Hello, everyone! Time for my review of the new Within Temptation album, Bleed Out.

For a while, I’ve heard some great things about Within Temptation, although this is my first time listening to an album of theirs. And I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into it, as their more recent albums haven’t been getting as much acclaim as albums like Mother Earth or The Unforgiving—and like I said, I haven’t even listened to those albums before … I had no idea what to expect going into this.

But I gave this multiple listens. Is it any good?

Well … okay, you might remember that in a recent post I did a mini review of Creeper’s newest album, and while I’m not really a big fan of that album, I did say there’s another album I was going to review soon which has kind of a similar style of anthemic hard rock music, and that’s it’s done in a way that I really do love.

And if you haven’t pieced it together by now … well, yeah, this is the album I was talking about. Not only do I think this album is great, but it might be among the most pleasant surprises I’ve reviewed in 2023!

This is the kind of symphonic metal album that aims extremely high, and unlike so many other albums in this style, it absolutely nails it in pretty much every way! So, where do I begin?

Well, I think the best place to start is the lyrics. Because a lot of the reasons why I really love this album so much come back to the lyrics. Now, that’s not to say the lyrics are mind-blowingly good or anything—they are great lyrics, but not the best I’ve ever read or anything—but they do pretty much exactly what they need to for this album if you ask me.

There are a few topics and/or themes that seem to keep coming up on this album, and one example is that it seems like this album has to do with fighting back against something—and what that ‘something’ is depends on the song. And maybe I didn’t really describe that well, but to put it in other words, these songs are incredibly fierce—I mean, the album opens with a track about fighting for the people you care about—‘won’t stand aside when our loved ones dying. And when we hear the call, we go to war.’

And for the most part, as much as the phenomenal sound of these songs more obviously stands out at first, the lyrics are really important here in my opinion. I don’t think they’re the deepest lyrics ever, but they don’t have to be. These songs feel like they’re more than just pure fun, although maybe there are some exceptions like “Cyanide Love”, which as far as I can tell is nothing more than a vicious hard rock tune from the perspective of a villain hunting someone down, and this song is absolutely incredible for what it is, with crushing guitars and a feeling of tension that builds throughout the track.

Back to the topic of this album’s feeling of fighting back against something, the closing track is a great example—it’s a fantastic track which features guest vocals from one of the band’s producers, Daniel Gibson, and the fierce lyrics are backed up by the absolutely phenomenal production/mixing!

And speaking of which, there are so many details in the production that just take these songs to a whole different level! When it comes to production and mixing, this is absolutely incredible, and it’s a huge part of what puts this album on a completely different level compared to so many albums with a similar sound!

I already talked a bit about the album opener “We Go to War”, and this song has absolutely crushing drums and guitar distortion, all of which adds up to one insanely powerful album opener, and it’s got one of the catchiest choruses on the entire album!

The band has shared that the title track is telling the story of a woman in Iran who was killed for refusing to wear a hijab, and you can hear so much emotion in the vocals and the music … it’s an absolutely heartbreaking song.

Next is the song, “Wireless” which has a great build to it at the start, and like so many of these songs, it’s got an absolutely fantastic transition into the chorus, with those absolutely crushing guitars that fit pretty much perfectly with those awesome vocal melodies!

The fourth track, “Worth Dying For” has pummeling drums and absolutely gorgeous strings, and those synths in the chorus blend in amazingly well, with the snare having this massive sound to it but not feeling overpowering in the mix, letting those synths creep in and it sounds absolutely phenomenal! Oh yeah, and then there’s that excellent guitar solo!

“Ritual” has some chopped up group vocals that are a great intro to the track, and I love what that awesome bass adds to the track, sounding phenomenal with that awesome snare! And I love how Sharon del Adel changes to a higher vocal register in the verses! This is yet another absolutely phenomenal hard rock song with a huge hook that is incredibly catchy, and the production is phenomenal!

The second half of this album probably isn’t quite as strong as the first half, but that says more about the first half than anything … yes, some of these songs do feel noticeably more flawed than the majority of the songs on this album, such as “Don’t Pray for Me”, which does lack the same punch that most of these songs have, even though it’s still got incredible vocals and a great chorus!

And the second-to-last track “Unbroken” doesn’t have vocal melodies as strong as most of these songs do, and it feels slightly more generic … although it is still mostly well produced, and it’s got some excellent moments!

So, overall … yeah, this is easily among my absolute favourite albums of 2023! The production and mixing is absolutely phenomenal, Sharon del Adel is an incredible vocalist, and there are so many fantastic compositions here, and the lyrics and music fit together amazingly well!

If you’re a fan of any kind of hard rock and you haven’t heard this album yet … well, I’ll just say I think you’re totally missing out! I mean, the strings, the synths, the incredible basslines … there are just so many things that bring this album to a whole different level!

I haven’t found as many 9.5/10 albums this year as I was hoping and expecting … but this absolutely is one in my opinion. You could argue it’s not doing anything all that unique—and you might even be right—but to me, this is one of the most fascinating albums I’ve heard all year, and I think they pull this sound off amazingly well!

I can’t praise this album enough with words, so you might just have to listen to it for yourself … and even if I could praise this enough with words, that’s not a reason to skip listening to it … at least I don’t think it is. So, of course, you decide if you want to listen to it or not, but I think you’re seriously missing out if you don’t!

This review was more brief than I was hoping it would be, but I’ve got so many other things I’m working on … I’m actually currently away and I won’t be working much on my website over the next few days as I’ll mostly be visiting with family. And also, it’s the time of year when I’m super busy with final exams, and also I want to have my year-end lists out by early January, unlike last year. And I’ll probably be going back to working full-time over the winter break. And the list goes on of reasons I wanted to get this review out sooner rather than later … so I’m glad I got this review out, even if it wasn’t as in-depth as I would have liked.

Anyway, I’ll be back with more reviews soon, and as always, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “We Go to War”, “Bleed Out”, “Wireless”, “Worth Dying For”, “Ritual”, “Cyanide Love”, “The Purge”, “Entertain You”
Least Favourite Track: “Unbroken”