Within Temptation

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Biography

Within Temptation is a Netherlands|Dutch symphonic metal / symphonic rock|rock band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt . Their music is described as symphonic metal , although their earlier material, such as Enter (Within Temptation album)|Enter , was gothic metal .Sharpe-Young, "Metal: The Definitive Guide" (2007), p. 294 In an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a symphonic rock genre with various influences. In a later interview with 3VOOR12, Sharon stated that "we consider ourselves more a symphonic rock band ... we are in my opinion no gothic band".

After the release of their first album Enter (Within Temptation album)|Enter , the band became prominent in the Dutch underground scene. It was not until 2001 that they became known to the general public, with the single " Ice Queen (song)|Ice Queen " from the album Mother Earth (album)|Mother Earth , which reached #2 on the Dutch charts. Since then, the band won the Buma Export Award|Conamus Exportprijs four years in a row. Their next albums The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything debuted at #1 on the Dutch charts. In 2008, they released a live DVD and CD, Black Symphony , recorded with the Metropole Orchestra. This collection was followed in 2009 with An Acoustic Night at the Theatre .

In 2009, the British DJ/Producer Steve Birch released a single called The Temptation Within , which samples the intro from The Silent Force .

The band's fifth studio album The Unforgiving , was released in March 2011, alongside both a comic book series and a series of short film s that together encompass a Concept album|story . The first single, " Faster (song)|Faster ", was released on January 21, and the first short film, Mother Maiden , was released on January 31. The band has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.

History

Formation

Long-term partners Robert Westerholt ( guitar ) and Sharon den Adel ( Singing|vocals ) began the band in 1996, after Westerholt left his previous band, The Circle. The Circle re-named themselves Voyage and released an album called Embrace, including a song featuring den Adel. Soon after that release the band broke up.

Westerholt then joined with den Adel in forming Within Temptation, including former The Circle band members Jeroen van Veen (bassist)|Jeroen van Veen on bass guitar and Michiel Papenhove on guitar, as well as Martijn Westerholt on the keyboard instrument|keyboard and Dennis Leeflang on drums (later replaced by Ivar de Graaf ). They were offered a recording contract and signed to DSFA Records later that year, beginning work on their first release.

Enter (1997–1999)

Enter (Within Temptation album)|Enter , the debut album, was released in 1997. The album was well received and the band embarked on a four gig tour across the country, after which they performed at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven . The band rounded out 1997 by embarking on their first international tour, of Germany and Austria . Also subsequently Ivar de Graaf left the band and was replaced by Ciro Palma.

The sound of Enter , whilst melodic, was doomily paced, and influenced by gothic doom metal, heavily reliant on slow keyboards and drums and repetitive guitar riffs. Also prominent on this album are death grunts by Robert Westerholt and George Oosthoek, ex-member of Orphanage (band)|Orphanage .

In 1998 the band continued to tour – their profile had elevated them to the main stage at Dynamo for the 1998 event. However, Within Temptation had released no new material (and did not have plans for a second album at this point), to which end they elected to release an Extended play|EP , The Dance (EP)|The Dance , with three songs (plus two remixes) that would further mature the sound from Enter.

Finally taking a break from touring, 1999 was largely a sabbatical year for the band. They took the opportunity to construct their own studio, as well as returning to personal pursuits, with plans to return to the fold the next year.

Mother Earth (2000–2004)

2000 was an eventful year for the band as they returned to touring, playing three Dutch festivals; Waterpop , Bospop and A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise|Lowlands . In addition they went to work on their second album, releasing Mother Earth (album)|Mother Earth in the Low Countries on December 1. The album was a moderate success in the Dutch charts the first few weeks after its release.

The band released the single " Our Farewell ", which never entered the charts. The second single from Mother Earth, " Ice Queen (song)|Ice Queen ", was regarded as the breakthrough release for the band; in March 2002 it climbed to #2 in the Netherlands but was their first #1 single when it climbed to the top in Belgium . The success rebounded to Mother Earth , which continued to climb in the Dutch album chart, ending the year at #3.

