Within Temptation - Mother Earth (2000)^{Release ID: 7420}

5 years after my first review for Within Temptation's second album Mother Earth, which I wrote over 5 more years after my first listen, I decided it was time for review attempt #2. Part of the reason for this second attempt was one of my outside-world friends sharing a song from this album. Unfortunately, I don't find this album as perfect as it was 10 years before this new review, mostly because I've grown out of this full-on symphonic metal sound, with other flaws I've just noticed that I'll detail later on...

Mother Earth marked a change from the D-tuned gothic death-doom of Enter. Only the serene vocals of Sharon den Adel remain, with none of the growled vocals by guitarist Robert Westerholt. The music is faster and slightly tuned down to D-flat, and the lyrics are more fantasy-related. And it took two years for this to be the band's breakthrough.

The two popular singles are still some of my favorite Within Temptation songs today, beginning with the epic dreamy opening title track. The other popular single "Ice Queen" is quite catchy, though the title track has a little more magic. Then the album starts to calm down with the pleasant rare-for-me-to-enjoy ballad "Our Farewell". Then we have the equally slow (in a more doomy way) folk-ish highlight "Caged". Both the vocals by Sharon den Adel and the instrumentation are quite diverse. The peaceful calmness are at the right dose here, before it all ends up crashing down later... "The Promise" still reigns at the band's longest song to date at exactly 8 minutes. I used to love that epic, but what do I think of it now? Well, as nice as the strings/guitar harmonies are, the vocals sound too high for my maturing ears and make the song sound longer than it really is.

"Never Ending Story" bores me as a non-metal acoustic folk composition. I prefer the song by Limahl and its cover by Dragonland. I'm quite baffled by this long orchestral intro for "Deceiver of Fools", not sounding like the rest of the song. They should've just embedded it to the previous track. The song itself is a nice symphonic march to break free from the earlier gothic ballad-ish tracks. Again the problem is those d*mn cat-meowing-esque high vocals that don't have as much variation as the highlights. I'm not sure what the point of this ominous next "Intro" track was. I don't even know why that has its own track but the previous song's intro doesn't. It segues to "Dark Wings" which has a little more of the ridiculously high vocals, but that issue is actually brushed aside by some of the best guitarwork here, including a guitar solo by Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen. "In Perfect Harmony" is the worst track saved for last. It's really more of a happy-sappy Disney/Enya track than anything and it made me almost fall asleep.

For this review, I'd like to go through some of the bonus tracks, mostly off the 2022 expanded edition, starting with "World of Make Believe". It's more orchestral with barely any metal, but it's actually one of the best of the bonus tracks. Nothing terrible at all! "Restless" is a single version of a song from the doomy debut Enter. It's still a precious song, but it's the single edit that fades out early, and it's a little unfitting for this album, bonus track or not. "Bittersweet" is that track my outside-world friend shared when he was grieving over his friend ignoring him. As beautiful as it is, it's too Enya-esque for my liking. Sorry, friend... "Jane Doe" was recorded in the Mother Earth sessions but was originally only a bonus track on their next album The Silent Force. Robert Westerholt's growls make a comeback, adding to the song's dark vibe. You know what, scr*w the title track, "Jane Doe" has taken its reign as one of the best songs by Within Temptation.

Mother Earth is suitable for if you're just chilling at your home and looking at a forest on an Autumn night. At least, that's what the album would've been without some of the upbeat highlights like the two opening singles. The way the album has been set up I still recognize as unique in this blend of orchestrations and guitars. But this album would be less boring if a quarter of "The Promise" was trimmed off, "Never Ending Story" and the two-minute intro of "Deceiver of Fools" were replaced with "World of Make Believe", the "Intro" of "Dark Wings" wasn't separated, and "In Perfect Harmony" was replaced with "Jane Doe". Those changes would make this album a better blessing for the Earth....

Favorites: "Mother Earth", "Ice Queen", "Our Farewell", "Caged", "Dark Wings", "World of Make Believe", "Jane Doe"