Within Temptation: Line-up Changes & A New Album Coming

Compelling delicate vocals and a flawless combination of loud guitars, symphonic strings and heavy beat are the trademarks of Dutch band Within Temptation, which is presently one of the most successful Symphonic Metal bands in the world.

Within Temptation was formed in 1996, after Sharon den Adel contributed vocals to a song of guitarist Robert Westerholt’s band, The Circle. Of the forming members only Jeroen van Veen, besides Robert and Sharon remain in the band to date.

That same year, they signed with a label, and in 1997 released the album Enter, which has some great songs, like Pearls of Light and Grace. At the time, Sharon’s vocals were accompanied by Robert’s grunts, something that became less common in more recent albums.

Within Temptation’s success grew exponentially, from main stage at Dynamo Open Air in 1998, a #3 album in 2002 (Mother Earth) and a #1 in 2004 (Silent Force) in their home country, several awards, conquering the US market in 2008, and the astonishing sum of 10 million albums sold worldwide.

The band has many popular songs: Stand My Ground, The Heart of Everything, Aquarius and Memories are only a few. But it’s been 3 years since their last studio album, and though there has been much talk about a new release coming out later this year, nothing is certain. In an interview in October 2009, Sharon said that the new album would be released by that time this year, “and don’t shoot me if it’s a bit later”, but things seem to be a bit complicated for the band now.

After many line-up changes, Within Temptation just went through another one: drummer Stephen van Haetregt, who was first a studio technician for the band, did his last show on last April 29 in Antwerp. However, they posted a message on their site on April 30 about the end of their Theater Tour, adding that “after taking a very small break we're going back into the studio. After doing this tour, we really can't wait to get back on the road, hopefully we can tell you a bit more about that soon.” So, maybe a new album will be coming up by the end of 2010 or early 2011.

While we wait for their new release, here is one of the moments of this year’s tour:

Source:

Within Temptation @ Wikipedia # Interview with Sharon den Adel

ReVamp: The Siren Has Returned

Floor Jansen is back! Little over a year since After Forever broke apart, Floor Jansen has a new band, Revamp, whose album is due for May 31, 2010 in the UK and June 15, 2010 in the US. [1] [2]

Revamp’s sound is similar to that of Floor Jansen’s previous band, the classic Symphonic Metal band After Forever, maybe because besides the singer, she had the contribution of former-band mate keyboardist Joost van den Broek. Another contribution was that of producer, composer and musician Waldemar Sorychta who has worked with several bands, such as Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and Tristania.

Her working single is Head Up High, which has her traditional strong and compelling melodic vocals, a heavy beat and strings, and other great songs such as Fast Forward, Million and All Goodbyes Are Said, which were presented in a show at Bevrijdingsfestival Zwolle on May 5.

Though we are in a seemingly endless fad of vampires in pop culture worldwide, Floor Jansen explained that the band’s name is not about it: “ReVamp with the capital V is just for the looks. To me it means a new start, nothing with vampires no, I'm not into that stuff. ReVamp literally means 'Give new energy to something'. I found that very symbolic for my career. The word vamp also makes a sexy association with woman. Nothing sleazy, just sexy :-)” [3]

In another interview, Floor Jansen spoke firmly about the differences between her former and new bands: “Revamp is not After Forever II. The instrumental and vocal versatility have remained diverse, but Revamp is heavier, less orchestral. I often change my opera voice with my rock voice, and there is more emphasis on guitars and less on the keys. Revamp is more direct, more Soilwork direction.” [4]

Revamp’s line-up is completed with drummer Matthias Landes (Dark Fortress), bassist Jaap Melman (Dreadlock Pussy, Pendejo), guitarists Jord Otto and Arjan Rijnen (Pendejo) and keyboardist Ruben Wijga (Insomnia). The band is scheduled to do a series of shows in the next few months.

Check the videos below to see Floor Jansen singing her soul out with Revamp:

Revamp's Official site

The Gathering: 20 Years of Progressive Rock

The Gathering is one of the best Rock bands from Netherlands. Their style is a unique mix of dark, moody and introspective melodies with Progressive Rock. The band's best-known songs are from the time of the singer Anneke van Giersbergen, and currently the band's singer is Silje Wergeland, originally from Metal band Octavia Sperati from Norwege.

Below is a selection of two videos, one from the time of Anneke and the other from their latest album with Silje.





More info: The Gathering

Delain: Soft Voice & Loud Guitars

Delain is a Dutch Symphonic Metal band, which has been around since 2002, and is a project from former-Within Temptation's keyboardist Martijn Westerholt. Earlier this year, they released the album April Rain, which is even better than their previous one, Lucidity. Comparisons with Westerholt's old band are inevitable, as Delain has the same style, still to underrate his new band would be unfair, as the songs are well-worked and powerful.

In an interview, Martijn Westerholt commented about Delain’s latest release that he “didn’t had any doubts about it whatsoever because we wrote our music already anyway and I know the capabilities of the band. For me it was only an improvement in the way of working, we know the weaknesses and strong points of all band members.

“I’m really satisfied with the response so far, also with the press, I think our lowest rate I saw was a 6, and it was really an exception. The most is really well, so I’m really satisfied for that.”

When comparing working with guest musicians, which he did in the first Delain album Lucidity and working with band members, Westerholt said: “The good thing about working with guest musicians is that you get a very fresh approach and it’s also very surprising which is kind of cool, but the difference with working with band members is that you know exactly everybody’s specialty, everybody’s strong points.

“Therefore you can really plan it; you can use everybody’s good points and make the best album you can get. It’s easier. In the end the process went so fast that we barely had time to think about guests. It was really an easy and satisfying process also for the band members of course because they had time and space to give inputs.” [1]

Charlotte Wessels explained why guest musicians were used in Delain’s first album: “Well, when we started recording for Lucidity, Martijn was still struggling with some health issues. [note: Martijn left Within Temptation because of health problems] The choice for a guest musician project was a logical one back then because of course it’s interesting to work with a lot of people, but also because Martijn’s health was not good enough to tour and play gigs like a regular band.

“When the album was released we were so enthusiastic about it, and besides that Martijn was feeling a lot better, so the idea of having a band to tour with became a lot more realistic. We really hit the jackpot with the band members we found back then.

“When we started recording for our second album "April Rain," it was only logical that it would be just as much their album as it would be Martijn’s album and mine. They played a prominent role in recording and also in writing some songs on the album.” [2]

Watch below two videos from the April Rain album, and find out more about Delain on their official site.

More info: Official Site