WITHIN TEMPTATION vocalist Sharon den Adel is featured in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com discussing the band's new album, Hydra. An excerpt is available below:

UG: The music on Hydra sounds so much more organic. The sound is so much more rawer than on earlier albums. Has it matured in a certain way by letting go?

Sharon: "Well the case is more is the fact we let go of a certain way of songwriting how we used it in the past. Like in the past we had a certain idea about how we wanted to sound and what we were allowed to be within our genre. Nowadays we feel like with The Heart of Everything we felt like we finalized this symphonic kind of sound we were searching for all those years."

UG: You weren't afraid to change on Hydra and The Unforgiving?

Sharon: "Now it's more like based on embracing the changes because we need it. We also understand that's where our challenges lie. So it's not based on fear - it's based on knowing your strength is there also. People like you because every time it's a bit different from the last time you brought out a record."

UG: Change has worked for Within Temptation.

Sharon: "We're not like AC/DC bringing out the same record. You can't make the same kind of music every time. Although I do respect that they can, it's something that even if we would like to we can't. That's what it's about."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

The Hydra, a mythological serpent creature from ancient Greece, couldn’t be killed. When one of its many heads was cut off, two more grew in its place...

“It’s like us – undefinable!” laughs Within Temptation guitarist and songwriter Robert Westerholt. “What’s more, Hydra is a perfect title for our new album, because like the monster itself, the record represents the many different sides of our music.

Check out the special guests on Hydra: Finnish operatic metal diva Tarja Turunen (ex-NIGHTWISH), acclaimed singer-songwriter Dave Pirner of SOUL ASYLUM and metalcore hero Howard Jones, formerly of Killswitch Engage as well as US hip-hop icon XZIBIT.

Asked to describe Xzibit’s performance on the song ‘And We Run’, Westerholt laughs: “Xzibit is amazing. This song is about how you’ve got to live your life now. He’s rapping at full force on this song, it’s really heavy." Sharon adds: “Xzibit brings a new element to our music that we’ve never had before! It's a new cross-over and we love it! As for the mighty Tarja, den Adel recalls: “The way she delivers those high melody lines left us all speechless. We had a great time, and the fans responded beyond our expectations.

One of the album heaviest tracks, ‘Dangerous’ was recorded with the former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones, whose epic vocals are a perfect fit for Sharon’s. “I always loved Howard’s voice,” she says. “He makes the song even heavier than it already is. That song is one of my favorite songs on the record and one of the fastest we’ve ever written. It has the most bass drums we’ve ever used, too, and a very fast riff which we doubled with synths. It’s not a typical synthesizer, though – it’s distorted like a guitar, and it’s very aggressive.”

Hydra goes from strength to strength with ‘Whole World Is Watching’, featuring Soul Asylum’s golden-voiced singer Dave Pirner. “When we wrote ‘Whole World Is Watching’, Dave was at the very top of our list. He has such a captivating voice: it made the song exactly how it needed to be."

Available initially as a digital premium album and a luxury box set, Hydra features stunning, neoclassical artwork by concept artist Romano Molenaar (X-men, Batman) who worked with Within Temptation on the artwork of the band’s previous album and comic, the Top 5 ‘The Unforgiving’ from 2011.

The digital premium album, complete with digi-booklet, will be available on iTunes and includes 18 audio tracks and a music video. Fans will love the bonus ‘Evolution Versions’ of four new songs, which contain audio commentary from den Adel and Westerholt and give the listener unique access into the development of the songs, their lyrical inspiration and the sound of the initial demos and vocals. This innovative approach gives these versions unprecedented value for the Within Temptation disciple.

If you think that’s innovative, take a look at the amazing, luxury box set version of Hydra. This contains a CD-sized, 18-track Media book, including a 100-page booklet with unique photos and an embossed cover, and a double gatefold black vinyl version of the album with all 18 tracks above. As if that isn’t enough, there’s also an instrumental version of the whole of ‘Hydra’, as requested by fans, guitar picks and a songbook with all the sheet music from the album. Finally, all these elements come securely packaged in a beautifully-designed, LP-sized box.

Hydra will also be available as a Special Edition double CD with the Media book, featuring 10 tracks on disc one and eight bonus tracks on disc two. There will be a double vinyl LP and a jewel-case CD version to complete the product range.

Hydra album configurations (tracklisting by format):

iTunes (premium version)

'Let Us Burn'

'Dangerous' featuring Howard Jones

'And We Run' featuring Xzibit

'Paradise (What About Us?)' featuring Tarja

'Edge Of The World'

'Silver Moonlight'

'Covered By Roses'

'Dog Days'

'Tell Me Why'

'Whole World Is Watching' featuring Dave Pirner

'Radioactive' (originally performed by Imagine Dragons)

'Summertime Sadness' (originally performed by Lana del Ray)

'Let Her Go' (originally performed by Passenger)

'Dirty Dancer' (originally performed by Enrique Iglesias)

'And We Run' - evolution track

'Silver Moonlight' – evolution track

'Covered By Roses' – evolution track

'Tell Me Why' – evolution track

'Paradise (What About Us?)' featuring Tarja – Music Video (exclusive to iTunes premium version)

Formats:

2 CD Mediabook (premium version) (100 page booklet)

CD Jewel Case (standard version)

Digital Album (standard version)

Vinyl Gatefold

Deluxe Boxset Content:

2CD Mediabook (premium version)

Do Vinyl Gatefold

Hydra Songbook

Hydra Instrumental CD

Within Temptation Guitar Pick

Packaged in LP size Deluxe Boxset