WITHIN TEMPTATION will not be retreating from politics on their next album. Frontwoman Sharon den Adel gave an update on the follow-up to 2023's "Bleed Out" in a new interview with Ukrainian metal journalist Vladyslav Stadnyk, who works under the name Metal Pilgrim — and confirmed that the social engagement of the last record survives, in a broader form.
First, the state of play: it isn't done. "We're not finished yet. And with that always comes a tour, but we're still trying to hopefully manage everything in time. So that's something we have to decide very soon. And still working, as we speak, on new material, recording stuff."
Asked directly whether the activism that ran through "Bleed Out" would return, den Adel said it would — recalibrated. "Not as much as the latest album, but there will be songs still about that, especially as the world has gone crazier from the last few years. And it's always an inspiration for us. We've always been political, engaged, but with the last album, we've been so openly vocal about what we are, where we're standing, how we think. But now we're taking an even broader spectrum of more countries, different countries as well."
Her reasoning is that the crises no longer sit in separate boxes. "As social media brings everything so close to you, you feel like there's so many things to talk about. And everything has effect on each other — what happens in America, what happens in Iran, what happens in many countries, it all is all connected. We can't see it loose from each other again. It's, like, how much russia is involved, even in the Middle East. And we hardly talk about that, and people sometimes don't connect it, although I think everybody is now more informed than ever because it's so obvious."
Musically, she is promising a hard break — a point we covered when she spoke to Metal Hammer Germany earlier this summer and described the coming record as "100% difference". She expanded on it here: "It's gonna be so different from the last album again. For us, it's gonna be huge, going further away from everything, skills we have never played before." The live show is set to grow with it, with additional touring musicians planned, including extra vocalists handling backing parts on stage.
She still won't say what the change actually is. "The thing is, why I can't tell you yet is because we're still recording and still developing, so it can still change a little bit here and there. So before I say it's gonna be jazz music, you'll think [a certain way], and then it turns out to be more metal anyway."
WITHIN TEMPTATION have eight studio albums behind them and more than four million records sold, with awards including a World Music Award, MTV Europe Music Awards and a Metal Hammer Award.
Source: blabbermouth.net