Unforgiving, The

This is one great album. A month or two ago, prompted by an Amazon email, I listened to the song fragments for Within Temptation's "Hydra" album a few times and found them appealing. I bought the CD and immediately put the mp3 files on my mp3 player. I listened to them over and over, and like I always do with new albums, figured out which songs were ones I would eagerly listen to again and again all through my life. I came up with 5 for sures and 2 maybes out of 18 songs total - a pretty good showing for an album in my experience.Then I tried the same procedure with "The Heart of Everything". The end result: 2 out of 13. But those 2 are really really good. And the other songs are good too, don't get me wrong. I just won't listen to them for the rest of my life.So this brings us to "The Unforgiving". I decided to tweak my approach. I listened to all the songs repeatedly on Spotify until I could tell which ones might be lifetime keepers. Turns out I came up with 11 out of 15, an amazingly high proportion, perhaps higher than any album I've ever listened to. I figured it had to be because I was listening to the songs while multitasking and on my computer instead of my mp3 player which has way better sound quality. I was prepared to buy just the individual songs, but 11 individual songs would have cost more than the mp3 album itself, so I bought the album. Onto my mp3 player went the 11 songs, and for days now I have been listening to them over and over with my full attention. And they have held. I may retire one, not sure yet, though it has an awfully good guitar solo at the end and is pretty good all through. But even if I end up with ten, 10 songs out of 15 is amazing. And they are so good they are addictive. I crave them day and night, and I'm not exaggerating.Within Temptation, what can I say - one of the best groups I have ever encountered in my life, which has gone on for almost 62 years now. Not that I've been able to convince anyone else my age to like them. So I'm not saying this is a group for people in late middle age. It's a group for anyone who appreciates cleverly written, relatively complex music that features great vocals, great guitar work, some symphonic instrumentation, and a metal but melodic sound.

Within Temptation is one of those bands, with every album created you don't know how it's possible they could get any better, and yet they surprise you. This is definitely my favorite CD of theirs up to date.For this album, Within Temptation decided to base the songs around a comic, which they created. Pretty similar to what Coheed and Cambria did (although Within Temptation's is in my opinion a thousand times better). The basis of the story (as far as I have discovered), begins with an elderly woman, known to us as "Mother Maiden". She has been blessed with the supernatural gift of overcoming death. As a result, she is immortal. She's also set in using her gift to make a difference for good in the world. Who does she bring back to life? Not the righteous, who have lived good, noble lives, and have merited eternal happiness. Not the wicked, who are damned, and very deserving of their fate. She brings back those who were good deep down in their heart, but who did something awful for which they need redemption. And she leads them to bring down justice upon the wicked.The main character is named Sinead Harkin. She was murdered in 1967, for protecting a friend of her's (who's name is Opal), from her abusive husband. Mother Maiden finds her in the morgue, and brings her back from the grave, so she can atone for a grievous sin she committed only year earlier. It was back then, she was a drug addict. Her daughter had been taken from her custody, and placed in the care of her father. She broke in to her father's home, to steal enough to buy another hit. It's also apparent she wanted to see her daughter. Her father walks in on her. He tells her she needs to get help, get her life in order, and finally be a mother to her daughter. She says she can't, that she needs the money (obviously not in her right mind), and ends up pulling a gun and shooting him. She never does get convicted, but she bares the guilt of her father's murder pretty deeply over the next year. Mother Maiden gives her the opportunity to find penance.Another character we are introduced to is named "Triplets". His father was a war hero. Fought in three wars, saved a lot of people. And like most war heroes, the wars he fought him really messed him up. He would drink all the time, and in his drunkenness, he would abuse his son. It leads his son to develop a three-way split personality disorder. There's a good side, a darker side, and the soul struggling in between. The darker side of him convinces him that something has to be done. The boy reluctantly agrees. He steals one of his dad's old grenades, and when his dad comes into his room late at night, he blows the both of them up. Once again, patricide. It's one of the most terrible sins, yet it was committed by someone not inherently wicked. Mother Maiden finds him, and brings him back to life. Only this time, all three personalities are given separate entities. So there are now three of them, bent on righting the wrongs of the world.The story also follows two detectives, who are sent to investigate a string of strange murders in the area. There is also a priest (of which we do not know many of the details), who we witness performing a satanic ritual, in order to strike a deal with the devil, probably to summon him or one of his angels.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ALBUM. The CD would be incredible on it's own, but I feel purchasing the DVD and comic is a MUST.

Within temptation are one of my very favorite female fronted metal bands and the unforgiving is a great testament to a lot of what makes them great. While i loved the symphonic elements found earlier in the bands sound i also equally love the more hard rock classic metal sound found on this the unforgiving. The guitar work while not really showy is still rock solid and creates a melodic background for absolutely beautiful and emotive vocals. I can not praise the vocals enough it amazes me all the different ways the vocalist can use her voice. I have always found the lyrics of within temptation very solid as well and the ones found on the unforgiving are no different, they are beautiful and uplifting if looked at closely. Some of my favorite songs are shot in the dark, faster, iron, where is the edge, murder and a demons fate all with amazingly infectious choruses and solid guitar work. Stairway to the skies must be mentioned also as while it isn't a rocker like the rest it is a beautiful song made that much more beautiful by the vocal work. The only negative thing i have to say about the ungorgiving is that i find the intro to be rather pointless and while i love the sound they have found with the unforgiving those who only loved this band for their symphonic elements will most certainly be disappointed because this is definitely more streamlined and accessible sounding within temptation.