LIVE(STREAM) REVIEW: Within Temptation @ The Aftermath – A Show In A Virtual Reality
Science fiction is arguably the crystal ball of storytelling. Stories of strange places and faraway lands are metaphors for technological advances, existential risks, and cultural crises. Post-apocalyptic wastelands and colonised planets are mined as land for socio-economic and political commentary. It’s a whole new world we can run to, if only to escape the reality of our own. As the pandemic-built prisons release us from our cells, and live music rises from the dead, livestream’s are becoming few and far between. Thankfully, Dutch symphonic metal powerhouse WITHIN TEMPTATION saved the best for last.
The Aftermath is an hour-long virtual reality experience that takes you travelling from the inner depths of a crumbling post-apocalyptic city to the outer realms of space on an interplanetary satellite. So many bands stuck to solid ground throughout the pandemic. They clambered up on stage or shrouded together in shared practice spaces. They played the hits and headed home. However, WITHIN TEMPTATION have never been one’s to hop on the bandwagon. If The Aftermath is the last livestream we get, this unsettling era of music ends on a high note.
Split into four acts across four worlds, The Aftermath is the culmination of a vision we first saw Sharon Den Adel and her band of merrymen experiment with way back on 2011’s multimedia marathon The Unforgiving. 2019’s genre-changing IDM-embracing Resist not only saw them shift their sound but their visual approach too, exploring their cinematic influences across their videos. It’s through The Aftermath that WITHIN TEMPTATION – completed by Robert Westerholt, Jeroen van Veen, Ruud Jolie, Martijn Spierenburg, Mike Coolen, and Stefan Helleblad – complete their mission to take their music out of this world.
For a set that flies by in the blink of an eye, it’s opening trio is a little like wading through treacle. Opener Forsaken is the oldest cut of the night, and it shows. It seems somewhat symbolistic that the oldest songs of the evening are performed in a world where skyscrapers crumble as the narrator flees the post-apocalyptic wasteland at the end of mankind.
In many ways, it’s representative of the way they’ve shed their symphonic skin in place of an IDM vibrancy few could’ve predicted them embracing. WITHIN TEMPTATION are at their best when they’re running through the new cuts, whether it’s the pulsating arena-rock onslaught of 2020 single Entertain You or the haunting beauty of IDM-infused ballad Firelight, featuring Belgian singer-songwriter JASPER STEVERLINCK.
In the cavernous valleys of a far away land, they trade guest spots like they’re going out of fashion. XZIBIT lends a hand in making And We Run match the urgency of the story they’re trying to tell. Firelight sees Sharon and Jasper floating in the air, the scene bathed in brutalistic red. Shed My Skin’s EDM bounce bursts with punk-fuelled pomp alongside ANNISOKAY for a set-stealing showstopper.
The Aftermath is an experience unlike any other. WITHIN TEMPTATION truly immerse you the sandbox of their dreams. It’s almost perfect, until Sharon Den Adel wakes you up like splashing water to address the crowd for the only time ahead of closer Stairway To The Skies. Considering just how bold it is ending with a track, and an album, that arguably started them on this path, it’s ironic they chose then to completely cut the illusion.
Whilst it’s story is at times patchy, although well-meant, and some of its pacing seems sketchy, The Aftermath is a triumphant experience to put to bed the era of the livestream.
Rating: 8/10