Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation played in Montreal, Canada on October 13 as part of their 2022 North American tour. With a catalogue spanning over 25 years, they are considered one of the vanguards of symphonic metal. Although they have leaned more towards pop metal over the last few albums, it’s hard to stay hard over the years, the band’s focus has always been on Sharon den Abel’s vocals. And Sharon’s vocals were still there, for most of the night.
Starting the set with See who I am, following up with Paradise, In the Middle of the Night and then with Faster, the show was at the top of its form. More recent songs that followed like Entertain You and Shed My Skin received a more tepid response. In between, Sharon acknowledged the LGBTQ crowd base, paid tribute to the people in Ukraine and discussed her past issues with exhaustion and the death of her father. Ballads like Angels drew a large sing-a-long
Closing the evening with encore songs Supernova and Mother Earth, the pause for the encore itself gave Sharon a few minutes to regain vocal form as the finale had a lot of energy. On the whole, the show was fun although there was a sense that the band was going through the motions. Even after 2 and a half decades, Sharon still has a presence and a voice. So, it was worth seeing Within Temptation, even if it’s just for one time.
Opening the evening was last minute call in Vrylnia, a Montreal based symphonic metal band. With a strong opera influence from lead vocalist Ariane Martel, the band played a tight set of songs from their just released debut CD, the Other World. It was worth the evening in its entirety just to discover a new band