Sharon den Adel's voice is better than ever, crystalline as ever but not at all shrill. The synthesizer must be expensive - at times it really sounds like an orchestra complete with strings and horns, yet I see no extra players credited. The focus of the music is certainly on the interplay between the voice and the keys, though the rhythm section is certainly not to be ignored, with complex yet understated rhythms underpinning songs such as "The Promise." In the context of this album, the lead guitar actually acts more like a rhythm instrument most of the time.

The album contains three soft ballads, "Our Farewell," "Never-Ending Story," and "In Perfect Harmony," the latter two being completely absent of electric guitar. It is clear that this is music for music's sake, rather than for the sake of a specific genre or fan base. Now let me go change my top ten of 2000 list...


An album for everybody   June 28, 2004
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Whether you're a metalhead, a fan of new age music, or just someone who enjoys good music in general, Within Temptation's Mother Earth is the album for you. Although their first album, Enter, was heavy and featured male growling, Mother Earth leans in a more melodic direction, focusing more on Sharon Den Adel's angelic voice (gone are the growls). The album was originally released in 2000, but this version, available exclusively for the UK and America, was just released this past December with 4 bonus tracks.

Mother Earth begins with the title track, which was released as a single, and is one of the stronger points of the album. Most of the songs on the album revolve around the theme of nature, and this is no exception. "Ice Queen" follows, and literally takes your breath away. Give it a few listens, and the beautiful chorus will give you chills. Speaking of chills, let's talk about the next track "Our Farewell". Being the album's first (of 3) ballads, as well as my personal favorite song, "Our Farewell" delivers a somewhat sad and depressing environment, but is still triumphant. Few bands can create so many emotions in one song, but Within Temptation is one of them. "Caged", on the other hand, is a very bitter song, offering lyrics such as "He told me he loved me then he laughed in my face" - this is one of the heavier moments of the album. Then there are songs like "The Promise" and "Deceiver of Fools" that have an epic feel to them, and "Never-Ending Story" which sounds almost Celtic. Another favorite of mine is "Dark Wings" because Sharon's voice is at its best, especially in the chorus, where her voice soars over the instruments in the background. "In Perfect Harmony" is also a favorite, it is different from the rest of the album in that it is a happy, laid-back song. It is about a boy who grows up in the shelter of nature and his peaceful life there. There's nothing metal about this song, but WT pulls it off perfectly. The bonus tracks are also great, featuring a new version of Enter's "Restless" as well as the forgotten "Bittersweet" and the two live favorites, "Enter" and "The Dance".

All in all, a spectacular experience. Whether you're a fan of Nightwish, A Perfect Circle, or Tori Amos, you will enjoy the wonderful music that Within Temptation creates, and I can only cross my fingers and hope that one day they'll come to the US.


An Amazing Album   January 6, 2005
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The American music scene (especially metal, which definitely has definitely moved on to Europe) is devoid of a good quantity of popular commercial music that is pleasing to listen to on end. This album is no exception, demonstrating that there is much missing in the United States. Within Temptation demonstrates that there is very little experimentation and deviation from the norm in the States, varying their songs from goth metal to celtic. Songs like Mother Earth and Ice Queen will enthrall you from the start, epic scores like Deceiver of Fools and The Promise will put you over the top, and Dark Wings and Bittersweet will make you gawk in awe. In Perfect Harmony and Our Farewell are excellently executed gentle songs. There's so much to this album that can put you in musical bliss (including the lyrics), and it's well worth checking out.

Conclusion: If you're open-minded to music, are a metal and/or classical music fan, and/or like somewhat similar bands like Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody, etc., you are definitely in for a musical treat that deserves worldwide recognition, because Within Temptation is definitely a dutch force that amazes with this second album.


Hardly goth or metal...   October 15, 2006
 5 out of 8 found this review helpful

It's amusing how quickly people slap a gothic metal tag on music these days. When I think of gothic metal something like Fields Of The Nephilim comes to mind, which is clearly a far cry both in subject matter and sound to what's on offer here.

So, Mother Earth by Within Temptation barely fits either category. Yeah, there's a track called "Dark Wings" on here. I guess that settles the goth issue for most people.

But who cares about genres. It's the music that counts, so let's see how well Within Temptation does here.

To the band's credit Sharon can really sing, and there's no irritating death growling to spoil proceedings (take a hint, Leaves' Eyes an co.).

Mother Earth and Ice Queen certainly are bona fide orchestral rock tracks, and two great opening tracks for the album. Our Farewell is the first of a number of ballads, although it's fairly ordinary as ballads go. Not skip-worthy, but no goosebumps either.

Things get a little heavier again with Caged, not one of my favorite tracks. The 8 minute track The Promise walks much the same road as Caged. I enjoy parts of the song and other parts detract slightly from the overall quality of the song.

Never Ending Story is another ballad, and again nothing incredibly special. Deceiver Of Fools is another long track, starting slowly, getting heavy, going slow for a while again, and ending heavy. Not a bad track, but nothing inspiring either.

Intro is just a short instrumental bit leading into Dark Wings, which starts off like a Nightwish track. One of the heavier tracks on the album, complete with a bit of orchestral headbanging in the middle, which I didn't much care for.

Finally we have another ballad, "In Perfect Harmony", which would blend seamlessly into any Enya album. Cute song regardless.

Being a fan of rock music, I'd go for The Silent Force instead of Mother Earth if I had to recommend a Within Temptation album to you. Tighter songwriting and less orchestration, as well as less operatic vocals from Sharon makes it a far better album as far as rock music is concerned.

Mother Earth is not a bad album. I expected more though after some of the reviews I read here. Within Temptation sounds best here when they keep it relatively simple, like in the two opening tracks. Tracks like Caged, The Promise and Dark Wings tend to stray a little into no man's land at times, and the ballads aren't as strong as the ones on The Silent Force. If you like a little symphony with your rock, you should enjoy this album. Don't set your expectations too high though.