Within Temptation - Hydra

MeTuLHeD

A Member To Remember
Ok. It's official. Within Temptation's new disc 'Hydra' is outstanding. If there were ever a band with the potential to crossover to rock radio and take "our" music to the masses, this has to be it. The melodies are composed with SO much pop sensibility...yet the guitars are still thick and heavy.

First single here...

*edit. UM doesn't like Https...just use http- Glenn




I'll add the second single as well:

 
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And this is exactly why I'm not digging it too much ..... it's much too poppy and commercial. I have been waiting for them to actually cross that line, and finally they have (for me anyway). In addition, adding in those different singers doesn't help much as the songs tend to make them sound like someone else. For example, the song that Tarja sings on, it sounds like a Nightwish song if I didn't know any better. They seem to have lost that "symphonic / goth" sound and are now taking on a more poppy, speedy (if you will) approach....the chugga chugga is also gone save for a few bits here and there. Sharon sounds fantastic, but now she is just another pop singer after playing this one so many times......I knew this would happen someday, and I fear that it now has for me.
 
Yeah Larry. The very reason you hate this disc is the very reason I love it. They somehow walk the line between the heavier goth metal sound and the commercial rock radio sound...and I'm totally ok with that. In the symphonic metal genre, if I want heavier I can always queue up some Visions Of Atlantis or the like. But WT has hooks the size of Texas...and they have Sharon! Win/win.
 
The album is great. The songs with Tarja, Howard and Xzibit are all fantastic.

I haven't enjoyed a WT disc this much in....forever.
 
Didn't Evanescence do this already? Like, bring this exact style to radio, right? Granted their roots where not as deep into this genre as Within Temptation, but they still made it there first. haha.
 
Didn't Evanescence do this already? Like, bring this exact style to radio, right? Granted their roots where not as deep into this genre as Within Temptation, but they still made it there first.

Yeah. Kinda I guess. Not quite as much symphonic bombast as WT imo. But similar to be sure.

I'm just thinkin' it would be great to hear this on FM stations here in The States. It could bring even more much needed exposure to the Euro-Metal scene in general.
 
I'm still digesting this one. It's got some instant hits in "Paradise (What About Us)", "Dangerous" and "Let Us Burn", and those tracks kind of leave "Tell Me Why", "Roses" and "The Whole World is Watching" struggling to be up to par. The filler stands out too much, and that drags it down somewhat. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those albums where years later I only go back to it to revisit the highlight songs rather than listen to it straight through.

I had the same hopes you have as far as breaking through into the mainstream with "The Unforgiving", and I'm still puzzled why they didn't make a push into the US the way Delain is doing now behind that one. The potential for worldwide fame with their accessible sound is definitely there, I hope they take the opportunity to do so with this, especially because they're in my top 3 bucket list bands to see live.
 
Really? When I first saw the video for Bring Me To Life I was thinking, "Whoa! It sounds like they've been influenced by the gothic female fronted bands from Europe!" Good to know that WT was a major influence on them.

But frankly I think that style got more played out than any other genre by 2008 or so. A lot of these types of bands are playing a more uptempo style now and I think that's a good thing. Slow is nice as a change of pace, but a whole album of slow like WT and Evanescence used to do is boring. Some bands get heat sometimes for being all fast all the time, but really, there are a zillion bands who are slow, slower, and slowest and people love it.
 
I have a bootleg CD of EARLY Evanescence doing WT covers .... WT was there first ! LOL.

I really do like WT. Saw them live once, loved it. Cant wait to get this album !

oh I am aware WT was first in line between the two as I have been a fan of WT back on their first album. Mother Earth being their finest recorded album IMO.

The being first was in reference to mainstream radio success.
 
I still think of Evanescence as an outlier band. Sure, they achieved massive mainstream success doing something pretty similar to WT, but unlike what usually happens when a band with a different sound hits it big, there was no legion of copycats that followed them afterwards. The proliferation of similar sounding bands since then such as Delain, Leaves' Eyes, Diabulus in Musica, etc. came out of a different scene and (so far) never achieved anything remotely like Evanescence's recognition. I actually remember a lot of comparisons to Lacuna Coil at the time "Bring Me to Life" became a big hit, and while they've arguably achieved mainstream success, they've also drastically changed their sound, and they were already achieving their first big breakthrough with "Comalies" at the same time "Fallen" was coming out.
 
Listening to the album makes me wonder if they would even tour the US. I think they could find a wider audience with this. Still metal and a fun listen of course.
 
Said the lad who mostly listens to Brazilian Boy Bands.

:lol::lol:

Past few days:

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