2001 saw a number of changes in personnel; Ruud Jolie was added as a second guitarist, drummer Ivar de Graaf was replaced by Stephen van Haestregt , and Martijn Westerholt (suffering from infectious mononucleosis ) was replaced by Martijn Spierenburg . Westerholt later started the band Delain .

In 2002 they had their first concert in France and a headline gig in Mexico City . They attained their first major award, the Dutch Silver Harp . They bolstered this by embarking on a major international tour supporting Paradise Lost in 2003 and re-releasing Mother Earth on the GUN Records label across more European countries; it was a success in Germany, where it went platinum and reached #7 in the charts; the re-release of "Ice Queen" also charted well in the top 30. In turn the Benelux regions got a different release, a cover of Kate Bush 's " Running Up that Hill (EP)|Running Up that Hill " . The band headlined music festivals across the Netherlands, while their Mother Earth tour DVD claimed the prestigious The Edison Award|Edison Award . Promotion of Mother Earth in newer markets continued well into 2004 with various festival appearances and other gigs, which also saw the band make their United Kingdom|UK live debut in London in September of that year.

The Silent Force (2004–2006)

In January 2006, Within Temptation won the Dutch Pop Prize (best Dutch pop music|pop contribution) and Dutch Export Prize (best-selling Dutch artist outside the Netherlands); the latter one given to them for the third time in a row. The band also reported that they were busy working on their next album, due to be released during the fall, and that they would start playing at festivals starting in April, in addition to going on an international tour at the end of the year.

On August 5, 2008, the band's albums Mother Earth and The Silent Force were released in the US for the first time through Roadrunner Records.

The Heart of Everything (2007–2010)

The album The Heart of Everything from Within Temptation was released on March 9, 2007, in the Netherlands, and in the United States on July 24. Two tracks, called "The Howling" and "Sounds of Freedom", were recorded as promotion material for the video game The Chronicles of Spellborn , and the first of these opens the album. The full track listing was revealed on January 10. The band embarked on their first North American tour with Lacuna Coil in May to promote the North American release of the album. Roadrunner Records also released a limited edition Extended play|EP called The Howling (EP)|The Howling , which was available only at Hot Topic stores, containing the title track plus popular tracks from their former album The Silent Force .

The album debuted at #1 in the Dutch Album 100, making it their second number-one album. It reached #2 in Belgium, #2 in Finland, the top 10 in eight countries and top 100 in eleven countries. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp? interpret=Within+Temptation& titel=The+Heart+Of+Everything& cat=a As of March 18, 2007, the album had sold 70.000 copies in first week. http://www.musicharts.net/index.php? cat=charts& chid=0

The song " What Have You Done " was the first single released from the album. Its initial music video was recorded on the 12, 13 and 14 of December 2006 at the Koko club in London, and a CGI studio in Windsor. It features Keith Caputo of Life of Agony on guest vocals. Fans were allowed to participate in the making of the video, although this first version left the band feeling disappointed (comments made by the band at their March show in Lyon). Shortly after, a completely new video for the song was made. The song peaked at #1 in the Netherlands and #1 in Finland .

The second single, released across Europe in June, was " Frozen (Within Temptation song)|Frozen ". The video, filmed in Romania , deals with child abuse, and sales of the single was to raise money for a children's charity, Child Helpline International. "The Howling" was chosen as a digital single release for the UK (not to be confused with the US EP release), and another video was also shot. The extended version of the "Frozen" single features an unreleased b-side, "Sounds of Freedom", as mentioned the second song written for the promotion of the computer game The Chronicles of Spellborn .

Within Temptation started their very first United States of America|U.S. tour a few months after the European release of The Heart of Everything , supporting Lacuna Coil , and appearing alongside In This Moment , Stolen Babies , The Gathering (band)|The Gathering , and Kylesa . The tour, dubbed The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007 , was largely a success.

