Dutch symphonic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION have issued the following update from vocalist Sharon den Ardel:

"As we are all gearing up for the release of our new album I have news which might come as a surprise: Robert (Westerholt, guitar) and I are expecting a child. To be honest, this was not planned at all, but we’re very happy about it as we experience our kids as an enrichment of our lives.

I’m happy to tell you that the release of our new album will not change: March 2011! The recordings for the album are completed and the songs are being mixed right now, all preparations for the release are in full swing, so there is no reason to put things on hold.

However, we couldn’t avoid rescheduling our tour as it will be impossible for me to deliver a great show for you while being in the final months of my pregnancy. Also due to the complications during the previous pregnancies it is dangerous for our baby and for me to be very active in these final months.

The tour dates have already been re-scheduled to the fall of 2011. The tickets you have bought will remain valid for the new dates which can be found on this page.

We understand that the re-scheduling of our tour is a blow for you and we can only sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused as we very much appreciate the fact that so many of you have bought tickets for the shows early on.

We hope for your understanding and support and we’ll do everything to make the up-coming tour the best you’ve ever seen from us yet!"

A previous update from the band states: "We’re really excited to be able to finally announce the title of our new album.

Recently we’ve started giving clues on the website about our concept album. As you might have noticed our concept album is going to be based on a comic book series, written by Steven O’Connell (BloodRayne & Dark 48). We’ve asked comic artist Romano Molenaar (Witchblade, Darkness and X-men) to draw the characters and scenery.

The new album and comic will be titled: The Unforgiving.

On this album, we’ve taken a totally different approach. Each song on The Unforgiving was written along Steven’s narrative. The main characters of the comic are reflecting the characters of our songs. The concept pushed us and gave inspiration to come up with a new approach in our sound. It resulted in writing our best songs so far.

We have been big comic fans since our childhood. With this album we felt the time was there to take a new step in our creative development, take it further and broaden our horizon. Next to the concept form of the album, the songs are more divers than ever before. In addition, the music of the late 80ies, that’s when we started to read comic books, certainly has left a mark on our new sound.

The album is set for release in March 2011, but our loyal visitors knew this already.

In our first WT TV update we’ll be telling more about the new concept album and comic. So check back with us soon for our first WT TV update."

More on Within Temptation at this location.