Within Temptation releases new album in several luxury formats

It’s official: Within Temptation’s sixth studio album is called ‘Hydra’ and will be released on the 31st of January, 2014. The album will be available in several luxury formats. The Hydra, a mythological serpent creature from ancient Greece, couldn’t be killed. When one of its many heads was cut off, two more grew in its place… “It’s like us – undefinable!” laughs Robert. “What’s more, ‘Hydra’ is a perfect title for our new album, because like the monster itself, the record represents the many different sides of our music.”

Special guests
Within Temptation collaborated with several special guests on ‘Hydra’: Tarja Turunen, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum and metalcore hero Howard Jones, formerly of Killswitch Engage as well as US hip-hop icon Xzibit. Robert: “Xzibit is amazing. ‘And We Run’ song is about how you’ve got to live your life now. He’s rapping at full force on this song, it’s really heavy.” Sharon adds: “Xzibit brings a new element to our music that we’ve never had before! It’s a new cross-over and we love it!” As for the mighty Tarja, Sharon recalls: “The way she delivers those high melody lines left us all speechless. We had a great time, and the fans responded beyond our expectations.”

One of the album’s heaviest tracks, ‘Dangerous’ was recorded with the former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones, whose epic vocals are a perfect fit for Sharon’s. “I always loved Howard’s voice,” she says. “He makes the song even heavier than it already is. That song is one of my favorite songs on the record and one of the fastest we’ve ever written. It has the most bass drums we’ve ever used, too, and a very fast riff which we doubled with synths. It’s not a typical synthesizer, though – it’s distorted like a guitar, and it’s very aggressive.”

‘Hydra’ goes from strength to strength with ‘Whole World Is Watching’, featuring Soul Asylum’s singer Dave Pirner. “When we wrote ‘Whole World Is Watching’, Dave was at the very top of our list. He has such a captivating voice: it made the song exactly how it needed to be.“

The digital premium album, complete with digi-booklet, will be available on iTunes and includes 18 audio tracks and a music video. The digital premium album features bonus ‘Evolution Versions’ of four new songs, which contain audio commentary from Robert and Sharon and give you unique access to the development of the songs, their lyrical inspiration and the sound of the initial demos and vocals.

Tracklist:
1. Let Us Burn
2. Dangerous feat. Howard Jones
3. And We Run feat. Xzibit
4. Paradise (What About Us?) feat. Tarja
5. Edge Of The World
6. Silver Moonlight
7. Covered By Roses
8. Dog Days
9. Tell Me Why
10. Whole World Is Watching feat. Dave Pirner
11. Radioactive (originally performed by Imagine Dragons)
12. Summertime Sadness (originally performed by Lana del Ray)
13. Let Her Go (originally performed by Passenger)
14. Dirty Dancer (originally performed by Enrique Iglesias)
15. And We Run- evolution track
16. Silver Moonlight – evolution track
17. Covered By Roses – evolution track
18. Tell Me Why – evolution track
19. Paradise (What About Us?) feat. Tarja – Music Video (exclusive to iTunes premium version)

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