Mother Earth (album)

For the American blues music album of the same name, see Mother Earth (blues album).
Mother Earth
Studio album by Within Temptation
Released 24 December 2000
Recorded June–August 2000
Studio Studio RS29, Waalwijk, Netherlands
Genre
Length 53:54
Label DSFA
Producer Oscar Holleman, Anthony van den Berg
Within Temptation chronology
Enter
(1997)		 Mother Earth
(2000)		 The Silent Force
(2004)
Singles from Mother Earth
  1. "Our Farewell"
    Released: 22 January 2001
  2. "Ice Queen"
    Released: June 2001
  3. "Mother Earth"
    Released: 2003
Reissue cover
UK 2007 and US 2008 releases

Mother Earth is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. Originally released on 24 December 2000 in the Netherlands, and 21 August 2001 in other parts of Europe, it quickly became a success in the band's heartland, reaching platinum status in the Netherlands and Germany in addition to achieving TMF Awards in both the Netherlands and Belgium. As of 2011, the album reportedly sold 800,000 copies.[3]

The album was licensed to be released in Germany and neighboring countries through GUN Records in January 2003 as a special extended edition with four bonus tracks. The same edition reached the United Kingdom through Sanctuary Records with a release in September 2004. The album was re-released by Roadrunner Records on 28 September 2007, with bonus live tracks.

On 5 August 2008, Mother Earth along with The Silent Force was released in the United States on Roadrunner Records.[4]

Recording

By 1999 the band had built their own studio and had begun recording demos for the Mother Earth album there. The album itself was recorded in Studio RS29 in Waalwijk, the Netherlands.[5] Oscar Holleman, who had produced and engineered The Dance, was again producer and one of the sound engineers was Stephen van Haestregt, future drummer for the band. Sharon recalls that "I had a day for each song, which is still not very much, but you can try out things. We also did some demos before the recordings, so there you can check if you like or dislike parts of a song, and so you have more time when it comes to recording". Ayreon's Arjen Lucassen provided the guitar solo for the track "Dark Wings".[5]

Music style
Within Temptation's "Mother Earth" (2000)
Rapid orchestral strings move to the forefront on the chorus of this title track from Within Temptation's second album Mother Earth.
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The sound of Mother Earth was a departure for the band. In a 2008 interview with Faceculture, Sharon states that Mother Earth was "a little bit older, a little bit more knowledgeable about how we wanted to sound, even then, of course you grow, so we had a better picture of how we wanted to sound. We didn't want to have the grunt vocals anymore. We felt like everyone was using that as a gimmick, and we didn't want to have it in our music anymore because of that...and also we were very much enthralled by a movie at that time, Braveheart, which was very Celtic, and that's how our album became very Celtic because we were so in love with the soundtrack of the Braveheart movie. So inspired by that, the album came out that way...I still love that album very much...it came together in a very natural way. The songs were sometimes written in a day, it did take time to work it out more, the way it sounded in the end, but it was like the ideas and the whole concepts of certain songs were written mostly in one day, the chorus and the verses."[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Chronicles of Chaos[8]
DPRP[9]

AllMusic rated the album 4 and a half stars, the reviewer calling it "easily one of the best releases of 2001", and praising it for its "mature and confident sound" and Sharon den Adel's "elusive and intangible presence", adding "The rise of goth/prog metal seemed to reach a peak at the turn of the century, with an endless supply of bands offering their own spin on the subgenre. Only a handful of these bands seem to have anything interesting or unique to offer... With the release of Mother Earth, there was little doubt that the cream of the crop had indeed risen to the top... A landmark release that set new standards for creativity, musicianship, and taste — not just for goth/prog metal, but for any style of music."[7]

Live history

Most songs from Mother Earth were played often between the album's release in 2000 and the start of The Silent Force Tour in 2004. After this, only "Mother Earth", "Ice Queen" and "Deceiver of Fools" were played often, but some other songs were still played on select dates.

