RoadRunner Records
2007

Envision this: an all-male band fronted by a pale woman with powerful operatic vocals and long dark hair, decked out in white corset-dresses, her wrists wrapped in ribbons—songs punctuated by hardcore guitars and dramatic choirs booming in the background. You’re thinking Evanescence, right? Maybe so—if they were from Holland and went by the name “Within Temptation.” Move over, Amy Lee; say hello to Sharon den Adel.

Of course, even if they’re singing in impeccable English, it takes awhile for a Dutch symphonic rock band to break through in the United States, and this band has been around now for more than 10 years. The Heart of Everything is the act’s fourth full-length album.

So how did they manage to break into the American market? Video games: In 2006 they started a corporation with a game developer and provided three tracks for an online role-playing game called “The Chronicles of Spellborn.”

By May 2007, they were supporting the Italian goth band Lacuna Coil on tour, followed by an EP released exclusively to Hot Topic, and last month, headlining a brief U.S. tour. They now have more than 96,000 MySpace friends. Clearly they’re doing something right.

And that’s also apparent from the music. The Heart of Everything is a collection of extremely well-produced songs—beginning with an explosive starting track, “The Howling,” which has the disturbing refrain “when we start killing,” and was used for the online trailer for the Spellborn game. The second track, “What Have You Done,” is the most reminiscent of Evanescence, and features the vocals of Keith Caputo from the American band Life of Agony.

“Frozen” starts out sounding a bit like an Alanis Morissette ballad, but don’t be fooled; the head banging comes soon enough. Morissette would, however, approve of the message—the band wanted to raise awareness for domestic abuse with the song and video. They donated the proceeds from this single to Child Helpline International, a global network of hotlines and services for children.

“Our Solemn” is my favorite track, with its gooseflesh-worthy choir singing the Latin phrase for Holy Spirit, “Sanctus Espiritus,” and a strong anti-war message complete with sound bites from Winston Churchill.

Not all of Within Temptation’s topics are negative, though—the chorus of “Stand My Ground” (which is a track from their third album included on the U.S. version) could be a mantra for personal courage:

Stand my ground, I won’t give in
I won’t give up
No more denying, I’ve got to face it
Won’t close my eyes and hide
the truth inside
If I don’t make it, someone else will

I’ll admit that some moments from The Heart of Everything come off sounding like a melodramatic soundtrack or a hard-rock version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” but something about that appeals to this former-
goth’s ears.

Taryn Chase wore an awful lot of eyeliner in high school and was also a musical theater geek who saw “The Phantom of the Opera” several times. She’s also Managing Editor of the New River Voice.