The Silent Force

The Silent Force
Studio album by Within Temptation
Released	November 11, 2004 August 1, 2005 August 29, 2008
Recorded	Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum Sound Park Studios, Schiedam, Netherlands ICP Studios, Brussels, Belgium May 10 – August 29, 2004
Genre	Symphonic metal, gothic metal
Length	46:34
Label	GUN
Producer	Daniel Gibson
Within Temptation chronology
Mother Earth (2000) The Silent Force (2004) The Heart of Everything (2007)
Singles from The Silent Force
"Stand My Ground" Released: November 17, 2004 "Memories" Released: January 31, 2005 "Angels" Released: June 13, 2005 "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" Released: 2005

The Silent Force is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released on November 15, 2004, by GUN Records. This album is the first to feature Ruud Jolie on lead guitar, as well as Martijn Spierenburg on keyboards, after Martijn Westerholt had to leave the band due to illness.

It was released as three versions: a basic version with jewel case and no booklet; a standard version with jewel case and an eight page booklet; and a premium version as a digipak with luxury artwork, enhanced CD-ROM content and two bonus tracks (see below).

Only one week after its release, the album reached Gold status in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland.

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

Title

In an interview on Buzznet,^[2] lead singer Sharon den Adel discussed the title of the album.

"The title of our latest album 'The Silent Force' is actually taken from the title of a book from the beginning of the 19th century from a Dutch writer (who lived in Indonesia when he was young) called Louis Couperus. All the songs on this album are in some way related to that book (or at least the title)."

Overview

Plans for the band's third album came to fruition in 2004, with the release of The Silent Force on November 15, 2004, across Europe. It was produced by Daniel Gibson.

The band presented at several big European festivals.

In support of the release they embarked on another large international tour in 2005, with dates across Europe (including their first festival appearance in the United Kingdom headlining Bloodstock) and a one-off show in Dubai. "Stand My Ground" and "Memories", the first singles from the new album, continued the band's run of chart success, culminating in a second Edison Award. The third single was "Angels". "Stand My Ground" was later to be promoted on the trailer for the film Blood and Chocolate. The band also provided some of the sound track to the videogame Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade released in March.^[3] As of 2005, the album had already sold more than 400.000 copies only in Europe.^[4]

In January 2006, Within Temptation won the Dutch Pop Prize (best Dutch pop contribution) and Dutch Export Prize (best-selling Dutch artist outside the Netherlands); the latter one given to them for the third time in a row. The band also reported that they would start playing at festivals starting in April, in addition to going on an international tour at the end of the year.^[5] On August 5, 2008, The Silent Force was released in the US for the first time through Roadrunner Records.

Live History

Lead vocalist Sharon den Adel during a concert of The Silent Force Tour.

Jillian (I'd Give My Heart) was played in 2003 under the working title of Orff, during the final year of the Mother Earth Tour. During The Silent Force Tour all songs, excluding Pale, It's the Fear and Somewhere were played often, although Pale and It's the Fear were played a few times. Somewhere was played once during the tour; at the special show at Java Island, Amsterdam.

In The Heart of Everything World Tour in 2007, See Who I Am, Stand My Ground, Forsaken, Angels and Memories were played often, with Jillian (I'd Give My Heart), Aquarius, It's the Fear and Somewhere being played on select dates. During the second year of the tour, 2008, Jillian (I'd Give My Heart), Stand My Ground, Angels and Memories were played often, with See Who I Am, Forsaken, Aquarius and Somewhere being performed on select dates. During the Theater Tour in 2008 and 2010, Jillian (I'd Give My Heart), Stand My Ground, Pale, Angels, Memories and Somewhere were played on all shows.

At the start of The Unforgiving Tour in 2011, Stand My Ground, Angels and Memories were played on most shows, with Memories being replaced by Lost and Where Is the Edge (from The Unforgiving later on. See Who I Am joined the setlist half way through the tour, replacing Deceiver of Fools (from Mother Earth (album) at most shows. Jillian (I'd Give My Heart) and Stand My Ground were played during the Sanctuary Theater Tour in 2012.

When The Silent Force Tour started in 2004, one of the album's B-Sides, A Dangerous Mind was played at most shows. Towards the End was played at the show at Java Island, Amsterdam in 2005, and on the Theater Tour in 2008 and 2010. The Swan Song was played at the Black Symphony show in 2008, and on the Sanctuary Theater Tour in 2012, along with Overcome and Say My Name.

Track listing

Bonus tracks

Videos

Not included on every release.

Limited Edition version

B-sides

• "A Dangerous Mind"
• "The Swan Song"
• "The Swan Song" (Instrumental/Orchestral version)
• "Destroyed" (Demo)
• "Towards the End"
• "Overcome"
• "Say My Name"

Demo versions

• "Run" (Overcome demo) (unofficial)
• "Orff" (Jillian demo) (unofficial)
• "See Who I Am"
• "Forsaken"
• "It's the Fear"

Personnel

Band members

• Sharon den Adel - vocals
• Robert Westerholt - guitars
• Ruud Jolie - guitars
• Martijn Spierenburg - keyboards
• Jeroen van Veen - bass
• Stephen van Haestregt - drums

Additional musicians

• Isaac Muller, Siard de Jong - Celtic instruments
• Ego Works session orchestra conducted by Felix Korobov
• Choir conducted by Konstantin Majorov

Production

• Daniel Gibson - producer
• Stefan Helleblad - additional production, engineer
• Stefan Glaumann, Håkan Fredriksson, Ola Sonmark - mixing
• Bjorn Engelmann - mastering

Music videos

1. "Stand My Ground"
2. "Angels"
3. "Memories"
4. "Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)" (promo video for the DVD The Silent Force Tour)

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Metal Storm	[6]
Blabbermouth	[7]
Sputnikmusic	[8]
Lords of Metal	[9]

The album earned positive reviews from critics and mixed reviews from fans. Critic Martin White, from Blabbermouth, gave the album a score of 9 out of 10 stars, stating that "amazingly enough, the thick instrumentation and Sharon's angelic delivery are never at odds with each other — a rare feat when it comes to music as complex and involved as Within Temptation's is." Although, the listeners rating from Blabbermouth earned a score of merely 6.5 stars out of 10.^[10]

Sputnikmusic classified the album as "excellent" and gave the album a score of 4 star out of 5, praising den Adel's "crystal" vocals while stating that "Sharon does sing like an angel" and classified the album as "melodic" and "atmospheric", but criticized the excess of keyboarding and drumming.^[11]

Lords of Metal was very positive and gave the album 9.4 out of 10, stating that the album is "one of the most outstanding cd’s of the year". The website also compared the album with the two previous albums Mother Earth and Enter allegating that "it lacks the variety of ‘Enter’ or the finesse of ‘Mother Earth – but it remains one of the best albums recorded on Dutch soil in the last ten years."^[12]

Review coming from Metal Storm magazine was less positive, saying that it's just "a good album" and also compared with the band previous albums, stating that the band "lost their magic in their new songs".^[13]

Charts Performance

References