Review Summary: Absolutely huge.
Symphonic metal, especially the female-fronted kind is a subgenre that is often the target of ridicules. And it is not hard to see why... The frequent gothic/fantasy imagery abuse alongside over the top opera-wannabe attempts can become especially embarassing and unpleasant at times. And
Within Temptation is a band known to have once trod on that path, at least partially, with their previous albums. However, on
The Heart of Everything, they are different. There is a sense of maturity in their songwriting that comes from a surprising and unexpected place -- the focus on
the chorus.
The Heart of Everything does not try to be original. It does not try to be unusual in the song structures, time signatures or instrumental work, or any other element of the songwriting. In fact, the album is very streamlined, in the fact that almost every song is designed almost entirely with the aim to be catchy, have a memorable chorus, and remain stuck in the listener's head. This is a design which is prone to failure for two opposing reasons. First of all, it may fail, due to the songwriters simple inability to properly incorporate the appropriate elements to make catchy songs. And second, it may result in a product that is generic, bland, radio friendly fodder. Therefore, a level of balance is required in order to avoid a flop, and in The Heart of Everything, it is achieved.
The "metal" in this album takes a backseat, as the focus shifts to the symphonic instrumentation and choirs and lead-singer Sharon den Adel's vocals, with the guitar, bass and drums serving the roles of aides. The result is a success: Every song in the album achieves a sufficient level of catchiness, with a substantial abundance of memorable vocal lines, huge choruses and exciting orchestral passages. And all this was done with a bombastic style that avoids cheapness and blandness. The lyrics are one of the reasons why this album feels more mature, as the themes they explore, ranging from war, relationships, religious strife, the loss of a loved one, and... mythical beasts (?), are a departure from the gothic theme that may easily fall prey to cheesiness.
As I said before, The Heart of Everything is not an album that tries to be original. However, do not misunderstand me -- there is more than enough variety on the album for it not to be monotone. Such variety is found in Sharon den Adel's vocal versatility on tracks such as
The Heart of Everything where she sings in a lower, more sinister register, as well as
The Cross where her staccato serves well to accentuate the protagonist's tortured state. The title track is additionally set apart from the rest of the album as it is a more riff-driven, rather than symphony-oriented piece. Another highlight is the duet in
What Have You Done?, a song which features another huge chorus. A lot of people criticise this song due to its supposed similarity to Evanescence's Bring Me To Life. However, I do not think that the mere addition of a male singer warrants criticisms of copying. Meanwhile,
The Howling's slow interlude is absolutely enthralling, whereas the album's closer,
Forgiven is a highly emotive song, featuring just a piano and Sharon's vocals.
Our Solemn Hour has probably the most memorable chorus on the album, and it is a majestic song, empowered by the use of Winston Churchill's WW2 speech.
There are only two songs on the album which I would criticise. One is
Final Destination. It is not a bad song in itself, but it just lacks something special to set it apart from the rest. The other is
Frozen, which is also not bad, but I think falls in the previously mentioned trap of being too radio-friendly.
Overall, this is an album that immediately grabs your attention, and there is plenty of satisfying material in it to make you listen closely and then play on repeat in your head afterwards. Unfortunately, Within Temptation's next effort,
The Unforgiving took completely the radio-friendly path, without having the positive sides that this album has to compensate. Thus, it could be said that The Heart of Everything is Within Temptation's finest effort.
