"I don't care that they hate it, it's the fact that they are talking about it." Why Within Temptation won't shy away from getting political with their music

Within Temptation Sharon Den Adel — (Image credit: Tim Tronckoe)

Within Temptation frontwoman Sharon den Adel has discussed the more politically-slanted approach the symphonic metal heavyweights' music has taken in recent years. The band's last album, 2023's Bleed Out, was partly inspired by the ongoing war in Ukraine, while last year's standalone single A Fool's Parade was aimed directly at Russian despot Vladimir Putin.

Chatting to Rock Antenne, den Adel acknowledges that some fans don't like it when their favourite bands broach political topics, but it clearly doesn't faze her or her bandmates.

"People say, 'Don't be political,'" she explains (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). "There are people who are actually applauding it: 'Finally, somebody is talking about it.' You always have haters and lovers for something. And I think that's the debate we're trying to raise. Even the haters, I don't care about the fact that they hate it, it's the fact that they are talking about it. Even that they hate it is maybe sparking a debate within themselves without them knowing it. It's just trying to have that debate with each other: What kind of world do we wanna live in? And I think that's what we — I don't know if we will pay the bill for that eventually by losing… We don't have a choice.

"We wrote an album that was, for a big part, inspired by Ukraine," she adds. "And the more you talk about it, the more involved you get. Also the organizations you support, they get a face. It's not a headline anymore. The faces of the people you got to know along the way who are working for those organizations, Ukrainian people and also bands we've been working with, and musicians, it becomes personal because the headline is their face. You think of them when there's another attack from Russia. You think, 'Oh my God. I really hope they're safe.' And we still have contact with a lot of them."

Earlier this year, Within Temptation released a short documentary, titled The Invisible Force, detailing the experiences of Sharon den Adel and her bandmate/partner Robert Westerholt as they became more engaged with the war in Ukraine and how it was affecting the people of Ukraine specifically. Den Adel would end up travelling to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to meet people affected by the conflict and film the video for A Fool's Parade.

Watch the The Invisible Force documentary below.

Within Temptation: The Invisible Force - Documentary - YouTube

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Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.

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