Within Temptation On Knotfest & Their Australian Debut: 'It’s An Honour To Share The Stage With These Bands'

Within Temptation are preparing to visit Australia for the first time, and for fans of the Dutch symphonic metal band, it’s been a long time coming.

The band was founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt (the pair married in 2018 and have three children together). As of 2023, Within Temptation have released eight albums, with their latest Bleed Out, embracing their signature symphonic rock sound alongside elements of metalcore, djent, and gothic rock.

Sharon den Adel’s musical beginnings didn’t begin in metal. She grew up with parents who were always listening to music, and her brother, who’s six years older, received pocket money from the age of ten. Den Adel recalls being four years old and feeling jealous, wanting some of her own pocket money. Her mother obliged, but with one condition: she could only buy music.

Den Adel and her family went to their local record store every Saturday to pick out singles. Her parents had a “progressive” taste in music, listening to everything from Chris Rea to Santana to Black Sabbath to ELO. But den Adel’s first love in music was an Australian icon: Olivia Newton-John.

“My first love was actually Olivia Newton-John,” den Adel tells The Music. “I was four years old. I saw the movie [Xanadu] and wanted to have the cassette with the music, and that’s what I got. That’s where my journey in music started because I loved her voice and her presence in the movie. The movie was the best, of course [laughs]. And her voice was magical.”

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Following Newton-John’s career, den Adel began discovering more women in music. She got into Janis Joplin, then Tori Amos, then Kate Bush.

At the age of 11, den Adel got involved with local bands, and by 14, she was singing at festivals and marketplaces in the area, performing in bands with local boys who were fans of guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Pink Floyd. “We played everything, anything we liked, especially with a lot of solos, because our guitar player loved playing solos,” den Adel muses. “That was my first connection with live music, playing everything.

“And then I met Robert. He introduced me to Iron Maiden and all that kind of music, and I really fell in love with the storytelling in that music.” At the time, Westerholt and den Adel were in a band called The Circle, their band before the formation of Within Temptation.

“We started Within Temptation together, and that’s where it hit it off for me,” den Adel remembers. “He introduced me to death metal because he was really into the death metal scene, but he also loved [British progressive rock band] Marillion because that’s what he grew up with, and I loved that, and [Irish folk group] Clannad and all of that merged into Within Temptation, more or less, and that’s what got us to where we are now, almost 30 years later. So, yeah, time flies.”

Den Adel’s voice also stands out as a metal listener. In a genre heavily populated by men and screamed vocals, den Adel’s light yet controlled, commanding vocal is striking when balanced with heavy instrumentals.

Explaining how she discovered her voice, den Adel remarks that she began her career as a singer as a girl, singing songs originally sung by men.

Returning to the groups she performed in as a teenager, she says, “I love the band Journey, and he [Steve Perry] had this really high voice, and I could sing any song he could sing, and Pink Floyd wasn’t a problem either.

“Even when we had to transpose the songs to a different key, my voice really fitted in that darker kind of vibe and with heavier music. So, that was my first introduction. I didn’t hear many vocalists doing the same thing, except for the ones I’d mentioned before, but they were more into pop music or blues music, so it was different, you know?”

When she met Westerholt, one of the key bands they both enjoyed was the English gothic metal band Paradise Lost. “With one of their first albums [Gothic], they had an opera singer [Sarah Marrion] with them on the album. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, but this is doom metal with an opera singer, wow.’ And they only have one song like it.

“It’s like, why didn’t they continue this? We took that as an inspiration for our own music. But, you know, you do it in your own way. I was into Clannad and [Australian darkwave band] Dead Can Dance, as well. So, trying to have that [those inspirations] in the back of my mind, the combination of death metal and the doom metal that we were making in the beginning, was a nice merge.”

After releasing their second album, Mother Earth, in December 2000, Within Temptation found wider popularity thanks to the hit single, Ice Queen. The song catapulted to #2 in the group’s native Netherlands, and following the album’s success, Within Temptation won the Dutch music award, Conamus Exportprijs, five times.

Their albums, The Silent Force (2004) and The Heart Of Everything (2007) debuted at #1 on the Dutch charts and expanded the band’s international success. With 2011’s The Unforgiving, Within Temptation accompanied the album with a comic book and a series of short films while beginning to experiment with their symphonic metal sound.

In 2014, Within Temptation embraced the collaborative spirit with Hydra, locking in guest appearances by former Nightwish singer and successful solo artist Tarja Turunen, former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones, Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, and rapper Xzibit. Their seventh album, Resist, was released in 2019 and incorporated styles such as EDM and industrial metal.

On Bleed Out, Within Temptation sound more fired up than any band should when nearing their third decade in music. It’s little wonder why the music—and den Adel’s vocals—are so fired up. Lyrically, Bleed Out is about freedom: it stands against war and oppression, stands for women’s rights, and examines themes such as religion, bullying, and inner struggles.

