Within Temptation - Mother Earth (2000)

posted by all-musicrecords

Mother Earth is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. Originally released on 24 December 2000 in the Netherlands, and 21 August 2001 in other parts of Europe.

By 1999 the band had built their own studio and had begun recording demos for the Mother Earth album there. The album itself was recorded in Studio RS29 in Waalwijk, the Netherlands. 

Oscar Holleman, who had produced and engineered The Dance, was again producer and one of the sound engineers was Stephen van Haestregt, future drummer for the band. 

Sharon recalls that "I had a day for each song, which is still not very much, but you can try out things. We also did some demos before the recordings, so there you can check if you like or dislike parts of a song, and so you have more time when it comes to recording". Ayreon's Arjen Lucassen provided the guitar solo for the track "Dark Wings".

The sound of Mother Earth was a departure for the band. According to Robert Westerholt, the album was a natural progression of their first album Enter, as the band didn't want to release the same kind of music twice. 

As a result, they opted to make the songs on a faster tempo and change the tone of the lyrics. In a 2008 interview with Faceculture, den Adel states that Mother Earth was "a little bit older, a little bit more knowledgeable about how we wanted to sound, even then, of course you grow, so we had a better picture of how we wanted to sound. 

We didn't want to have the grunt vocals anymore. We felt like everyone was using that as a gimmick, and we didn't want to have it in our music anymore because of that...and also we were very much enthralled by a movie at that time, Braveheart, which was very Celtic, and that's how our album became very Celtic because we were so in love with the soundtrack of the Braveheart movie. So inspired by that, the album came out that way...I still love that album very much...it came together in a very natural way. 

The songs were sometimes written in a day, it did take time to work it out more, the way it sounded in the end, but it was like the ideas and the whole concepts of certain songs were written mostly in one day, the chorus and the verses."

According to Metal Injection, the album critical and commercial success can be attributed to the combination of its musical ambiance and the imagery the band presented at that time, citing the landscapes from the Mother Earth music video as an example of the great blend between their musical style and visual presentation. Louder Sound also pointed the bombastic and cinematic characteristics present on the album, highlighting the use of synthesizers and strings. 

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad pointed the visual aspect of the concerts at that time as another contributing factor to the growing popularity of the band, as the stage decoration, the band members outfits and the use of pyrotechnics suited well the epic aspect of their sound and lyrics.

Tracklist

1.  Mother Earth  (music: R. Westerholt, Guus Eikens) - 5:29 

2.  Ice Queen - 5:20 

3.  Our Farewell - 5:18 

4.  Caged - 5:47 

5.  The Promise - 8:00 

6.  Never-ending Story  (music: Oscar Holleman, René Merkelbach) - 4:02 

7.  Deceiver of Fools - 7:35 

8.  Intro  (instrumental; music: Merkelbach) - 1:06 

9.  Dark Wings - 4:14 

10.  In Perfect Harmony  (music: Gerarda Matheeuwsen, Holleman, Merkelbach) - 6:58 

2000 limited edition bonus track

11.  World of Make Believe  (unreleased track) - 4:45

Within Temptation

• Sharon den Adel – vocals
• Robert Westerholt – rhythm guitar, vocals on "Mother Earth", spoken words on "The Promise"
• Michiel Papenhove – lead guitar
• Jeroen van Veen – bass
• Martijn Westerholt – keyboards
• Ivar de Graaf – drums

Addiotional musicians

• Arjen Lucassen – guitar solo on the track "Dark Wings"
• Rene Dissel – fretless bass on the track "Never-ending Story"
• Guus Eikens – synthesizer, co-arrangements on "Mother Earth" and "The Promise"
• René Merkelbach – additional keyboards, orchestral arrangements
• Caspar De Jonge, Hans Cassa, Melissa 't Hart, Yvonne Rooda – choir

Production

• Oscar Holleman – producer, engineer, mixing, mastering
• Stephen van Haestregt – engineer
• Anthony van den Berg – executive producer

Notes

Released: 24 December 2000 

Recorded: June–August 2000 Studio RS29, Waalwijk, Netherlands 

Genre: Symphonic metal, Celtic metal[2]

Length: 58:34 

Producer(s):  Oscar Holleman, Anthony van den Berg

Label - DSFA