Label: Dramatico Entertaintment
Review by Tony Cannella
What a treat this turned out to be. The collaboration between two of the most iconic female singers in metal was eagerly anticipated (by me anyway). On their new EP “Paradise (What About Us?)” the Dutch band Within Temptation joins forces with Tarja Turunen on the excellent title song and it is a match made in Femme Metal heaven.
In addition to the title song, “Paradise” also comes with three demo versions of new songs, which will presumably be on the next Within Temptation album. But the song and video that has everyone talking is “Paradise (What About Us?)”. This song is a melding of two phenomenal singers who bring different styles to the table but also go about their business cohesively – neither one tries to show up the other and neither tries to hog the spotlight. This collaboration is utterly brilliant and worked for me. And oh yeah, there are three other songs (in demo form) that are pretty good as well. They have that up-tempo feel that that WT have taken on with their past few albums and the energy and vitality is palpable – especially on the raging track “Silver Moonlight” which features extreme male vocals. These songs should really bode well for the next WT album, which the band is currently working on.
There are always high expectations when such a union is formed and also some skepticism – you know those people that are waiting and hoping to tear it to shreds. Well, I can only speak for myself when I say that I was not disappointed – it even exceeded my expectations.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Paradise (What About Us?) Feat. Tarja Turunen
- Let Us Burn (Demo Version)
- Silver Moonlight (Demo Version)
- Dog Days (Demo Version)
Line Up
- Sharon den Adel – Vocals
- Robert Westerholt – Guitar
- Ruud Jolie – Guitar
- Stefan Helleblad – Guitar
- Jeroen Van Veen – Bass
- Martijn Spierenburg – Keyboards
- Mike Coolen – Drums