Until the late 90’s the heaviest rock I was into was Pink Floyd. I then met my associate and buddy JJ, Alternative Rock DJ at one of the countries largest alternative dance clubs, The Krazy House in Liverpool. Slowly but surely I was convinced, by the music that he gave me, that heavy rock was something pretty special, and it is now one of my favourite genres. In fact he gets tired of me asking about the genre’s latest and greatest releases, and concerts (lol & bless…).

In the last few years especially, I have also come to understand that heavy rock in most of its forms is capable, in the right hands, of conveying the strongest emotional, social and political messages - beautifully and melodically. But something else also struck me: the genre’s musicians generally are lovers of many other genres which in turn influences what they play and record. Cross-overs and innovation are now the domain of the best heavy rock musicians. Now this may have always been the case, but I am only now realising that heavy rockers generally have much more to offer than many of the ’softer rock’ bands that pepper the charts. And perhaps the endless list of locked-out heavy rock concerts signify that a strong connection is being made, someting that mainstream radio and TV continues to ignore…

And so to this record by Dutch ’symphonic rock’ or ‘gothic rock’ band Within Temptation. Elsewhere on Shake you’ll find an interestig interview with the band’s vocalist, Sharon den Adel, about this wonderful live recording, together with the band’s biography. Heavy rock bands playing with orchestras is not new but still fairly rare. Probably the best most recent example I can think is Metallica’s Michael Kamen-produced S&M. But this is different in that while the heavy rock undertones are evident, the band has changed their past songs for this acoustic setting, and because of this they sound very different. The band was established back in 1996 and with each of the previous three albums released has incrementally garnered fans in Continental Europe selling over 1.5 million records. My feeling is that this record could break them in other major markets.

The record opens with what is effectively an introduction. ‘Towards The End’ sounds like the begining of a story with its dark underbelly overlaid by flutes and keyboards, along with the arrival of ocean-deep Celt-sounding drums with echoed backing vocal chorus. Then Den Adel’s voice enters, and what a voice! It’s sharp and sweet as it soars with emotional expression. ‘Stand Any Ground’ is dominated by orchestral sounds (especially grand piano) and what turns out to be a characterstically strong melody. Pop sensability is robust and so very effective as this epic, moving and beautiful song plays out. ‘Caged’ reveals a song and voice that reminds of Kate Bush. Den Adel’s voice is such an important and telling instrument on this record, and this song illustrates why. It soars, it twists and turns; it is utterly mesmerising; while the song is one that keeps playing in my head, day-in, day-out. It’s superb and a standout, even on this record where every song hits the emotional and musical bull’e eye. Next song ‘Frozen’ comes pretty close to being another of my personal favourites. It’s a wandering ballad with its intensely emotional, romantic message and its perfect marriage of rock and orchestral.

Look, I’m not going to repeat myself with describing other songs, I’ll just bore the pants off you with my consistant praise. However, the final song, ‘Utopia’ does require description. This is the single and features a duette with Liverpool singer/songwriter Chris Jones. But look, I’ll let Sharon den Adel explain it…

“It will probably shock a lot of people! No, you know what it is? When you bring out an acoustic album you can’t put a heavy song on the album. It just doesn’t fit the rest of the flow of the album. So we thought: ‘ok! Let’s put an acoustic song then to promote the album and it’s also nice for the fans to have something new.’ And the thing is that I wrote a song with someone, a friend of mine, and when we had written it, it was like: ‘ok, probably we’ll pitch it for this artist or that artist.’ And then we gave it to Robert to listen to, and he said: “That would work perfectly for the acoustic album ’cause it’s an acoustic song!” And ok, it’s very different from what Within Temptation normally does. Normally it wouldn’t fit on the new album for instance. The new album won’t be like that. But it’s a nice side step of what Within Temptation can sound like as well, you know. It’s like, for me it was also another flavour of Within Temptation. But It’s probably the most outside-of-the-box kind of song.”

Okay, got it? Well let me tell you that it’s my pop song of the year, and if it isn’t played to death on radio and TV something is very wrong. It’s hook and message-laden, intelligent, melodic, anthemic and superbly performed by den Adel and Jones. The accompanying video (check this out on the Shake interview page) is very special indeed and underlines the song’s meaning to perfection. In the past, Within Temptation has released singles which have broken the band in European markets. This song (and indeed this album) should put them firmly on the worldwide stage, big-time.

AN ACOUSTIC NIGHT AT THE THEATRE is a superb album and should have a very wide audience appeal. It’s heavy rockers showing what they are capable of, and is the reason why I love ‘em so much. Buy this record and you’ll see what I mean. I promise, it will quickly grow on you, and stay in your CD player for ages. Essential.

4.5/5

www.within-temptation.com

www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk