Resist (stylized as ЯƎSIST) is the seventh studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was scheduled to be released worldwide on 14 December 2018, but later postponed to 1 February 2019. The album contains guest appearances by singers Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), Anders Fridén (In Flames) and Jasper Steverlinck (Arid) and was produced by their longtime producer Daniel Gibson. It marks the longest time gap between the band's studio releases, the last one being issued in 2014. The album followed the band's pattern of incorporating new musical elements on each release, this time featuring more electronic, pop, and industrial influences. Lyrically, the band opted to focus more on political themes, a subject not explicitly approached by them on previous records.
Six singles were released for promoting the album, "The Reckoning", was released on 14 September 2018, and features Shaddix as guest vocalist. The second single, "Raise Your Banner", featuring Fridén, was released on 16 November 2018 and "Firelight", the third one, a week later, on 23 November. The other three singles were released in 2019, "In Vain" on 11 January, "Supernova" on 5 February, and "Mad World" on April 15. There was a great investment on the music videos, in order to better illustrate by imagery the themes featured on the release. The group also commenced The Resist Tour in Europe by the end of 2018, before the album release. In 2019, the band toured North America and then returned to Europe for performances at several summer festivals.
The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, and the musical changes were one of the most discussed points. Reviewers from Kerrang and The Skinny were welcoming of the changes presented by the band, while AllMusic and PopMatters had some regards with the topic. Nevertheless, it ended up appearing on a few Year-end lists such as Loudwires. The album also achieved commercial success, peaking at the first position in Germany, and entering top ten positions in another countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Austria and Switzerland.
Background After extensive promotion and touring for the album Hydra, between the years of 2014 and 2016, lead vocalist Sharon den Adel went through a process of exhaustion and suffered from a writer's block. She also went through personal problems, which led her to abandon writing for the band for a while to focus on herself. During this time, den Adel managed to start composing again, but this time for herself as a form to cope with her difficulties at the time. As these songs were not rock oriented or fit for the band, she then decided to release them as a solo project entitled My Indigo (2017). After going through this process and composing "smaller, much more direct, personal and vulnerable" tracks, the vocalist found herself again in the right state of mind to compose the "combative, powerful and big" songs that Within Temptation needed and is known for. In November 2017, while announcing her solo release, den Adel confirmed that the band was already back to the studio recording new songs for a possible 2018 album release, which was officially announced on 13 September 2018. It was also stated by the vocalist that this album was the most difficult one to be done by the band, as they didn't have any direction up until den Adel had recovered from her burnout and managed her personal problems. When they finally found a direction to pursue, the band was able to get the record done in less than a year. To this date, the album marked the longest gap between studio releases by the band, five years. In July 2018, Within Temptation signed a new recording contract with Vertigo Records Germany, which was selected to release the album worldwide, except in Japan. The album was originally scheduled to be released on 14 December 2018, but it was postponed to a 1 February 2019 release.
Conception
The album was produced by the band's long-time producer Daniel Gibson and recorded at Wisseloord Studios and ICP Recording Studios. Mathijs Tieken also contributed as additional producer. For the writing and musical composition process, the band approached the songs on different ways. Den Adel focused on giving the songs "atmosphere" with Gibson, as she thought it would allow the songs to evolve naturally when you can go from the bigger picture to the smaller ones, like the choruses. On the other hand, Robert Westerholt focused on writing the choruses first and then progressing to the whole song.
The album features Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix, In Flames' Anders Fridén and Arid's Jasper Steverlinck as guest vocalists. Shaddix first met den Adel during the 2015 edition of Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium. He was invited to provide vocals for the opening track and lead single "The Reckoning" after the song was already completed, as the band thought that he could provide the song a certain anger mixed with some vulnerability and melancholy. Fridén was invited to sing on "Raise Your Banner" as the band considered his experienced screaming voice would fit well the atmosphere and lyrics for that song. "Firelight" was originally composed for den Adel's solo album My Indigo. The song was at that time considered too dark to fit the release, and then was put on hold. After meeting Steverlinck on a Flemish TV show at the beginning of 2018, den Adel invited the singer to do a part on the song as she found that they had a real connection and their voices matched well together. After some reworking, it then ended up appearing on the final tracklist for the album. Regarding on when the musicians were invited as guests for the album during the recording process, den Adel commented that the band first writes a song and only after that they think of possible names. Within Temptation prefer to know what the song asks for, and then invite someone who they think would fit well in the track.
