“Blessed are the ones, free of mind, free of hoping.“
The march towards Bleed Out has been a long and slightly drawn-out one. A drip-feed of material since May of 2020, that sees even itself included on the record, has chipped away at the grandiose that normally accompanies a Within Temptation release. This isn’t to criticise the Dutch outfit, who have held a prominent relevancy for 20-plus years now and hold an impressive discography including the likes of Hydra (2014), The Silence Force (2004), and The Heart Of Everything (2007), but such a rollout undeniably hampers the experience leading into a record. There is a sense that perhaps Within Temptation needed to pull something out of the bag here, and yet on Bleed Out, the questionable choices continue.
As Bleed Out begins its procession with “We Go To War” and the title track, the production and mixed has been amped up. While it does give breadth to the record, it does perhaps suffer the same plague as my experience with Sleep Token‘s Take Me Back To Eden – of being too neat and over-produced that it lacks any distinct character. The beefy riffs, especially during the breakdown of “Bleed Out” as well as the encompassing vocals from Sharon den Adel, do however give the record some life.
Continuing through the record is where that spark begins to noticeably flicker and fade. As Bleed Out wades into the midpoint, the better tracks of “Wireless” and “Cyanide Love” are not enough to counterweight the indifference that “Ritual“, “Worthy Dying For“, and “The Purge” offer. And while it would be harsh to place them as bad tracks, there is a sense that perhaps Within Temptation have defaulted on their sound and returned to slightly manufactured writing that they know they can easily and safely create, in the process abandoning the characteristics that defined even the likes of previous record Ritual (2019).
The closing stretch of Bleed Out highlights the most disappointing aspect of the record on “Shed My Skin“, and, whilst it shouldn’t be taken as a slight on Annisokay, within the wider context of their discography this will be marked as one of the weakest features. Defining features with the likes of Keith Caputo, Howard Jones, and Tarja, nothing here contains the prowess of the tracks the aforementioned featured on, ending up merely blending in with the compressed sound Within Temptation have here.
“Entertain You” leans into hard rock aspects that was found on “Ritual“, and it’s really where Bleed Out becomes groan-inducing. Line “We’re not here to entertain ya,” backed by butt rock riffs, just makes for something that lacks any endearment. While there is evidently an audience for this, it feels completely out of place for Within Temptation. “Unbroken” leans into more melancholic moments, and is subsequently one of the more enjoyable tracks on the record, as well as a solid closer. The synths are well placed in the track and den Andel‘s vocals, the crux of the track, feel suitably expansive.
Ultimately, there is something quite misplaced about Within Temptation‘s latest effort; a combination of the overdrawn release schedule, the AI-generated music videos, and the at times drop in quality of Bleed Out. Maybe it’s the lack of being able to suspend the disbelief and embrace the worlds which Within Temptation generally craft on their records, as the squeaky clean production and underwhelming feature mentioned chip away at that experience, forming something unfortunately hollow.
3.5/10
Bleed Out releases this coming Friday, October 20th, via Force Music Recordings, and you can pre-order it here.