Artists Who Inspire Me: Within Temptation

Welcome to my series on Artists Who Inspire Me. Each post will address a different artist, from any field, who has had a major impact on my life and/or my work. Some will be artists whose work I enjoy, others will be artists whose work I respect. All of them, however, will have had some type of major impact upon me, and I will explain why and how, here. Hopefully I can introduce you to some great artistic work, while simultaneously offering some insight into my personal growth as an artist and as a person.

How did a Dutch band that most people have never heard of come to change my life?

Oddly enough, the story starts, in a roundabout way, with a high school English class (how everything comes full circle).

In eleventh grade English, my teacher was talking about Paradise Lost by John Milton. Now, I couldn't tell you why she was talking about Paradise Lost. We certainly weren't studying it. But for whatever reason, it came up.

Being young and only a recent-reader at the time, I may have been vaguely familiar with the title, I may not have been. I definitely didn't know much about it. So, when I got home that night, I Wikipediaed it.

And what should come up as one of the top results, but "Paradise Lost (band)".

Now, I'm a sucker for finding new music. Although my tastes are unfortunately limited when it comes to music (if it's not rock music of some kind, it's really going to have to impress me), I am always on the lookout for something new that awakens a distant and unknown sense within me. As the years have passed, my arbitrary searches for new music have become more limited, mostly due to time constraints (not, by any means, due to lack of interest). But back then, they were in full swing.

I clicked the link, read a little, and did what I generally did when trying to find out more about a new musical artist back in those days: I went on iTunes and started listening to thirty-second song samples (I believe, at that time, the song samples were still that short).

I quickly found that, with all due respect to the band, the first few songs I listened to didn't capture my interest. They were okay. But I was firmly on the edge of downloading an album, and leaning heavily towards not.

Lower down on the page, however, I saw the Listeners Also Downloaded recommendations, and I found...

Kamelot. (I promise, this story will eventually get to the point.)

Now Kamelot is a good band. In fact, I might even call them a great band. That day, I was introduced to power metal and symphonic metal. I downloaded Ghost Opera and listened to it regularly, not even realising that such a great album wasn't even one of Kamelot's best (that would probably be between The Black Halo and Poetry for the Poisoned).

Now firmly entrenched in a fascination with a genre of music I had never previously realised existed, I wanted more. And where else should I turn to but the iTunes recommendations page. From Kamelot, I was led to Within Temptation. I listened to very few other styles of music for a long time thereafter.

Within Temptation changed the way I listened to music. I may not have realised it at the time, but I do now. Where vocals, to me, had previously been about emotion and violent passion, I started to find more appreciation for range and depth.

Don't get me wrong, Sharon den Adel has violent passion, grit, and emotion in her voice, but she also has incredible flexibility that matches with just about any style she attempts.

No two albums sound alike.

Yet, it's always recognisibly their style. And for that reason, they're a band that it's almost impossible to get bored of, and one that can match with almost any mood.

Now, maybe they limited me a little. I kind of stopped listening to other styles of music due to my newfound addiction to symphonic metal, and while I love the fact that this led me to bands like Delain, Pythia, and Nemesea, I do wish I had had the motivation to branch out a little more, stylistically, at that time.

Realistically, though, I wouldn't have, regardless, because that wasn't me at that time. I've changed since then; I'm much more open to trying new things, musically. And long-term, I think that being introduced to the majesty of Within Temptation may have cracked open that door, even if I didn't kick it wide back then.

They showed me what music could do.

They made me like different.

If I'd never had that possibility opened up for me, I probably wouldn't have been as interested in In This Moment, Emilie Autumn, The Dresden Dolls, or, more recently, even the likes of Billie Eilish. Music that I liked fit into one category before Kamelot and Within Temptation, but I give more credit to Within Temptation simply because they're more diverse.

I finally got the chance to see Within Temptation in concert a few years ago and, for someone who's not a huge concert-goer, it was a fantastic experience. It fired me up to hear some of my favourites live.

If you know me: I don't get fired up easily.

And speaking of those favourites, it's really going to be a struggle to come up with a top five from a band that really doesn't make bad music (we'll just pretend that that first album didn't happen).

Subject to change, my top 5:

1. "The Cross" (The Heart of Everything, 2007)

2. "Ice Queen" (Mother Earth, 2000)

3. "Angels" (The Silent Force, 2004)

4. "Murder" (The Unforgiving, 2011)

5. "Mercy Mirror" (Resist, 2019)

I'd also like to give special mention to "Jane Doe" (The Silent Force), which I have said for a long time would be my entrance song if I ever were to be a baseball relief pitcher (because, honestly, you need to send the right message if coming in as a reliever versus being a starter or if you're coming up to bat). It is the perfect mix of ominous and hard-hitting, sure to intimidate the batters watching you warm up.

So, with that off-topic conclusion, we might as well finish with an appropriately off-topic question (aside from the obvious question of what your favourite Within Temptation song is, should you have one).

If you played baseball, what would your walk-up/warmup/entrance music be?