Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Within Temptation - The Dance (1998)

You all may know Enter as Within Temptation's sole full-album dive into doomy gothic metal, but they've actually made another release of that style the following, their first EP The Dance. And honestly, this is a short yet great improvement compared to Enter and even Mother Earth. The 3 original songs in this EP actually sound a tad more tremendous than Enter, and I wish those could've been included in that album instead of those poor tracks covering 60% of that album.

That's just the first half of the EP though, as the second half contains two remixes using 3 songs from Enter. Those don't stand out as much as the rest of the EP which has that doomy symphonic gothic metal sound given a slightly different twist...

The title opener pretty much picks up where the band left off in Enter. The riffing and drumming stay heavy while being as slow and crushing as a steam roller, alongside the magic from those symphonic keys and Sharon den Adel's singing. Perfect! For the next track "Another Day", I enjoy the slow melancholy of this track as much as the debut's highlights. However, it loses a bit of focus in some parts, not too mentions the vocals having some uneasy reverb. "The Other Half (of Me)" is a better track. Although there's the earlier "beauty and the beast" gothic metal, it's at a faster pace as a nice hint at their later upbeat material. It reminds me a bit of Trail of Tears at that time.

Now comes the remixes, starting with the one for "Restless". What the f*** was up with that one!? All they did was take the song's softer sections and added an annoying drum loop throughout. That's more blasphemous to that gem of a song than its single edit! "Candles" and "Pearls of Light" have a joint remix with emphasis on those songs' vocals and keys while throwing in some electronic effects. It's a more tolerable remix, though I'm a little turned off by the "Pearls of Light" section.

I'm glad the band was able to write better quality tracks for this release. I'd like this EP a little more if they were refined, and if those remixes were taken out for the most part. But those original tracks should've definitely replaced tracks 3, 4, 6, and 7 in Enter. Maybe even extend "Candles" to include the remix as its intro. Either way, worth a listen....

Favorites: "The Dance", "Another Day", "The Other Half (of Me)"