The Heart of Everything was released in the U.S. on July 24, and the promotional single of "What Have You Done" shipped to rock stations July 2. This was the band's first album to be released in America followed by the previous albums Mother Earth and The Silent Force a year later.

In support of the new album, Within Temptation decided to kick off their first headlining US tour in Fall 2007. The band played 13 shows, starting on September 5, 2007, in Boston and ended on September 23, 2007, in Tempe, Arizona .

On October 19, 2007, Within Temptation released the video for their third single " All I Need (Within Temptation song)|All I Need ". The single was released in Europe around November 12 and features the single and album versions of the title track plus demo versions of "The Last Time" (previously unreleased track), "Frozen" and "Our Solemn Hour".

In November 2007, the band released info that their concert at Beursgebouw, in Eindhoven , was filmed for possible inclusion on a new concert DVD (either parts or all of the show). On February 7, 2008, the band performed a 10,000 audience show entitled Black Symphony at the Ahoy in Nederlands together with The Metropole Orchestra, a choir and several guest artists, and it was later revealed that this show would be filmed in its entirety for DVD and Blu-Ray together with a double cd, which was to be released on September 22, 2008, (international) and September 23, 2008 (in the U.S.). The trailer for the DVD (containing the entire live performance of the song "Our Solemn Hour" from the show) was released on the band's Opendisc feature on July 16, 2008. Another single from The Heart of Everything , Forgiven (Within Temptation song)|Forgiven , was released to promote the Black Symphony release.

On November 3, 2008, Ruud Jolie stated on his blog, that the members of Within Temptation were going to take a year off.

"After the Theatertour, that will start next week, me and the rest of Within Temptation are gonna take a whole year off. For the last 7 years we've been hopping from studio to tourbus to airplane to boat to studio again to tourbus to bicycle to airplane to an occasional swimmingpool on the top of a hotel to tourbus again. We all really needed a break from the band..."

Their song "What Have You Done" is now on the video game "Guitar Hero: World Tour"

Their song "The Truth Beneath The Rose" is currently featured in the commercials for The Tudors , season 3, on ShowTime.

The Band has set new dates to restart the Theatre Tour in 2010.

On August 11, 2009, on their official website, Sharon Den Adel|Sharon announced that an acoustic album would be released in late October/early November called An Acoustic Night at the Theatre . It would include several acoustic songs from their tour in November 2008. On the 30th of October the album was released, the single was released with the album called Utopia (Within Temptation song)|Utopia . The song is a duet between Sharon and Chris Jones (singer)|Chris Jones and was released on October 23.

In April 2010, the song All I Need (Within Temptation song)|All I Need was featured in the American Television show, Vampire Diaries .

The Unforgiving (2011–present)

In November 2008, the band announced that they would begin working on their new studio album in 2009, and that the Heart Of Everything Tour was drawing to an end.' On June 1, 2009, it was announced that Sharon had given birth to a boy, her second child with Robert Westerholt.
In 2010, the band embarked on a second Theatre Tour, their last with drummer Stephen Van Haestregt.

In the meantime, the band continued work on their new studio album. In an interview with Metal Ways at Appelpop 2008, guitarist Robert Westerholt stated that the new album was "probably going to be kind of a concept, but it’s so early still that nothing is really sure yet. But we’re trying to look in that direction."

On November 18, 2010, the band announced via their website that their new album, entitled "The Unforgiving" would be released in March 2011. The concept of the album would be based on a comic book series, written by Steven O’Connell (BloodRayne & Dark 48), and illustrated by Romano Molenaar (Witchblade, Darkness and X-Men). Each song on “The Unforgiving” was written along Steven’s narrative, with characters in the songs reflecting the protagonists of the comic.
On July 26, 2010, the band announced that they would be embarking on a European tour at the beginning of 2011 in support of their new release. However, on November 26, 2010, it was announced that due to Sharon's third pregnancy, the tour dates would be moved from early 2011 to fall 2011.
On the official website, Sharon shared that they have recorded three music videos for the album within the course of a week.