The opening track, We Go To War, is inspired by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wireless also draws from the war in Ukraine, addressing propaganda and governments sending soldiers to war. The title track draws from the tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the protests about women’s rights in Iran that followed. Den Adel has discussed how much Amini’s passing and the protests affected her, having lived in the Middle East as a child.

On Don’t Pray For Me, the band examined religious beliefs and the struggles people face when others’ beliefs are forced on them. It’s about abortion laws in different countries and a mass shooting at an Oslo LGBT pride event. And on Entertain You, den Adel critiques the way some people exclude, mistreat, and those they describe as “different”.

The lyrics are dark and heavy, and they’re complemented by equally heavy-sounding music: djent riffing guitars and breakdowns, den Adel’s soaring vocals, energetic drumming, and intense industrial themes. She tells The Music the songs on Bleed Out came from within, needing to get things off her chest.

“The war in Ukraine, or what happens in Iran, it’s heartbreaking. And then you write music to get it out of your system, and then you end up repeating it for the next two or three years,” den Adel confesses. “So, it comes back like a boomerang, and then you have to talk about it again, which is a good thing.

“That’s also why we did it: because you want to keep subjects alive for people, and because a lot of the time, a lot of news tends to go to the background, and when you’re playing the songs, you always talk about it on stage and in interviews.”

She continues, “It’s a small way to try to keep certain subjects alive because they need that attention constantly to be addressed. There are many things in the world that need to be addressed that are not on this album, of course, but if we try to do them in a little way, the few subjects that we did, it does help us to deal with the daily life reality.”

For den Adel and many acts hailing from Europe, the close geography to Ukraine makes the war feel more personal. For Australians, the war couldn’t be further away. It’s a different story for den Adel. “For me, it’s like a two-hour flight to Kyiv; it’s very close,” she explains.

“It’s in our backyard, and when you’re in Australia—I can imagine—it’s the other side of the world, but I always keep saying what Walt Disney once said: ‘It’s a small world.’ After all, it affects everything.

She adds, “It’s very small; what we’re doing. It’s not really that brave or anything; it’s just something we all feel the need to do. It’s more like if you don’t talk about it, you feel worse.

“People always think, ‘It’s not my war. Who cares? It’s far away. We can’t do anything.’ You can do something. In a small way, everybody can do something. And it’s not that far away because what happens in America affects what happens in Europe, affects what happens in Russia, affects the rest of the world.”

Next month, Within Temptation are heading to Australia for the very first time—despite den Adel’s fear of flying—to perform at Knotfest Australia alongside Slipknot, A Day To Remember, BABYMETAL, Hatebreed, Polaris, and more. In addition to their Knotfest performances, Within Temptation will play two sideshows in Brisbane and Melbourne (the Melbourne show has sold out).

“One of the reasons I haven’t been to Australia yet is because of flying,” den Adel admits warmly. “It’s so far away! It’s actually a bit strange for someone who’s doing what I’m doing that I hate flying. I really hate going on board a flight and [having] no control. But, yeah, Australia is worth it. I need to see it!”

Discussing the challenge of playing in a country for the first time with eight albums under the band’s belt, den Adel explains, “I’m really looking forward to it! And on the other hand, I hope that people aren’t grumpy about the fact that we have waited so long and we only played this [setlist] because we have eight albums; what are we going to play?

“It’s going to be a challenge to satisfy everybody who’s coming, who finally get to see us and have certain expectations, of course, so I’m hoping to make the best setlist for everyone.” She’s up for the challenge and ready to win over people at Knotfest who have no idea who Within Temptation are.

On performing at Knotfest, den Adel describes being on the line-up as “a big honour.” “It’s a big honour to share the stage with these other bands,” den Adel says. “We have seen Slipknot many times on other festivals, but there’s a lot of bands we haven’t seen yet and I’m always hoping to see a band that I don’t know yet.

“It’s nice to be surprised; it’s the best thing to discover something you haven’t heard before, and I think that’s especially among bands that are maybe lower on the bill. I hope to see something of that.” The Music recommends In Hearts Wake and their latest album, Incarnation. “Thank you for the tip! If I’m able to [watch their set], I will.”

Of course, a trip to Australia brings den Adel’s enthusiasm for seeing koalas and kangaroos and immersing herself in some of the sights, like the Twelve Apostles and Botanical Gardens.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing Australia and getting over that big leap of 24 hours towards your country. So, you better be there; we’re risking our lives by coming over on the plane [laughs]. No, just joking!”

After noting the tourist spots she’s keen to see, den Adel adds: “I’ve heard that you [Australians] know how to rock out and have fun! I’m genuine when I say I’d really love to come back because I have been to Australia when I was a kid, and I can’t wait to see Australia again through the eyes of an adult.”

Within Temptation will perform at Knotfest Australia and play sideshows in Melbourne and Brisbane. You can find tickets via the Destroy All Lines website.