When it comes to following the best album of your career, the question is whether to stick or twist. 'The Unforgiving' found Within Temptation imbuing their symphonic metal with polished pop melodies, which ensured sizeable crossover appeal. On 'Hydra' they vary things a little, but mostly regurgitate that successful formula without the same level of consistency.
While 'The Unforgiving' was a literal concept album, this is a metaphorical one based around the Hydra, a mythical serpent from ancient Greece with a number of heads that, when cut off, were replaced by two new ones.
Like that abomination, the Dutch outfit feel this record has many different faces. Singer Sharon Den Adel explained: "We looked back to our previous work and forward to our future, and combined those things to make the album. It's the best of old and new.”
The band certainly throw a lot into 'Hydra', with the majority of songs featuring a monolithic wall of bombastic sound as guitars, vocals, keyboards, strings and percussion are layered to the brink of sonic overload.
Unrelenting but electrifying and busy without reaching overkill, its 10 tracks deliver moments of greatness, some fresh touches and a couple of fillers. But, for all the talk of mixing it up, when opener Let Us Burn discharges an apocalyptic tempest of romantically doomed gothic imagery, it's business as usual. Guitars scythe their way through the bleak atmospherics while Den Adel's soaring vocals are a glowing light in the magnificent darkness.
While that mines familiar ground they do shake things up with some interesting collaborations. Metalcore maestro Howard Jones, former vocalist of Killswitch Engage, brings an exhilarating aggression to Dangerous as the band revisit their heavier past, with the song boasting drums that rumble like an avalanche, guitars that riff like it's the end of days and a euro metal chorus extolling the pleasures of living on the edge.
A battle of the voices ensues when former Nightwish singer TarjaTurunen appears on the epic anthem Paradise (What About Us). Although possessing different styles they blend together well, but in terms of intro, structure and chord progressions it's identical to Shot In The Dark from their previous album and feels contrived as a result.
And We Run is the biggest shock though, with Xzibit popping in to unfurl a scalding verse that fits surprisingly well, offering a nice counterpoint to Den Adel's graceful poise. Unfortunately, the song's central melody is anaemic and fails to rouse.
More of a let down is Edge Of The World, a limp ballad which lacks the emotional intensity of past efforts. The Whole World Is Watching - featuring Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner – rectifies that, taking Within Temptation into new territory by eschewing the usual melodrama with a refreshingly subtle and tender mainstream feel.
The album's two stand out tracks epitomise the 'Hydra' concept. Silver Moonlight weaves the death metal growls from their past into the band's current style to give a thrilling beauty and the beast dynamic, while the more modern Dog Days is equally brilliant, with its ear worm refrain and fist flinging spirit as close to symphonic goth-pop perfection as it gets.
Although the songs build to huge chorus after huge chorus in predictable fashion, the hooks, passion and exciting instrumental flourishes on offer make this album a worthy, albeit less breathtaking, successor to 'The Unforgiving'.
Fri April 11 2014 - MANCHESTER O2 Apollo Manchester
Sat April 12 2014 - LONDON Wembley Arena
Mon April 14 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Tue April 15 2014 - GLASGOW O2 Academy Glasgow
Wed April 16 2014 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Thu April 17 2014 - GLASGOW Academy
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