'Where Is The Edge' was released on 15 December 2010, along with a music video featuring scenes from the upcoming movie Me & Mr Jones. The first new single, "Faster," was released January 21 and the video for the song was released January 31, 2011. The track is currently being played in heavy rotation (at least once in each show) on UK classic rock station Planet Rock

On 3 February 2011, the first track-by-track review of the album was published by a freelance journalist online, via Last.fm.

On 22 February 2011, the band announced that Mike Coolen had joined as full time drummer. However, the studio album had been recorded with Swedish drummer Nicka Hellenberg.

On 14 March 2011, Sony BMG organized an online-listening session of the-upcoming-album on a Polish website that only people from Poland could access. However, every song was soon after leaked onto the Internet. Within Temptation tried to prevent the leak before the release date. Limited promotion CDs were sent strictly to journalists who had to come to a listening-session.

On 21 March 2011, the second short film entitled "Sinéad" was released without an accompanying music video. However, it is available on the special edition CD/DVD set of The Unforgiving along with the remaining short film "Triplets" and music video for "Shot in the Dark."

On 31 March 2011, the birth of Logan was reported on the Within Temptation website.

The album debuted at #2 in the Netherlands, while the two previous albums, The Heart Of Everything and The Silent Force debuted at #1. The Unforgiving also debuted in the Top 10 of Belgium, Portugal, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. When the single Faster was released it did not chart as well as other Within Temptation singles like Stand My Ground and Ice Queen , though in the digital music store iTunes the song placed on the common charts, entering the Top 5 in the Netherlands (#4), while the single reached #11 so far. On the digital Rock Charts, Faster became a hit, reaching the #1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, #2 on Sweden, #5 in Germany, #6 in Austria, #8 in France, #10 in Luxembourg, #11 in Denmark, #13 in the U.S. #18 in Mexico. In the first month, the album has around 1 million plays on the scrobbling site Last.fm .

On 15 April 2011, the band announced that the new single would be "Sinéad."

On 29 April 2011, the band was awarded "Best Other Media Music" for its album The Unforgiving on the new solenity "Buma Music In Motion", that awards creative and innovative methods to make music.

On 10 June 2011, the music video of Sinéad was officially released to promote the same single, that will probably be out on 15 July. The single is going to be a little different from the others, including 3 remixes of the music made by 3 different DJ s.

On 10 August 2011, the band start touring at the Sziget Festival , but the tour officially started August 12, at the Huntenpop Festival, where the band played the whole The Unforgiving album among other albuns hits, the band called it "The First Challenge". During August, the band performed at several Summer Festivals as M'era Luna and A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise|Lowlands and will start a indoor tour in September, first in the North America and then crossing Europe.

On 7 September, the album reached Gold status in Poland .

On 20 September, it was announced that Robert would step down touring with the band (with the exception of the occasional show) as there was no-one to look after Robert and Sharon's three children. Robert will focus on production and songwriting and will play guitar in the studio, while Stefan Helleblad will play guitar live.

As of 31 December, Within Temptation was the 91st most listened band worldwide in 2011 on the scrobbling site Last.fm , with 90.000 new listeners, http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists? limit=100 the 18th in Russia , 23rd in Poland , 41st in Finland , 56th in Germany , 79th in Brazil and 90th in Chile . http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Russian+Federation http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Poland? limit=100 http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Finland? limit=100 http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Germany? limit=100 http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Chile? limit=100 http://www.lastfm.com.br/bestof/2011/artists/location/Brazil? limit=100

Lineup

;Current members

Sharon den Adel – lead vocals (1996–present)

Robert Westerholt – rhythm guitar, Death grunt|grunts (Studio only, 2011–present) (1996–present)

Jeroen van Veen (bassist)|Jeroen van Veen – bass guitar (1996–present)

Ruud Jolie – lead guitar (2001–present)

Martijn Spierenburg – keyboards (2001–present)

Mike Coolen – drums (2011–present)

;Touring Members

Stefan Helleblad - Rhythm Guitar (2011–present)

