เริ่มกันที่ Intro และ See Who I Am
ตามด้วย เพลง Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)
และเพลง Stand my ground
ปิดท้ายด้วย review ซักหน่อยนะครับ จากท่าน Bonesnap
I still remember when I first listened to Within Temptation; it was my first year in college and up until that point I had never really been exposed to any kind of gothic metal. A friend who was pretty heavy into gothic metal introduced me to them along with a plethora of other gothic metal and related bands. I can’t quite remember which album the song was from, but I know it wasn’t from The Silent Force. Now that I think of it, the song was probably from Mother Earth. In any case, it immediately caught my attention and I decided to pursue other works of the band.
After getting a hold of their studio album discography, I sat down and gave each album a good listen. While I certainly enjoyed their first two albums, I was taken back when I started listening to The Silent Force; the album just screamed awesome to me, and it remained in my car’s CD player for weeks.
The album catches quite a lot of flak due to its similar sound to Evanescence and the band “selling out”. While I cannot deny there is a similarity to Evanescence’s sound, I believe it’s different enough to avoid any major bashing, and I personally don’t know how people can confuse the two (I’ve seen it done). The issue of whether they sold out or not is another topic entirely.
What sets this album apart for me is the vocals. It’s what propels the album forward and over its shortcomings. In every song, Sharon does a remarkable job of convincing the listener that the song is real. She inserts so much passion and emotion, the songs all sound authentic, while stepping up the energy on the faster songs. To me this is rarely achieved in music. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of emotion in songs, because many people use music as a way of expression, but I haven’t seen it achieved to this level very often. To me, that means a lot, and what really attracts me to this album, and after listening to The Silent Force, Sharon is easily one of my favourite female vocalists in metal.
The vocals are so good they overshadow the mediocrity of the instruments. There’s nothing exceptional whatsoever on this album in terms of guitar, bass or drums, but that doesn’t take away much; as mentioned before, the vocals manage to outweigh any downsides of the instruments. You’re not going to listen to this album (or Within Temptation at all, for that matter) for the instruments; you’re going to listen for the vocals of Sharon. At least I do, anyway. A lot of the album is just the vocals and drums anyway, which is certainly a good thing. Many people will argue that vocalists are another instrument in the band, and the vocals are “music” as well. For the most part, I disagree, but there always exists some exceptions. Within Temptation is one of those exceptions; the vocals actually contribute to the music of the album. When I hear Sharon sing on this album, I feel like I’m listening to music.
Like the vocals, the lyrics are also quite enjoyable. I’m not quite sure why they’re labelled as emo; since when is singing about love and loss considered to be emo? The amusing part of all this is the ones who are labelling it as emo and “gay”, don’t even know what emo is. Furthermore, they immediately come off as the stereotypical metalhead who thinks all metal is about death and Satan, which is of course wrong. This assumption may very well be wrong, but the assumption is not without merit. There is no reason why metal cannot be used to sing about love. As was just stated, the lyrical themes of the album primarily surround love and loss. Based on the fantastic vocal delivery of Sharon, I’m going to presume she was the primary writer behind the lyrics.
The lack of guitar and/or bass isn’t really a problem. The elaborate melodies and compositions of the orchestrations make up for any missing guitars. Now that I’ve listened to The Silent Force as many times as I have, I find it difficult to go back to their previous releases and enjoy them on the same level I originally had.
The album is not perfect. There are a few downsides. As already mentioned, the mediocre instruments are there, but this minor flaw can be dismissed without any further thought. There is one other accompanying disadvantage of this album: the excess amount of ballads and their placement. The slow songs on the album aren’t bad per se. It’s how they’re placed on the track listing that bothers me. The first three tracks (minus the little intro) are high energy and fast paced.
As the album progresses, the energy that was once being enjoyed is now lost among the slower songs. The energy attempts to recuperate with Forsaken and Angels, and again towards the end with It’s the Fear, but to no avail, and the speed of the first half of the album is lost. Perhaps the placement of the songs was done like this on purpose, but I feel it takes away from the album; however, it is only a minor annoyance and can be disregarded when the album is viewed as a whole.
Overall the album is a very enjoyable listen. I believe the impressive vocal performance of Sharon is what makes this album so great, and is why I continuously listen to it and do not become bored. The shortcomings of the album are forgettable and can be tolerated when you hear Sharon sing.
Based on the (rather negative) reviews of the new single, the new album is going to sound similar to this one, which makes me happy. To many it won’t, but to each his own. Based on The Silent Force, I look forward to the release of the new album.
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