

[Cool Chris]

I've heard of Fred Durst. He did that ROLLIN ROLLIN song. I literally only know that because I am a huge Undertaker mark. If anyone questions Taker's influence in the world, he turned a Fred Durst song in to awesome walk-up music (or ride-up if you consider he was on his bike). 

I have heard of Papa Roach, beyond that I got nothing.

[bosk1]

I only know Fred Durst's name because when I was in law school doing a summer program in China, one of my classmates loaned me a Korn CD to try to convince me that Korn didn't suck, and there was a lyric I thought was kinda funny in a song that I guess was a mock dis song, along the lines of "Fred Durst needs to rehearse" and his favorite band being Winger.

[Zook]

Channeling my inner Col Nathan Jessup… Who the fuck is Jacoby Shaddix?

Guys, you not only write great music but have one of teh most respected, talented, and popular vocalists in the genre. Quit with the damn guest vocals.

He's from Papa Roach. The "CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES!" dude from like 20 years ago.

I was going to post almost the same exact thing. Chris is a wrestling fan too, so I'll point out that Jacoby is the voice you hear making your ears bleed during Raw and after every YouTube clip... Besides Michael Cole.

[Cool Chris]

Besides Michael Cole.

Chris was a wrestling fan years ago.

[Zook]

Besides Michael Cole.

Chris was a wrestling fan years ago.

I'm nowhere near the fan I used to be, and even less so since CM Punk left, but I still follow it. I can't sit through a whole episode of Raw or Smackdown. I just read the dirt sheets, watch recaps, and full matches when they get high praise.

[ariich]

I only like 3 or 4 songs from Hydra, so if they move any further into pop-metal territory, I may not enjoy any future music from this band, which sucks. 

The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything are the best.   

I would go:
The Heart of Everything
The Unforgiving
The Silent Force.

In that order.  With Hydra FAR below those three.

I agree with bosk.

And regarding the single, eh it's a single, I never expect singles to represent the album well because they so rarely do.

[cramx3]

They seem to be happy with the trend of formerly famous American rock singers guesting on their first single. I assume the next album will have Fred Durst or something on the single.

I dont really understand this.  Tarja was a fantastic guest IMO, but the rest have really been a miss for me, including this one.  They aren't bad in terms of their actual vocals, but they just aren't the people I'd like to be seeing with WT.  I feel like it's the wrong genre they are targeting.  But that's just my opinion.  Fred Durst does seem like a legit contender for the next single 

[bosk1]

They seem to be happy with the trend of formerly famous American rock singers guesting on their first single. I assume the next album will have Fred Durst or something on the single.

I dont really understand this.  Tarja was a fantastic guest IMO, but the rest have really been a miss for me, including this one.  They aren't bad in terms of their actual vocals, but they just aren't the people I'd like to be seeing with WT.  I feel like it's the wrong genre they are targeting.  But that's just my opinion.  Fred Durst does seem like a legit contender for the next single 

I hated her as a guest.  Her voice and style are too melodramatic for me.  I loved her on Century Child and Once because I both liked the music and felt that the melodramatic style fit very well with her voice.  But that style is so distinct that it sounds jarring and out of place to me in other forms of music, even if they are still arguably symphonic metal.  Pairing her with Sharron on a WT song did not work for me.  At all.