WITHIN TEMPTATION's SHARON DEN ADEL: 'We've Never Been A Political Band Until The Latest Album'

In a new interview with Troy Culpan of May The Rock Be With You, WITHIN TEMPTATION frontwoman Sharon Den Adel was asked if she and her bandmates have commenced work on material for the follow-up to 2023’s “Bleed Out” album. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’re working already on new material, actually, but we never know how fast it goes. I must say that it goes pretty well at the moment, but you never know down the line, if there will be hiccups for certain songs that you need on the album that aren’t there and maybe take a little bit more time. So it’s difficult to say or to predict how long it’s gonna take for a new album to come out. But we are, actually, already writing again.”

Regarding the evolution of WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s songwriting, Sharon said: “Well, what I’ve learned lately, actually, is that the things that inspire you, like the things you see in the news, the things that are in direct contact or what you’ve done that week, most of the time end up in my music eventually. So it’s, like, when we start writing, it’s the things that are processing in your brain, like the things on the news. We’ve always been very much inspired by politics, actually, although we’ve never been a political band until the latest album. It is inspiring in a way that, it’s, like… There’s so many aspects to it and intriguing how people think and how they work and sometimes manipulate things in the news or anything. And it inspires a lot how to talk about and to write about. The things we are frustrated about ends up in our music sometimes. And it’s the good things, but also the bad things. And, of course, it’s nice to write it off, to process those emotions and then putting it into music: ‘Okay, I’m done with that. And it’s in the music now. It’s a story on its own.’ It’s, yeah, how it works.”

She continued: “I never thought of that in the past. I was always thinking of an idea of a story that I wanted to tell, which is way more difficult if the story didn’t happen to you. Then it’s more difficult to express your emotions into that. So in the past, we were more like writing in that way, like an imaginary story. And now it’s more about the things really happening actually in daily life.”

Earlier this month, Sharon told the “Everblack” podcast about WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s constant musical evolution: “The fire hasn’t died, so, yes, we do try to continue and develop. But I think that’s what’s always been inspirational to us — not to do the same thing over and over and make that even better, but it’s more, like, to finalize that or something, but more like trying new things. I think that’s what makes our blood stream, makes it boil, and we can’t wait to do the next thing. But I also admire people who can make their style a certain art and make it perfect or somehow. But it’s for us anyway. We always wanna do something new again.”

In December 2023, Den Adel was asked by Mexico’s Summa Inferno why it was important for her and her bandmates to voice their political views in some of their recently released songs, including “Wireless” and the title track of their latest album “Bleed Out”, which have highlighted such current topics as the war in Ukraine and the suspicious death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman “detained” for not wearing a hijab. She said: “We are musicians. And what do musicians do? They’re storytellers, in my opinion. At least that’s how I see myself, as a storyteller.

“Back in the day when there were castles, hundreds of years ago, when the musicians were traveling from country to country, what they did is bring the news from one country to another country,” she explained. “If there was a war far down South, then half year later, people would know up North because then the musicians came and they make music, telling the stories of what’s happening in the world. And I think that essence of being a musician, I think that’s important. I think the essence of keeping certain subjects alive in a different way than in the past, of course, but now more like the news goes so fast in our time, because we have Internet and everything, we know what’s happening in every country, more or less. And the thing is it becomes old news very fast. But certain things you need to keep addressing and talking about, like what’s happening in Iran, for instance, but also the war in the Ukraine, and of course now that what’s happening in Gaza and in Israel. Those topics are important to talk about.

“For us, we’ve written songs about certain of these topics, like Ukraine and Iran,” Sharon added. “We did write something about that. We were inspired by that. So that’s why we’re talking about it in our interviews. And because it becomes old news very quickly here in Europe. I don’t know how it’s in your country, but nobody talks that much anymore about the Ukraine or what’s happening in Iran. Not at all, because it’s not in the news anymore. Ukraine is, because we are, of course, supporting them, but in different ways from a European point of view. But Iran, it’s already very much old news since Mahsa Amini died because she resisted the morality police and died in a horrible way after being beaten to death, just because she wore her clothes in an incorrect way, to them. And it’s very important to talk about these topics because otherwise it becomes old news and their fight is still going on. And that’s in many subjects. We could have written about so many things in the world, even about South America where certain things are happening. But these were the things that inspired us when we were in the studio. At that moment, the war broke out in Ukraine. At that moment, Mahsa Amini had just died and we watched the news, and before we knew it, it was integrated in our music. But it could have been also other topics that are just as much needed to be talked about, of course. But these were the things that were happening in the moment when we were writing music.”

Asked if she is afraid of the backlash and criticism she and the rest of WITHIN TEMPTATION might receive for publicly voicing their political views, Sharon said: “Well, I believe in democracy. And I think also we have a voice, and I believe in debating. What I hope to do with this — we’re not lashing out or criticizing anything. It’s more like we try to keep the subject alive because just by talking about it, we can bring other people to new ideas or get a little bit deeper into the subject or start being interested in the subject and thinking about what is the right thing to do. What kind of world do we wanna live in? I think that’s a good question. So I’m not afraid of feeling attacked because of the fact that we take a certain point of view because I think… Well, I think it’s, that’s the thing of democracy. We can all be a voice and we can all contribute to the debate on what kind of world do you wanna live in and what do you accept from each other and what don’t we accept from each other. There should be a certain pressure from other countries trying to help certain people in need. And I think it’s most important that we support those who are in oppression, who are oppressed, and to let them know there’s people thinking about them and supporting them.”