Hydra

I have to admit I loved UNFORGIVING and THE HEART OF EVERYTHING. However I felt this album fell flat. I wasn't impressed with the mix and production and I felt the songs were more like lesser remakes of previous releases. The collaborations with guest artists doesn't necessarily make the album much better. This album was hyped more than any of the previous ones and sadly to me it is the most disappointing compared to what I would expect. I actually liked the very commercial Q Music Sessions of covers, though very pop and commercial, more than Hydra. I felt there was more creativity in reinventing those covers than there was in Hydra.On the flip side…if you are a WT fan and you love them, buy this CD, there are some solid tracks. I regret buying the 2 disc version though. However if you are new to the genre I would say the latest by Delain (Human Contradiction) and Lacuna Coil (Broken Crown Halo) would be better choices.And with all that said, my feelings on the release are not stopping me from seeing them for the first time at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. WT is a great band and I'm sure we'll hear some great stuff from them in the future.

Wow, I was blown away when I popped this in for my hour long commute up to Denver. I accidentally stumbled upon this band while flipping around on the radio channels and the vocalist caught my ear. I immediately shazam'd the song, which was 'Paradise.' I bought the album and have been listening to it non-stop all week, starting with my drive up to my beer league hockey game. I'm a guy who typically listens to such bands as Metallica, Dokken, Ratt, Godsmack, Korn, Megadeth, etc. so this was a huge leap of faith on my part by purchasing this record. I gotta say, I feel I've gotten my money's worth and look forward to checking out this band's other albums.What struck me was the great combination of strong, powerful vocals over some heavy riffing guitars, bass, and drums. This definitely makes for excellent pre-game beer league hockey music to get you fired up! Tracks, 4, 6, and 7 are the three that I currently like the best but I don't think there is a throw away on the entire disc. I also like track 1 on the bonus disc. I am a little confused at the sample songs that follow track 1 on the bonus disc as they seem to fade in and out to other songs. That said, this band has made one heckofa impression on this old school 80's guy.

Continuing in the more commercial vein, Hydra not only upholds the quality exhibited on The Unforgiving, but surpasses it. Perhaps one might suspect the label shift to Nuclear Blast might require WT to produce a more "metal" release. Thankfully, Sharon and company have elected to stick to a winning formula. And while the symphonic days seem to be a thing of the past (for now at least), there is no denying the consistently great quality here. From the blistering opener "Let Us Burn" to the Dave Pirner duet "Whole World Is Watching" there is just one blistering hit after another. Smartly, WT have incorporated some different styles and some guest vocalists into the mix and in each case Sharon den Adel perfectly blends her emotive soprano with the likes of Howard Jones ("Dangerous"), American rapper Xzibit ("And We Run"), Dave Pirner and fellow symphonic metaller Tarja ("Paradise"). The latter may be the best track on the album, but all of the duets work extremely well. Martin Westerholt makes a rare vocal appearance on the symphonic "Silver Moonlight" - one of the best songs here and clearly most reminiscent of mid 2000's WT. "Covered By Roses" and "Edge of the World" are highlights as well. The bonus disc contains 4 cover tracks and then the Evolution tracks which are basically demo out takes. Overall Hydra is a multi-headed beast that doesn't disappoint on any level, and these songs hold up extremely well on repeated play. (I've listened to this release multiple times monthly since its release almost a year ago and the songs continue to impress). As the year closes and I prepare my top 20 list for 2014 it's not surprising to find Hydra easily in the top 5.

I am pretty new to Within Temptation being in my 50's and generally of the view that music now day's just isn't as good as it used to be. There are however some exceptions which I will admit to. I recently discovered Within Temptation and liked the stuff I had heard despite the fact that they have a female singer, I am generally not a fan of female singer's in rock albeit there are exceptions and Sharon den Adel is definitely one of those. She doesn't try to sing like a man, she just sings and beautifully at that. I also like the use of strings in their music. As for this album, it has some tremendous tracks on it and is a definitely one for the collection, however it's in dire need of a remaster by a producer who knows what they are doing. In this case the producers have done a terrible injustice to, especially the percussion, the cymbals sound all sploshy (the only way I can describe it) and Sharon's voice which fades into the mix in places. The guitars sound fair but then I note that one of the producers is the guitarist.. so only 3 stars due to the shoddy production. 4.5 stars for the songs.

I don't think I can tell where one track ends and another begins. Within Temptation don't seem - on this album at least - to write a track that doesn't use every instrument they own: they're all sweeping epic tracks that seem to have been written for a movie soundtrack.If epic soundtrack music is what you're into you'll probably like this album; I can take or leave it.

I'm a new listener to Within Temptation, having found them by accident on YT. Bought the album after hearing Covered by Roses and think it's great. Waiting to hear if they are going on tour 😊

Within Temptation not only being a great Symphony Metal band are my favourite have been for years this is a superb package Follow up to The Unforgiving, Has great songs and lyrics, Featuring Let Us Burn, And We Run, Paradise What About Us, Covered By Roses, Edge of The World, Tell Me Why, Silver Moonlight and Who World Is Watching, great album must have for metal fans only disappointing song for me is Dog Days though average its not terrible Sharon has great vocal range best in metal, and Robert grunts return for this album after ten years 9/10 enjoy keep rocking everybody.

recipient loved the disc