Development and composition
The album is considered primarily a symphonic metal album, although it features different influences. Speaking to Metal Hammer, den Adel stated that the album was inspired by "pop music", with a dark and metal oriented treatment, as the band felt that modern music hasn't been edgy or daring in recent years. Although taking it as an inspiration, the band pointed that it won't be a pop record and it probably won't have any airplay on pop radio stations. For the record, the band aimed to approach a more futuristic style while not discarding their original symphonic metal and bombastic musical roots. According to den Adel, the band didn't want to sound too far from their original style, but also wanted to have their main musical elements recognizable throughout the songs, which resulted on the blend between elements from their old style and modern music elements as electronic parts and the said futuristic approach. The title of the album itself, according to den Adel, represents "not being put in a box and refusing to do what other people are trying to influence you in a way that you might see just one side of the story".
Besides the musical aspects, inspiration for the album also came for contemporary technological and political aspects. According to the singer, the fact that everyone is traceable today intrigued her and had her wondering about whether it would be beneficial for the population, as in cases of national security, or not, in cases of dictatorships. She had also found herself intrigued and annoyed by the algorithms behind merchandising offers and purchasing suggestions, and felt that it was putting people on boxes according to their supposed personal tastes based on what they look for in the internet, restricting them from having new interests and points of view. Regarding to this, den Adel stated that "Resist, for me, it's a personal message but also a political statement. Before, we did not talk so openly about our political views, but today we do it more.[...] To return to the "political" message, it is always with a positive aim, hoping that in the future, things will really change." Despite containing a central theme, the record wasn't thought as a concept album and therefore not all songs were lyrically inspired by the same main subject, as the band also addresses subjects from their personal lives.
The opening track, "The Reckoning", takes inspiration from political themes and addresses a possible loss of freedom in the future. Musically, it features alternative metal influences and contains heavy riffs from an eight-string guitar. Regarding the symphonic elements of the songs, the band opted to use only where they found it would have an impact instead of in the whole song, in order to offer a bigger showcase of the other instruments and den Adel's vocals. It is explicit on the second track, "Endless War", which features choirs and more symphonic elements with underlined electronic sounds. The singer stated that the loss of individuality might even compromise democracy, as people are fed information that is calculed by their personal tastes and positions, difficulting them to search or understand other worldviews. This theme was mainly aborded on the track "Raise Your Banner". According to her, the song draws inspiration from protests that happened during the decade of 1980, where people went to the streets claim their rights and contrasts it with the online protests from nowadays, which she considers more passive and lacks resistance.
"Supernova" is a song about hope, and was dedicated in memory of den Adel's father, who had died in April 2018. The track contains outer space references and metaphors relating to a person that still wants a sign from the afterlife of someone already gone, and searches for it on the skies. It features mainly EDM influences while also containing orchestral passages and verses sang by a choir, and was originally conceived as an uptempo, symphonic, and dreamlike song. The track "Holy Ground" also takes politic matters as subject and argues that people should have their limits respected regarding their individuality, and its title acts as a metaphor for personal themes related to one person's personal space, such as gender, race, or other personal subjects. "In Vain" also addresses the loss of someone and the emptiness derived from it. The song features softer rock stylings and has a more "down-to-earth" production. "Firelight", which was not originally composed for the album, is a ballad song and contains a "dark and folk" atmosphere and gothic influences. On the other hand, the track "Mad World" is a mid-tempo song that has a bombastic atmosphere and features more industrial influences. "Mercy Mirror" is another personal song, and it deals with forgiviness on a relationship that has been hurting the people involved for years by not saying or discussing issues the proper way. It is composed as a piano and strings-driven, uplifting ballad. The closing track "Trophy Hunter" is also heavily guitar driven, and features male choirs. It combines the main symphonic and electronic elements incorporated on the record.
Cover For the first time, the band did not use a custom cover art for an album. Instead, they bought a piece of artwork from artist Emmanuel Shiu on DeviantArt. On an interview to French radio station Radio Metal, den Adel explained:
The album artwork and the music videos follow the same theme as the cover art; the album's layout makes it look like the band is inside a spaceship, and for this reason the video for "The Reckoning" features a spaceship.
Promotion