;Former members

Michiel Papenhove – lead guitar (1996–2001)

Martijn Westerholt – keyboards (1996–2001)

Dennis Leeflang – drums (1996)

Richard Willemse – drums (1996)

Ivar de Graaf – drums (1996–1998, 1999–2001)

Marius van Pyreen – drums (1998)

Ciro Palma – drums (1998–1999)

Jelle Bakker – lead guitar (2001)

Stephen van Haestregt – drums (2002–2010)

Discography

Enter (Within Temptation album)|Enter (1997)

Mother Earth (album)|Mother Earth (2000)

The Silent Force (2004)

The Heart of Everything (2007)

The Unforgiving (2011)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2002	Silver Harp			won
	TMF Awards	Most Promising Act	Within Temptation	won
	TMF Awards Belgium	Best Rock (International)	Within Temptation	won
2003	Edison Award	Best Live DVD	Mother Earth Tour	won
2003	Conamus Export Award		Within Temptation	won
2004	Conamus Export Award		Within Temptation	won
2005	Edison Award	Best Band	Within Temptation	won
	TMF Awards	Best Rock	Within Temptation	won
	Popprijs		Within Temptation	won
	Conamus Export Award		Within Temptation	won
	World Music Awards	Best-Selling Dutch Artist	Within Temptation	won
	MTV Europe Music Awards	Best Dutch & Belgian act	Within Temptation	nom
2006	3FM Award	Best Rock Artist	Within Temptation	won
	Golden God	Best Video	Angels	won
	Buma Export Award		Within Temptation	won
2007	3FM Award	Best Rock Artist	Within Temptation	won
	TMF Awards Belgium	Best Live Act (International)	Within Temptation	won
	TMF Awards	Best Live Act	Within Temptation	won
	TMF Awards	Best Video	What Have You Done?	won
	MTV Europe Music Awards	Best Dutch & Belgian act	Within Temptation	won
	World Music Awards	Best Selling Dutch Artist	Within Temptation	won
2008	Golden Harp		Within Temptation	won
	3FM Award	Best Live-Act	Within Temptation	won
	devil (duiveltje)	Best Singer	Within Temptation	won
	Female Metal Voices Fest Awards	Best Album	Within Temptation	won
2009	Golden Harp		Within Temptation	won
	3FM Award	Best Live Act	Within Temptation	won
	3FM Award	Best Rock	Within Temptation	nom
	Female Metal Voices Fest Awards	Best Album	The Heart Of Everything	won
2011	3FM Award	Best Rock	Within Temptation	nom
	Buma Music In Motion	Best Other Media Music	The Unforgiving	won
	Netherlands Film Festival	Best Music Video	Faster	nom
		Best Music Video	Sinéad	nom
		Best Fictie	Mother Maiden short-film	nom
		Best Fictie	Sinéad short-film	nom
		Best Fictie	Triplets short-film	nom
	Roadrunner Records	Album of the Century	The Unforgiving	9th Place
		Album of the Century	The Heart of Everything	10th Place
		Album of the Year	The Unforgiving	4th Place
	Loudwire Music Awards	Album of the Year	The Unforgiving	won
		Artist Of The Year	Within Temptation	won
		Rock Goddess Of The Year	Sharon den Adel	won

References:. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.. Retrieved on 2007-11-02; 2007 Awards List and Final Communiqué. Retrieved on 2007-11-06. Retrieved on 2009-26-04. http://www.within-temptation.com/the-unforgiving-2/two-albums-in-rrr-album-of-the-century-top-10/ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/page/News? news_id=116166& utm_source=MailingList& utm_medium=email& utm_content=Roadrunner+Records+News+08.12.11/ http://www.within-temptation.com/show-business/the-unforgiving-in-rrr-top-5-albums-of-2011/ http://twitter.com/#!/WTofficial/status/144432717621243905 http://loudwire.com/within-temptation-sharon-den-adel-loudwire-2011-rock-goddess-of-the-year/

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