Album review: WITHIN TEMPTATION – Hydra
Dramatico [Release date 03.02.14]
With their last studio album The Unforgiving (2011), Dutch symphonic rockers Within Temptation looked as if they were about to step into the American mainstream and take it by storm with a set that included radio friendly killers like ‘Shot In The Heart’ and ‘Fire And Ice’. It was a stonker of an album.
Fifteen weekly Belgian radio station Q-Music sessions then saw the band take a wide range of ‘popular’ tunes and give them the Within Temptation treatment also suggesting a more mainstream approach.
Songs like ‘Grenade’ (Bruno Mars) and ‘Crazy’ (Gnarls Barclay) were given spectacular makeovers, as were tracks like ‘Paradise’ (Coldplay) and ‘Little Lion Man’ (Mumford And Son) that didn’t make the spin-off album. Not all fans appreciated the move, but I thought it worked rather well.
The band’s latest offering, Hydra, therefore comes as something of a surprise – and is something of a mixed bag – suggesting there’s still some internal uncertainty as regards direction.
Experimentation seems to be the order of the day with guest vocalists on four of the ten tracks – fellow symphonist Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) on the first single ‘Paradise’ is no great surprise, nor is ex-American metalcore band Killswitch Engage’s Howard Jones on the follow up ‘Dangerous’ (and not as I first pondered, our own British Eighties new waver)
But rapper Xzibit on ‘And We Run’ comes a bit from left-field and I remain unconvinced rock and rap can be truly comfortable bedfellows (Walk This Way apart). But the pick of the collaborations by a country mile is with Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner on ‘The Whole Word Is Watching’ which closes out the album in some style.
As a generalisation, Hydra is far harder hitting than The Unforgiving with the powerful opener ‘Let It Burn’ reminding listeners of the band’s symphonic roots. It’s still aimed at the American heartland, but has come to bear on pastures occupied by the likes of Linkin Park. Whether that’s a reaction to the relative ear candy of the Q-Music sessions is hard to tell, although the band do expose their soft underbelly on a the more commercial numbers like ‘Edge Of The World’ and ‘Dog Days’.
Within Temptation clearly have the wherewithal to be all things to all rock fans, but for now they’re keeping their options open. ****
Review by Pete Whalley
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
Next session: Sunday 1 December
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 20 October 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 22 October 2024.
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
RIOGHAN Hands (Inverse Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
PDF - you can delete unwanted sections