The veteran Dutch symphonic metallers seventh studio effort and first outing for German
Philips/Phonogram imprint
Vertigo Records,
Resist arrives after a period of internal strife for powerhouse vocalist
Sharon den Adel. In the wake of a heavy bout of touring following 2014's chart-topping
Hydra,
Adel grappled with creative burnout, the death of her father, and the stress of child-rearing while spending the majority of her days on a tour bus, leading her to question whether or not
Within Temptation had run its course. Luckily, she was able to parse that emotional discord via her streamlined 2018 solo debut
My Indigo and rekindle her relationship with her muse. Moving even farther into the mainstream,
Resist takes those pop proclivities and tosses in a sizable amount of classic
WT heft, resulting in the group's slickest and most commercial-sounding outing to date. Fans who bemoaned the band's shift to radio-friendly fare on 2011's
The Unforgiving will find their prayers have gone unanswered; the majority of the ten-track set eschews the ornate symphonic metal of past efforts for a more beats-driven and electronics-forward approach that, despite its penchant for
Evanescence-esque melodrama, yields its fair share of exquisite gothic bangers like "The Reckoning" and "Raise Your Banner." (The former features a guest spot from
Papa Roach's
Jacoby Shaddix, and the latter a vocal turn by
In Flames'
Anders Friden.) In shifting gears to stoke their creative flames,
Within Temptation have created an immersive -- if not wholly original-sounding -- set of songs that play to both their strengths and weaknesses. ~ James Christopher Monger