In 2005, "Our Farewell", "Caged" and "The Promise" were still being played on The Silent Force Tour, but by the end of the tour, "Our Farewell" was removed from the setlist. When The Heart of Everything World Tour started in 2007, only "Mother Earth", "Ice Queen" and "Deceiver of Fools" were being played.

In 2008, at the end of The Heart of Everything World Tour, "The Promise" was played again often. "Caged", "Never-Ending Story" and "Dark Wings" were also played at select dates, mainly in South America. "Caged" was also played at all shows of the band's Netherlands Theater Tour in 2008 and 2010.

During The Unforgiving Tour, only "Mother Earth" and "Ice Queen" were played often, with "Deceiver of Fools" only being played at about half of the shows, being replaced by "See Who I Am" from The Silent Force on the rest. During the Sanctuary Theater Tour in 2012, "Mother Earth", "Ice Queen", "Our Farewell", "Caged", "The Promise" and "Never-Ending Story" were all played.

"Jane Doe", a B-Side from the album (later appearing on a reissue of The Silent Force) was played often between 2003 and 2004, and played at select shows between 2005 and 2007. It was also played at the band's Fanclub Day in 2010. Another B-Side, "Bittersweet" was played during the Sanctuary Theater Tour in 2012.

"In Perfect Harmony" was never played live.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Sharon den Adel, all music composed by Robert Westerholt, except where noted.

No. TitleMusic Length
1. "Mother Earth"  R. Westerholt, Guus Eikens 5:29
2. "Ice Queen"    5:20
3. "Our Farewell"    5:18
4. "Caged"    5:47
5. "The Promise"    8:00
6. "Never-ending Story"  Oscar Holleman, René Merkelbach 4:02
7. "Deceiver of Fools"    7:35
8. "Intro" (instrumental)Merkelbach 1:06
9. "Dark Wings"    4:14
10. "In Perfect Harmony"  Gerarda Matheeuwsen, Holleman, Merkelbach 6:58

Personnel

Within Temptation

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Album Charts

Chart (2000-2002) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] 30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] 3
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[12] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 7
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[14] 11
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 70
Chart (2004) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] 84
Chart (2005) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] 99

Year-end charts

Chart (2002) Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 19
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[17] 9

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Belgium (BEA)[18] Gold 25,000
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[19] Gold 10,000[20]
Germany (BVMI)[21] Gold 100,000
Netherlands (NVPI)[22] Platinum 80,000
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[19] Gold 20,000
Summaries

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ "Hydra Review". Ultimate Guitar. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Rose, Rustyn (14 August 2014). "Within Temptation continue to evolve with new album, Hydra". axs.com. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Within Temptation" (in Dutch). Roadrunner Records. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Within Temptation: 'Mother Earth', 'The Silent Force' To Receive U.S. Release In August". Blabbermouth.net. 10 June 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 Mother Earth (CD Booklet). Within Temptation. Vlissingen, The Netherlands: DSFA Records DSFA1021. 2000.
  6. ↑ "Part 1 video interview Within Temptation". YouTube. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  7. 1 2 Taylor, Robert. "Within Temptation - Mother Earth review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Flaaten, Chris (14 January 2002). "Within Temptation - Mother Earth". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  9. ↑ van Kooten, Jerry. "Within Temptation - Mother Earth". The Dutch Progressive Rock Page. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Within Temptation – Mother Earth" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 "Ultratop.be – Within Temptation – Mother Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Within Temptation – Mother Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Within Temptation – Mother Earth". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Within Temptation – Mother Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  15. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Within Temptation – Mother Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  16. ↑ "Within Temptation: Year-end Belgian Charts". Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Within Temptation: Year-end Dutch Charts". Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – 2002". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  19. 1 2 http://www.within-temptation.com/awards/
  20. ↑ "Within Temptation" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Within Temptation)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Within Temptation – Mother Earth" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
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