Within Temptation - Paradise
Within Temptation – CD Review
Paradise (What About Us?) EP
CD Info
2013
Sony BMG
Nuclear Blast
4 tracks
English lyrics
Within Temptation has released an EP with a single and three demos in anticipation of their new album, expected in January 2014.
The single, “Paradise (What About Us?),” has rocked the female-fronted metal scene since it is the first time that Sharon den Adel has collaborated with Tarja Turunen, something that fans have long wanted. (People went crazy when Sharon appeared with a Dutch opera singer for “Our Farewell” on the Mother Earth Tour because they thought this was Tarja, but it was actually Gea Gijsbertsen.)
Naturally, fans expected a collaboration between Sharon and Tarja to be epic, and “Paradise” does not disappoint. It starts with energetic strings, signaling a return to Within Temptation’s symphonic roots, and then launches into heavy, angry guitar. Sharon and Tarja then trade lines, and their voices sound fantastic together. WT fans will welcome the return of Sharon’s beautiful high voice, not much heard on The Unforgiving, and Tarja sounds true to form. The music has a classic WT sound, and is suitably bombastic and urgent for the apocalyptic subject matter: “There's no sense, the fire burns; When wisdom fails it changes all…Blood red skies, I feel so cold; No innocence, we play our role.” There are even some harsh vocals in the background.
Towards the middle, the strings return for a moment of calm before the music explodes into a climax, accompanied by Tarja’s soaring vocals. Next come heavy guitars and piano, an excellent guitar solo by Stefan Helleblad, and some beautiful quiet vocals before the song drives to a close with intense, urgent vocals and music. I can see this as a real headbanger live.
In short, the song is epic and dramatic and bodes well for the coming album. As a single, it’s not as catchy as “Ice Queen” or “Angels” – can you imagine the pressure of trying to replicate that? – but I get the sense from the EP as a whole that Within Temptation is not going for catchy this time, which is fine. All the songs seem layered and complex – they will grow on you rather than stick in your head right away.
“Paradise” has also been released as an epic and beautiful video, featuring a post-apocalyptic world and an attempt to remake Paradise. The production values are the highest ever for WT; Sharon and Tarja both look gorgeous; Robert Westerholt makes a dramatic return; and there’s even an homage to “Mother Earth.” Fans are loving it. Robert wrote in his studio update: “The moment I'm writing this newsletter the ‘Paradise’ video is just out, and I can tell you a lot of emotions are going through us right now at hyper speed. . . . [E]very time we push the refresh button and see the view and like count go up like we've never seen before, we feel very grateful to Tarja. She has shown so much courage by doing the song and video recordings with, for her at first, a totally unknown group of people. Regardless, she put so much effort and passion in this video. Only because of this openness and courage you can feel pure magic exists between Tarja and Sharon. She has maybe even created the most special release in our musical career for us until now.” I would add: Within Temptation has always been known for high quality videos, and “Paradise” marks a return to form after the videos for The Unforgiving, which had to be made in a week because of Sharon’s surprise pregnancy.
The remainder of the EP consists of three demos, which Within Temptation also explained in a studio update: “For the first time, Within Temptation have also decided to give fans a very intimate insight into how they capture their song ideas early on. . . . Despite the demo versions missing intended symphonic, orchestral sounds and a finished mix, the powerful energy surging through the tracks can be heard right from the start.”
I agree with them. The songs are all powerful, urgent, and dramatic, and seem to combine sounds from all phases of Within Temptation’s 15-year career. “Let Us Burn” starts with strong guitars and a touch of high vocalization, turns to vocals over drums, and follows with more intense vocals and guitars. The music varies between intense and quiet, there is another good guitar solo (though short), and Sharon uses a lot of different voices: sweet, intense, and distorted. Again, it’s not especially catchy, but I really like the urgency, and I like the song more with each listen. I also like the catchy covers from WT’s recent Q-Music Sessions album, but that’s not the sound they are going for here.
Next up is “Silver Moonlight,” which starts off with high, pretty vocals and keys, but soon switches to galloping guitars reminiscent of “Iron,” forceful vocals by Sharon, an urgent “Noo,” and growls by Robert! I’m happy to hear that again. I don’t think Robert gives himself enough credit. He wrote in a studio update: “I’m actually writing this report in the studio in the middle of working with Daniel on a new song I’m soooo excited about! It’s fast, dark, catchy and lots of riffs and double kick. It also begs to have grunts on it… Mmm who are we gonna call for that cause no, I ain’t gonna do that… It deserves much better.” I don’t know if he meant “Silver Moonlight,” and if someone else will guest on the album for this song, but he nails the growls here.
The EP closes with “Dog Days,” which to me happily sounds more like Enter than anything WT has done since The Dance. It begins with ominous drums and pianos, and a quiet voice, but then turns to an Enter-like voice for the chorus. About a third of the way through, there is also an interesting section with strong rhythms, stripped down music , and prominent vocals. There are also sections with experimental-sounding keys and distorted guitars. The song then builds to a close with repeating rhythms and the Enter voice. I love it.
As you can see, I really like the Paradise EP, and it makes me even more excited for the new album. I will rate it (as an EP) 9.5 out of 10.
