On June 18th, Dutch symphonic rockers Within Temptation took part in a press conference at Hellfest in Clisson, France. The question-and-answer session is available to watch below; a couple of excerpts have been transcribed:

Asked when fans can expect the follow-up to Within Temptation's sixth studio album, Hydra, which was issued in January 2014, frontwoman Sharon Den Adel said: "At the moment, we have started (the songwriting process), but we're not that far yet; there's no release date yet."

Regarding a possible concept or special lyrical theme that will be covered on the forthcoming album, Sharon said: "We always try to find some kind of angle that makes this album different towards the other ones. Like last time, we had a lot of guest appearances and the comics before that one (2011's The Unforgiving). We'll come with something new again. We have several options, but we're not definite on that yet. It's all part of the big surprise, of course, also."

Within Temptation performed at Hellfest 2016 in Clisson, France on June 18th. Check out pro-shot footage of the band’s performance of “Mother Earth” and “Paradise (What About Us?)”, featuring Tarja Turunen, below. Tarja sang on the studio version of “Paradise (What About Us?)” for Within Temptation's 2014 album, Hydra.

Upcoming Within Temptation live dates include:

July
8 - Kvinesdal, Norway - Norway Rock
10 - Geiselwind, Germany - Out & Loud Festival
30 - De Veenhoop, Netherlands - Grytmansrak

August
5 - Székesfehérvár, Hungary - Fezen Festival
6 - Ostrava, Czech Republic - Ostrava v Plamenech
13 - Kortrijk, Belgium - Alcatraz Festival
14 - Hildesheim, Germany - M’era Luna Festival
27 - Schleswig, Germany - Baltic Open Air