Review Summary: The Dark Times of Gothic/Symphonic Metal, Part 20
When this album came out, I hated it. I might even have thought Within Temptation, and symphonic metal as a whole were dead, replaced by this generic pop metal. But I think “The Unforgiving” deserves a reevaluation. Like many albums in this last part of the series, it turned out to be better than I expected.
I’ve compared Within Temptation’s music to a movie soundtrack before, but this album is actually a soundtrack: to a series of comic books and short films that I might check out some day, but I don’t think you need all of that to understand the album. It works pretty well as a collection of fun, fast-paced songs full of adventures and a cinematic feel. Obviously, don’t expect something super-heavy or full of orchestration. But if you don’t mind a poppier Within Temptation, you’ll find some pretty catchy and entertaining songs.
For example, “In the Middle of the Night” is a fast and frantic song with an infectious chorus. “A Demon’s Fate” has the same mix of darkness, intensity and catchiness. “Shot in the Dark” begins with verses that aren’t that entertaining on their own but function as a build-up to an amazingly catchy chorus. “Iron” may be the heaviest song, the most metal if you will, with its amazing riff and catchy melody. “Sinead”, titled after the main character of the comics and album, is also pretty catchy, with a great “Your life is gonna turn around, I’m telling you, you will like it” chorus. Sharon’s voice is becoming a lot lower and raspier, which works a lot on the darker and heavier “Murder”, with its sinister verses and weird howls on the chorus, though not so much on softer tracks.
As for ballads and sad songs, Within Temptation proves yet again how good they are at these. “Fire and Ice” is a power ballad with a beautifully sad chorus. But the most beautiful songs on the album would be “Stairway to the Skies” and its melancholic industrial and symphonic instrumentation, and sweet, sad melody, or the wonderful “The Last Dance”, with its melancholy and great vocalizing.
That said, the album has a few problems. There are a lot of filler tracks. “Faster” feels like nothing more than an attempt at a radio single, and I’d say even though the album starts pretty good, it becomes a lot duller in the middle, and a little too long. The last half is mostly forgettable, aside from “The Last Dance”. Worst of all, the album’s poppy sound makes it feel very generic, too light to be really memorable, with a lot of the band’s personality being lost in the process. This may be the reason why a lot of fans disliked this album at first, even though it seems to be better liked now, and has aged a lot better than anyone would expect. Even I will admit that, even though it’s not really WT’s best.
I included it in the series because just like “The Heart of Everything”, I kind of enjoy it but it’s their first album that didn’t particularly impress me, that felt somewhat inconsistent in quality and very generic. It confirmed their descent into a very light and generic pop metal sound that, while it has fans, I’m generally not very interested in. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the second half of Within Temptation’s career, but at least, their latest album “Bleed Out” was pretty good. They’re not artistically dead like I thought back in 2011. “The Unforgiving” isn’t as good as “Bleed Out” or “The Silent Force”, but its good parts are still pretty good. It’s a lot better written than other similar albums from the same year. It’s a not indispensable but still enjoyable and well-made entry in their discography.
