Within Temptation
The Heart of Everything

Release Date: 2007 | Tracklist

I must mention that I don't do this series because I hate symphonic and gothic metal, and I don't do it to bash albums that have already been bashed enough. Rather, it's my opportunity to reexamine albums and see why they're bad, but also to see if they're as bad as their reputation claims. This series has some albums that I hate, but also some that were better than I expected, or that I would consider guilty pleasures.

All of this leads us to Within Temptation's "The Heart of Everything", a not terrible but somewhat underwhelming album released somewhere in the middle of their career. By that, I mean it's a fairly enjoyable album, but it's clearly not the best they're capable of. The overall vibe of "Heart of Everything" is far from their ethereal debut "Enter", the magical and new age-y symphonic metal of "Mother Earth", my favorite WT album, and even the more ambitious symphonic metal of "The Silent Force", instead it's something I'd describe as movie soundtrack with hints of symphonic music and guitars. Is it a good movie soundtrack, at least?

It's a certainly intense soundtrack, with lots and adventures and interesting stories. Within Temptation are always good at that. "The Howling" has a dark symphonic sound, and a strangely dark and memorable "When we start killing" hook. it has some good ideas, but it's not the most musically ambitious song on the album. That would be "Our Solemn Hour", with its intense chorus asking "Is this what we deserve, can we break free, from chains of never-ending agony".

It's one of the story-songs, though the most interesting of those would be "The Hand of Sorrow", about a man with a mysterious power, trained to be a mercenary and not allowed to have a life of his own or be with his loved one. A pretty poignant song, probably more than "Frozen", which is vaguely about a character who had to do something very questionable to save another one, but it's not clear what. The music video makes it clear it was about a mother who killed her abusive husband to protect her daughter, but if you need a video to make the message of your song more obvious, then your song isn't that well written. Doesn't help that the instrumentation is the same as the other tracks, while "Sorrow" is more creative.

But the title track has another not very interesting or creative instrumentation, with simple violins and chugging riffs, and a chorus about how you need to "open up your eyes", and that "it's truly the heart of everything", and I'm not sure what it's getting at. "Final Destination" is the only song from the album that was not performed during the live album "Black Symphony", and it's obvious why, because it's not very memorable either. It's trying to be intense but instead feels underwhelming, like "What Have You Done", the duet with Mina Caputo. I like that one until I realized it was a "Bring Me To Life" rip-off, except it's somehow more overwrought, with lines like "Why, why does fate makes us suffer?", as if that was the first time Within Temptation ever discovered pain. "The Cross" seems to be about the narrator playing the religious figure to an ex who has rejected her, or rather "Waited to embrace me, my dear", and I'm not sure what it's trying to say. Sharon den Adel's vocalizing is the most interesting part of the song.

"The Truth Beneath the Rose" is a more interesting religious-themed song, being about the narrator losing her faith because of all the violence done in the name of religion. All the guilt is best expressed in that heart-breaking line on the bridge: "How can blood be our salvation and justify the pain that we have caused throughout the times?". Within Temptation are good at sad songs. The two ballads, "Forgiven" and "All I Need" might be a little too sappy for some, being typical pop ballads. But they sound very sweet, and full of emotions. While this album doesn't have a lot of musical creativity, it has emotion.

Again, albums in that series are not necessarily terrible. This one isn't so much bad as it's beneath Within Temptation's abilities. it feels like it doesn't have enough effort put into it, and, I'm sad to say, like a more commercial version of symphonic metal. It could also be called symphonic rock, rather than metal. But the same is true for a lot of Within Temptation's albums, even the good ones. I'd take that kind of symphonic pop/rock over "My Winter Storm", "Dark Passion Play" and "The Open Door". If you're like me and can forgive a lot from Within Temptation (they were the first symphonic metal/rock band I ever heard, and they are very important to the development of my musical taste), you can find a few things to like on this album. It has all the good things about Within Temptation, like all the compelling stories and moving ballads. It's enjoyable but not their best, and the albums they made after that were worse.

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3.7 great

Rank: #173 for 2007