Mother Earth (album)

Mother Earth
Studio album by Within Temptation
Released December 4, 2000
August 21, 2001
August 5, 2008
Recorded Studio BS29, Waalwijk, Netherlands, Summer 2000
Genre Symphonic metal, gothic metal, symphonic rock, Celtic Metal, Folk Metal
Length 53:54
Label DSFA
Producer Oscar Holleman
Within Temptation chronology
The Dance EP
(1998)		 Mother Earth
(2000)		 The Silent Force
(2004)
Singles from Mother Earth
  1. "Our Farewell"
  2. "Ice Queen"
  3. "Mother Earth"
  4. "Never-Ending Story"

Mother Earth is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal/rock band Within Temptation. Originally released on December 4, 2000 in the Netherlands, and August 21, 2001 in other parts of Europe, it quickly became a success in the band's heartland, reaching platinum status in the Netherlands and platinum in Belgium, platinum in Germany in addition to achieving TMF/MTV Awards in both countries. The album reportedly sold 750,000 copies in Europe.

The album was licensed to be released in Germany and neighboring countries through GUN Records in January 2003 as a special extended edition with four bonus tracks. The same edition reached the UK through Sanctuary Records with a release in September 2004. The album was re-released by Roadrunner Records on September 28, 2007, with bonus live tracks.

On August 5, 2008, Mother Earth along with The Silent Force was released in the United States on Roadrunner Records.[1]

Contents

Recording

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 BS29 in Waalwijk, the Netherlands.[2] Oscar Holleman 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".[3]

Style

The sound of Mother Earth was a departure for the band. In a 2008 interview with Faceculture, Sharon 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."[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]
The Metal Crypt [6]

Allmusic rated the album 4 and a half stars, the reviewer calling it "easily one of the best releases of 2001", and praising it for its "mature and confident sound" and Sharon den Adel's "elusive and intangible presence", adding "The rise of goth/prog metal seemed to reach a peak at the turn of the century, with an endless supply of bands offering their own spin on the subgenre. Only a handful of these bands seem to have anything interesting or unique to offer... With the release of Mother Earth, there was little doubt that the cream of the crop had indeed risen to the top... A landmark release that set new standards for creativity, musicianship, and taste — not just for goth/prog metal, but for any style of music."[7]

Track listing

All lyrics written by den Adel. 

No. Title Music Length
1. "Mother Earth"   Westerholt, Eikens 5:29
2. "Ice Queen"   Westerholt 5:20
3. "Our Farewell"   Westerholt 5:18
4. "Caged"   Westerholt 5:47
5. "The Promise"   Westerholt 8:00
6. "Never-Ending Story"   Holleman, Merkelbach 4:02
7. "Deceiver of Fools"   Westerholt 7:35
8. "Intro" (instrumental) Merkelbach 1:06
9. "Dark Wings"   Westerholt 4:14
10. "In Perfect Harmony"   Holleman, Matheeusen, Merkelbach 6:58

‎

Bonus tracks

All lyrics written by den Adel, all music composed by Westerholt.

2000 2-disc limited edition
No. Title Length
1. "World of Make Believe"   4:45
2003 German special extended edition
No. Title Length
11. "Deep Within" (live 2002) 4:21
12. "The Dance" (live 2002) 5:12
13. "Restless" (classical version) 5:38
14. "Bittersweet" (unreleased track) 3:21
2003 German standard edition
No. Title Length
11. "Restless" (single version) 4:43
12. "Bittersweet"   3:21
13. "Enter" (live at Utrecht 1998) 6:39
14. "The Dance" (live at Utrecht 1998) 4:53
Roadrunner Records 2007 UK and 2008 US editions
No. Title Length
11. "Deceiver of Fools" (live)  
12. "Caged" (live)  
13. "Candles" (live)  
14. "Ice Queen" (live)  

B-sides

Music videos

Credits

Guest musicians

Charts

Album Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[8] 30
Belgian Albums Chart[8] 3
Dutch Albums Chart[8] 3
Norwegian Albums Chart[9] 11

Year-end charts

Chart (2002) Position
Dutch Albums Chart[10] 9
Belgium Albums Chart[11] 19

Sales and certifications

Country Certification
(sales thresholds)
Belgium Gold [12]
Germany Gold[13]
Netherlands Platinum[14]

References

  1. ^ Within Temptation Website
  2. ^ http://allthememories.org/albums/Scans/Magazine%20Scans/Starfacts/SCAN0758.JPG
  3. ^ http://allthememories.org/albums/Scans/Magazine%20Scans/Starfacts/SCAN0759.JPG
  4. ^ now to post a comment! (2008-10-24). "Part 1 video interview Within Temptation". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhmp7vITibo. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  5. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r548440
  6. ^ "Within Temptation - Mother Earth Review". The Metal Crypt. 2003-04-13. http://www.metalcrypt.com/pages/review.php?revid=829. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  7. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r548440
  8. ^ a b c Steffen Hung. "Within Temptation - Mother Earth". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Within+Temptation&titel=Mother+Earth&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  9. ^ Steffen Hung. "Within Temptation - Mother Earth". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Within+Temptation&titel=Mother+Earth&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  10. ^ "Within Temptation: Year-end Dutch Charts". http://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=2002&cat=a. 
  11. ^ "Within Temptation: Year-end Belgian Charts". http://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2002&cat=a. 
  12. ^ http://www.ultratop.be/nl/certifications.asp?year=2002
  13. ^ AT LEAST ONE OF artist or title MUST BE PROVIDED for GERMAN CERTIFICATION.
  14. ^ "NVPI Goud & Platina" (in Dutch). NVPI. http://www.nvpi.nl/nvpi/pagina.asp?pagkey=60461#resultaat. Retrieved 2011-03-17.