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[miko2]

Today's Song: The Howling by Within Temptation

I've said before how much I like Within Temptation, the Dutch symphonic rock / goth metal band which is probably (in my opinion) the best in the genre after Nightwish. However I haven't made them my song of the day because up til now nothing of theirs was available on iTunes. But, having looked up The Temptations for Thursday's song of the day, I noticed Within Temptation came pu in the search too. Woo!

I like thier cd Mother Earth best (and although I've done it before, I can't help but link to that video one more time!). I don't have their earlier work, but I should probably pick it up at some point, as they've become a favorite band of mine. But I do have The Silent Force which came out after Mother Earth, and I picked up The Heart of Everything which came out early this year.

Of course, although I compare Within Temptation to Nightwish, most people will probably think of Evanescense first. The comparison to Nightwish is because they are a highly symphonic rock band and considered (in Europe at least, and by their fans of course) to be the best in the business. (And it is a very crowded field belive me.) The comparison to Evanescense is because, frankly, that band is not only way more popular here in the United States, but in general the most popular goth rock band in existence. Evanescense is not really a metal band, just hard rock, and they certainly are not a symphonic band the way Nightwish and Within Temptation are, but on the flip side, Within Temptation has increasingly gone for a more mainstream pop / hard rock sound on their last two cds, so the Evanescense comparisons are quite fair. There are even some songs where Within Temptation seems to deliberately be trying to copy an Evanescense-like sound. Within Temptation, mind you, has been around longer. ^_^

I'm not a huge fan of their more mainstream sound -- I liked Mother Earth better. But it's hard to argue with results. When I first got into the band over a year ago you couldn't find them locally at all. Now you can walk into a cd store like Silver Platters and there they are, and as I mentioned, their new material has made it onto iTunes. They are touring the U.S. (the whole world, in fact, but the U.S. at the moment) and their popularity continues to grow.

The Howling was the first song from their new cd that I latched onto. It's a very good song.

And since I have this opportunity to showcase them finally, I'm going to do two songs of theirs in a row. I'm a day behind again after all. ^_^

The Howling - Within Temptation