WITHIN TEMPTATION: Making Of Music Video For 'The Reckoning'

Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of “The Reckoning”, the new music video from Dutch metallers WITHIN TEMPTATION, can be seen below. The first single from the band’s forthcoming studio album, “Resist”, features a guest appearance by PAPA ROACH frontman Jacoby Shaddix.

“He’s so much fun!” WITHIN TEMPTATION vocalist Sharon Den Adel told Metal Hammer about Shaddix. “He’s just fun to be around. After he recorded his part, he was, like, ‘You guys are so great — you’ve been going 20 years, and with this song, you’ll be going another 20.”

“Resist” will be released on December 14. It is the band’s first release through Spinefarm Records, the specialist hard rock label of Universal Music Group.

“Resist” will also feature IN FLAMES‘ Anders Fridén and ARID‘s Jasper Steverlinck on guest vocals.

“Resist” track listing:

01. The Reckoning (feat. Jacoby Shaddix)
02. Endless War
03. Raise Your Banner (feat. Anders Fridén)
04. Supernova
05. Holy Ground
06. In Vain
07. Firelight (feat. Jasper Steverlinck)
08. Mad World
09. Mercy Mirror
10. Trophy Hunter

“Resist” marks a departure from the WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s past. The record is armed with 10 anthemic tracks, driven by grand melodies and dark hooks. It brings a futuristic take on metal to the table — both instrumentally and thematically.

“‘Resist’ is a true milestone for us. If it wasn’t for ‘Resist’, WITHIN TEMPTATION wouldn’t be here anymore,” the band stated.

“With this record, we’ve taken inspiration from modern music and gave it a face — a very dark one,” Sharon said. “Sometimes, it feels that today’s pop music lacks a rebellious edge. Our main goal was to collect pieces from sounds we did like and roughen it up as much as we could, resulting in a surprisingly new musical world that is heavier, dirtier and more futuristic than we’ve ever created before. ‘Resist’ is our take on metal in a new way: to give modern music its rebellious edge.”

Earlier this year, Sharon told Cryptic Rock that the four years since the release of WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s last album, “Hydra”, have been “like a roller coaster. It has always been like a roller coaster with WITHIN TEMPTATION, since the day we started the band,” she explained. “The train started moving and it just has kept on going. Also, with ‘Hydra’, it was a very successful album, we toured everywhere in America and Europe. It was an intense tour again, although we did try to plan it a little bit better from previous years.

“When I returned home, I was pretty exhausted,” she continued. “Normally, when I come back from a tour I have a lot of ideas and I want to start writing again immediately. This time, I didn’t have any energy for anything, I was really exhausted. I thought, ‘Okay, I am going to start anyway,’ but nothing came out, and it was pretty frustrating. Also, that has always been my way to deal with life — I love writing music, it’s the best thing for me, even more than being on stage because that’s where everything starts creatively. There was an essential part of me that didn’t work anymore. I didn’t panic in the beginning, but later, I panicked a little bit more because I felt, ‘Okay, if I don’t have this anymore, did I lose the magic somewhere? What is happening to me and why?’ Figuring that out, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have the kind of vibes I needed to write songs for WITHIN TEMPTATION. WITHIN TEMPTATION is big, storytelling, but epic and always very powerful as well as uplifting in a way. I didn’t feel that way at all and it’s very difficult to write that kind of music if you don’t feel that.

“I felt like I needed to take a step back to see why that was happening and why I was feeling this way,” she added. “It was taking more time for myself to do a little bit of soul searching. [Laughs] There was some time I took off for that, it’s still a process that goes on and on, and it went deeper than I thought. I have been touring WITHIN TEMPTATION for so many years and there is always a pressure to perform. Also, I never really had the time to re-evaluate what I was doing, to think, do I still like what I am was doing? I liked what I was doing, but I never had the time to process the highs and lows of our career as well as personal life. That was in front of me and I needed to deal with it. Out of that came music again.”

Den Adel‘s pop solo project, called MY INDIGO, released its self-titled debut album in April.