Journalist Greg Prato spoke with vocalist Sharon den Adel of Dutch symphonic rockers Within Temptation about the band's Hydra album, duetting, her favorite songwriters, and the stories behind several songs.

Talking about the Hydra album, Sharon states: "Well, in the past when we started writing music, we had a really clear vision of how we wanted to sound, and we had a strict regime, like, 'Okay, it should be sounding like this and this and this'. And somehow we thought also that we could only be inspired by similar bands, or we had to really focus on that. So the way of writing was totally different than how we did Hydra, because with The Heart Of Everything, which is two albums back, we really felt like we had finalized a symphonic vision that we had of how we should sound as a band. We didn't think we could ever go over that, and we didn't want to repeat ourselves.

So we thought, let's try a different way of songwriting. Have no boundaries at all, no strict regime of how we should sound. Let's let that go, because that was such a pressure for us: we had this barrier already before we started that we could only move within boundaries in a certain way. And when that was gone, it just opened up so many new doors.

In the end we still sounded like Within Temptation, but then more diverse. And I think it started already with The Unforgiving album, that we started writing from different perspectives and were inspired by different kinds of music. But in the end, when you finish an album you always have certain things that you never change.

We felt like, we'll write whatever we like and in the end we'll see what does come on the album and doesn't come on the album. I think coming from that perspective, it feels like you're a new band again, like a young band starting to write their first album. And then you have so much inspiration. That was the same kind of feeling, after so many years, after so many albums, that gives so much energy and so many new ideas. That's the way we're going to write for the future, as well."

Read the full interview at this location.

Shot and recorded in front of 15,000 fans at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium in 2012 to commemorate their 15th anniversary and at the last show of their European Hydra arena tour at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Let Us Burn: Elements & Hydra Live In Concert are two dynamic evenings with Within Temptation, as they perform their most requested career-spanning compositions plus new music from their latest Billboard/world-charting album, Hydra, to arena crowds.

Watch "Covered By Roses" from the release:

Captured in high-definition with pro audio mixed in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, the formidable live reputation of Within Temptation’s stunning performances - complete with dazzling on-stage imagery and special effects (including fire-breathing dragons) - are showcased and brought to life.

With a total running time of 170 minutes, this 34-track live concert experience is out now in North America in the following three formats:

· DVD + 2 live audio CDs

· Blu-Ray + 2 live audio CDs

· 2 live audio CDs

All versions are available to order now at the Nuclear Blast USA Webshop, here.

 

 

The tracklisting for Let Us Burn: Elements & Hydra Live In Concert is:

Elements - Live in Antwerp:

"Intro"
"Iron"
"In The Middle Of The Night"
"Faster"
"Fire And Ice"
"Our Solemn Hour"
"Stand My Ground"
"Angels"
"Sanctuary Intro"
"The Last Dance"
"Say My Name"
"Candles"
"Sinéad"
"The Promise"
"Mother Earth"
"Ice Queen"
"Stairway To The Skies"

Hydra - Live in Amsterdam:

"Intro"
"Let Us Burn"
"Paradise (What About Us?)"
"Faster"
"Iron"
"Edge Of The World"
"In The Middle Of The Night"
"Dangerous"
"And We Run"
"Stand My Ground"
"Covered By Roses"
"Mother Earth"
"What Have You Done"
"Silver Moonlight"
"Whole World Is Watching"
"Sinéad"
"Ice Queen"