Within Temptation, 18th June 2025, Heviti, Copenhell Festival

Photo: Goran www.facebook.com/UrbanMescaleroPhotography

Dutch symphonic metal band has been around for almost three decades now, and while its strongest era was arguably in the 2000s, the band has maintained—and perhaps even grown—its following in the years since. Within Temptation’s latest release, 2023’s Bleed Out, was arguably their strongest in the past decade and a half, making their return to Copenhell feel perfectly timed—for the fans.

With the departure of keyboardist Martijn Spierenburg in 2024, the band is now down to three longtime members—at least in the live setting, as founding member Robert Westerholt stepped away from live performances back in 2011.

They opened their Copenhell show with a couple of tracks from the latest album, which worked rather well. From the very beginning, the band—and especially frontwoman Sharon den Adel—managed to get the crowd involved and “Faster” built further on the momentum established by the opening duo of “We Go to War” and “Bleed Out.” If you know anything about the band then it didn’t come as a surprise that the classic “Stand My Ground” was dedicated to Ukraine.

About six songs into the set, the energy dipped slightly—not due to the band’s performance, which remained energetic, but more because of the song choices and the fact that Within Temptation’s music often follows a very similar formula. As well-executed as it is, it can come across as somewhat predictable.

That said, the band sounded excellent. The backing tracks were well-integrated, but it was the live performance that was the driving force of the show. The set closed on a strong note with “Our Solemn Hour” and the obligatory closer: the title track from their 2000 breakthrough album, Mother Earth.

Within Temptation did exactly what they set out to do—no more, no less. While that’s certainly enough to satisfy many, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the band’s considerable talent could be expressed in more creative and unpredictable ways—both live and in the studio.

SETLIST:

1. We Go to War
2. Bleed Out
3. Faster
4. In the Middle of the Night
5. Stand My Ground
6. Paradise (What About Us?)
7. Don’t Pray for Me
8. Wireless
9. Supernova
10. Shot in the Dark
11. Lost
12. The Reckoning
    —————–
13. Our Solemn Hour
14. Mother Earth