Within Temptation - Black Symphony


Year of Release: 2008
Label: Sony BMG
Catalog Number: -
Format: DVD
Total Time: 123:00:00

When people think of Holland, they usually think of wooden shoes, windmills and flowers. But in recent years Holland gained another important hallmark, which became one of their best export products: Within Temptation. With their debut album Enter, they gave their calling card back in 1997. Some 4 years later, in 2001, they released their third album, Mother Earth and the single "Ice Queen" was picked up by several radio stations. This catapulted the band into a huge commercial success. Mother Earth was released world wide and the band started playing all the large festivals in Europe. Of course it did not take long for the band to sign to a major label.

The question on everybody's mind was: "what will the band do with the bigger budget and the signing to a major label?" The answer came with the follow up album, The Silent Force. I reviewed it back in 2004. The grunts had already disappeared on Mother Earth, and on The Silent Force they did not return. Although the band themselves stated they made an album just as they themselves wanted it to be, many felt it was a safe album, to keep the new fans happy. With their most recent studio album, The Heart Of Everything the band seemed to be trying a bit more new things. But personally I found Within Temptation had become a mainstream band.

Of course that is not, per se, a bad thing. Many great prog bands are somewhat mainstream, just think of Genesis (at least in their later years). And whatever kind of band they are, Within Temptation does make great music. So with these albums and the many, many live shows in their baggage, they have now raised the bar and went for one ultimate show: a show with a huge symphonic orchestra, choir, firework, huge projects, you name it. The show was sold out for months in advance and only 10,000 fans could attend. Fortunately it was recorded in HD with 14 camera', to create a worthy document of this event, Black Symphony.

They came, played and conquered.

The band played a total of 21 songs, not including the "Overture," which was played by the orchestra. This set the mood for the band. Of course, next to the HUGE screens behind the band, the real eye (and ear) catcher was Sharon den Adel! When the band entered, she looked very impressive with a huge dress. But with the second song, she already lost a part of the dress and was able to move around the stage a bit more. Of course it is no surprise she would change her appearance several times during the show.

The audio of the show is quite good, although I was expecting it to really "blow" me away and that did not happen. Unfortunately, the promo copy I received only contained the Dolby 5.1 track and not the DTS version. As expected, the songs all came from the last three albums, although with 10 songs, the emphasis clearly was on The Heart Of Everything. Still, I really wished they had included at least one song from Enter or even from The Dance.

The band really stretched themselves to bring a huge show and used a lot of extras, like the HUGE screens behind the band, many effects, like fire and steam and even people on stilts! And three guest singers. The first one to enter the stage: Keith Caputo (what a small guy, by the way, but a great singer!) to sing the duet with Sharon, "What Have You Done." Great performance and one of the better songs by WT. The setlist included several acoustic versions of songs, shot in black & white, I guess for atmosphere. But seeing Sharon sing "Forgive," accompanied by Martijn Spierenburg on piano, that is really beautiful. Another highlight: the duet between Sharon and Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, Agua de Annique). When Anneke sings alone, her voice is quite different from Sharon's, but when they sing together it is pure magic.

One of my personal favourites is "Our Solemn Hour," which really rocks!

Fortunately the original gothic metal influences are not entirely gone, as guest grunter George Oosthoek (ex-Orphanage) joins the band for the next highlight, "The Other Half (Of Me)." Only the editor kinda fucked up the view, which gives you a real headache. But hearing some grunts in WT's music is totally worth it! And after close to two hours of WT on stage, the band ends, as usual, with "Ice Queen."

Overall it is a very impressive show. You can see the band is definitely no stranger to the stage and they not only play tight as a band, but also very tight with the orchestra and choir. For the record: The Metropole Orchestra is the most prestigious orchestra in the Netherlands! It is quite nice to see Within Temptation play as they always should play, were it not for the fact it is nearly impossible: no playback, but a live orchestra. This really adds something to the whole. As does the choir.

The DVD is available in nearly every format you can imagine and it is packed with extras. Unfortunately my promo copy only contained the main show, so I cannot comment on the extras, nor on the DTS track.

In conclusion: Black Symphony is a worthwhile purchase. It did not blow me away as I had hoped. Their Mother Earth DVD did blow me away. The End Of An Era DVD from Nightwish blew me away. Black Symphony is good, even great, but I would not call this the best concert ever.


Tracklisting:
Disc One: Overture (7:43) / Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)(4:39) / The Howling (6:31) / Stand My Ground (4:33) / The Cross (5:22) / What Have You Done? (4:58) / Hand Of Sorrow (5:40) / The Heart Of Everything (5:48) / Forgiven (4:53) / Somewhere (4:24) / The Swan Song (4:00) / Memories (4:03)

Disc Two: Our Solemn Hour (5:22) / The Other Half (Of Me) (5:04) / Frozen (6:00) / The Promise (4:32) / Angels (8:15) / Mother Earth (4:02) / The Truth Beneath The Rose (7:23) / Deceiver Of Fools (7:38) / All I Need (4:55) / Ice Queen (7:15)

Musicians:
Sharon den Adel - vocals
Robert Westerholt - guitars
Jeroen Van Veen - bass guitar
Martijn Spierenburg - keyboards
Ruud Jolie - guitars
Stephen Van Haestregt - drums

With:

The Metropole Orchestra
Choir
Keith Caputo
Anneke van Giersbergen
George Oosthoek

Discography:
Enter (1997)
The Dance (EP) (1997)
Mother Earth (2001)
Live On Air (2002)
The Silent Force (2005)
The Heart Of Everything (2007)
See Who I Am (EP) (2007)
The Howling (EP) (2007)
All I Need (EP) (2007)
Black Symphony (2008)
An Acoustic Night At The Theatre (2009)

Mother Earth Single (DVD) (2000)
Mother Earth Tour (DVD) (2002)
Stand My Ground (DVD) (2004)
The Silent Force Tour (DVD) (2005)
Black Symphony (DVD) (2008)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin NL

Added: October 22nd 2008
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.within-temptation.com
Hits: 2694
Language: english

  

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