Review Summary: The Dark Times of Gothic/Symphonic Metal, Part 10
I'm re-doing my "Heart of Everything" review, because looking back, it was a little needlessly harsh on a band I otherwise love.
"The Heart of Everything" is kind of a transitional point between the symphonic metal of Within Temptation's first albums and the more pop-influenced stuff they'd make from "The Unforgiving and Beyond". By that, I mean it has simpler songs, in terms of both riffs and orchestration, maybe a softer sound as well, and more than a slight fallenmaniac influence. This is the part where many lost hope for Within Temptation, but also the album that kind of introduced them to a bigger and younger audience, like many others in my "Dark times" series. To me, it's a little weaker than its predecessors but it's still enjoyable.
More than any WT album, this is the one that sounds the most like a movie soundtrack, with its powerful orchestration and sometimes fantasy-inspired, sometimes more realistic storytelling. For example, "The Howling" is a great opener, with sinister and powerful violins and a distorted riff, an overall energetic, urgent feel and lyrics about trouble and violence, with a memorable "When they start killing" hook. It's the song you'll use for a fight scene.
The riff is somewhat simple, not the lead instrument but simply one of the many instruments in the orchestra. At least it's memorable, while other songs use similar ones that kind of feel repetitive. "Frozen" kind of suffers from that, but the real highlight of the song is the beautiful symphonic instrumentation. The title track has another similar riff, too similar to the "Going Under" riff as well, but it's really catchy and I love how Sharon Del Adel sings it faster and with a deeper voice than the crystal-clear soprano she uses on the rest of the album. Aside from the ballads, the best showcase of her voice would have to be "The Cross", where she sings a repetitive but catchy vocal hook, and delivers her lyrics in a sweet and clear voice. It's not a Christian rock song, by the way: it's just using religious imagery to apply it to real life and a troubled relationship. "Why have you waited to embrace me, my dear?".
Aside from "What Have You Done", it's the album's most straightforward song about relationships. I'd describe the latter as the more symphonic "Bring me to Life", with Keith Caputo playing a bigger part than Paul McCoy, and having better chemistry with Sharon, except this time it's about a really messy relationship. It's the obvious single, but I always felt like it was trying to do too much, too fast while it's really just a BMTL clone.
The other song I'm not so sure about is "Final Destination", which in fact, uses a similar melody and is nowhere near as catchy as the rest of the album. It's very telling how it's the only song from "The Heart" that was not played during the "Black Symphony" live album, a.k.a one of the best live albums ever.
However, the best and most ambitious symphonic track would have to be "Our Solemn Hour", about troubled times, danger and bravery, with choirs, violins, extracts from political speeches and lyrics where every line sounds perfect for what the song is about, especially the last one on the chorus "Is this what we deserve, can be break free from chains of never-ending agony?".
Another really ambitious and interesting song is "The Truth Beneath the Rose", a melancholic ballad-to symphonic metal track about the narrator losing her faith because of religiously-motivated violence. Her pain, guilt and grief is expressed so well, which is a real testament to Sharon's talent as a singer.
"Hand of Sorrow" is another highlight, with its huge, epic feel, instantly memorable violins and choirs, equally catchy guitar solo and honestly sad lyrics about a character who is constantly used as a warrior because of his powers, and is not allowed to have a life of his own. This is the song with all of Within Temptation's best traits: their ambition, riveting storytelling, loud emotions and Sharon's wonderful voice. Well, this one and the ballads left at the end, "All I Need" and "Forgiven". Compared to their previous ballads, they're more simple, I could easily imagine many pop singers writing something like that. But wow, Sharon singing "Make my heart a better place" and "All that's done's forgiven" gets me every time.
This album is interesting to revisit, as part of those 2 series I've worked on: "Dark Times" and "Fallenmania". It's a very 2007 album, caught between the new trends of poppy symphonic metal and Fallenmania, with Within Temptation's talent underneath. This is why it got a mixed reception when it came out. It would be easy to say that this album was the start of an era of Within Temptation I don't really like. But I'll repeat again and again: it's not a bad album at all, it's pretty good for the most part. I didn't dislike any song from it, I just thought some songs were more forgettable, that the music could get a little repetitive at times and overall, it's not as good as their other albums. Yet it's still an album I enjoyed, a good album rather than a great one. Give this one a listen if you can't get enough of Within Temptation, but don't forget to listen to "Mother Earth" first.
