Bleed Out is the eighth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. It was released on 20 October 2023. It is produced by their longtime producer Daniel Gibson, alongside Mathijs Tieken and Within Temptation. The album marks the first time the band opted for releasing a full record without the support of a major record label, and is the final album to feature Martijn Spierenburg on keyboards. Musically, the record incorporates elements from symphonic metal, gothic metal, metalcore, and djent. Lyrically, the band approached themes related to freedom. They addressed subjects such as war, oppression, women's rights, religion, bullying, and inner-struggles.
The album comprised seven singles. Due to a different form of recording and releasing songs, not all singles were initially used for promoting the record itself. The first five were released independently, before the full-length album was announced, and the last two after that. The first single, "Entertain You", was released on 8 May 2020. The second one, "The Purge", was released on 20 November 2020. For promoting their virtual concert The Aftermath, the band released a third independent single, "Shed My Skin", on 25 July 2021, which features German metalcore band Annisokay. The fourth one, "Don't Pray for Me", was released on 8 July 2022. "Wireless" was the fifth independent single, and was released on 18 May 2023. With the official announcement of the album, a sixth single, "Bleed Out", was released on 18 August 2023. "Ritual", the seventh single, was released on 29 September 2023.
Commercially, the album chart entries were concentrated in Europe. Upon release, it peaked at number two in the Netherlands, the group's homecountry, and reached top ten positions in countries such as Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Reviewers from Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and Rock Hard were favorable to the record, speaking positively of new direction the band adopted, the heavier instrumentals, and the more direct and explicit approach on the lyrics. The album won the Edison Award, a Dutch music prize given by the NVPI, in the category Best Rock Album.
Background The first plans for recording an eighth studio album surfaced a few months after the release of Resist. In June 2019, lead vocalist Sharon den Adel commented that the band would probably be back at the studio in September, after the summer festivals concert season. Later that year, the band entered the studio again to write and record new songs to be featured in a possible upcoming release. In order to break the traditional cycle of writing a full album, promoting it through singles, and then touring, the band also amicably left Vertigo Records, the label which had released their previous album. After that, they opted for going independent as a means to write and release material according to their own preferences.
Recording and development Initially, the original plan was to release a stand-alone single in order to promote the Worlds Collide Tour with Evanescence. Scheduled to start in March 2020, the tour had to be postponed four times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing rules, until it happened in late 2022. Even so, the band decided to release "Entertain You" during the lockdown period, as the song was already finished. The single was officially announced by the end of April 2020, and subsequently released on 8 May.
During this period, a series of other singles were released as soon as they were recorded, as a way for the band to staying active before the recording of a full album and also of keeping in touch with the fans. According to den Adel, this was a strategy the group had already decided to pursue for the next release before the outbreak of the pandemic, and its occurrence happened to leave the band in a context in which this form of recording and releasing would also fit well. In July 2020, the singer commented during American radio show Full Metal Jackie that the group had two more songs already recorded, as well as some demos. A second single titled, "The Purge", was released on 20 November 2020 along with a music video. On 18 February 2021, den Adel stated that the band were planning on releasing more singles in this independent format, still unaware if that material would be present in a future album or not, as they had other tracks already recorded.
In mid 2021, when concerts were still prohibited due to the social distancing rules, the band recorded a special virtual concert entitled "The Aftermath". A new song, "Shed My Skin", was presented in the concert and also released as a promotional single. It featured the German metalcore band annisokay, who also appeared in the concert and the promotional music video taken from it.
After the decrease of the pandemic and the relaxation of the safety measures, which allowed live concerts to happen again, the band opted to continue with this form of releasing songs as a way of leading up to a next studio album. However, the format of the album was still unclear at that time of the writing process, and den Adel commented that the latest singles would probably not be contained on the full release. The fourth of these then stand-alone singles, "Don't Pray for Me", was announced on 22 June 2022 and released on 8 July. Another single, "The Fire Within", was released on 9 December. This song, however, was originally recorded back in 2019, and then considered an outtake. Its promotional music video featured images captured during the Worlds Collide Tour.
On 18 May 2023, a fifth stand-alone single, "Wireless", was released. During an interview for the British magazine Rock Sound in June 2023, den Adel stated that a new studio album would probably be released before Christmas. On 18 August 2023, the album was announced alongside a sixth single, both called "Bleed Out". With the confirmation of the eighth studio album, it became known that the band opted for maintaining the previously independent singles as a part of the whole release, with the exception of "The Fire Within". According to guitarist Stefan Helleblad, those singles did not have to be mixed again in order to be part of the album, as all the tracks were recorded with the same team and recorders.
Other songs featured on the album that were not released as a stand-alone single, such as "Ritual", were also conceived a few years prior. As the song had not fit the band previous release, Resist, and neither den Adel solo project My Indigo, it was momentarily shelved. After being re-worked, the song ended up fitting the main musical ambiance and thematic line of Bleed Out, so it was added to the final tracklist. However, there were also other songs recorded during that period that did not make the final cut of the album.
Composition
At first, the band didn't have a clear musical direction or thematic concept for the whole studio album. One of the advantages of releasing stand-alone singles, according to den Adel, is the possibility of writing a song about something that is happening at one specific moment and not worrying if it would fit on a larger scale release. In July 2020, when being interviewed at the American radio show Full Metal Jackie, the singer commented that the upcoming album would probably be related to subjects related to societal aspects. Some of the stand-alone singles released dealt directly with social issues, such as bullying and prejudice against social outcasts, the death of Mahsa Amini, the forcing of worldviews and religious beliefs, and the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, while others were related to more personal subjects, such as self-growth. When the album was shaping up to a more concrete form, the band opted for following the theme of "freedom", including the personal, the political, and the societal aspects of it. Den Adel considers the composition process of the album as split in two, as some songs had begun to be developed before the COVID-19 outbreak, and the others after the pandemic hit and other disrupting events took place in the world, affecting her and other band members and moving them to write about it.
For composing the songs, den Adel and Robert Westerholt worked separately. As they are also partners, they preferred not sharing the same working space as well. Therefore, each of them would compose by their own and send their work for their producer, Daniel Gibson, who would mediate the demos and make the bridge between the compositions. The composition process often starts with a vision of what the song would be about. Then, den Adel and Westerholt write separately about it, sometimes already alongside Gibson. After that, as the songs start to become more concrete, vocal lines and guitars are added and a demo is made. Finally, the whole band enters the process and work the song until it reaches its final version.
Musical style and influences Bleed Out further develops Within Temptation's preference for experimenting with their sound and incorporating new musical influences on each full-length release. It was described as darker and heavier than some of its predecessors, featuring down-tunes and more guitar riffs. According to den Adel, the nature of the themes addressed had direct influence on the darker tone in the instrumentation of some songs on the album. The singer made less use of operatic influenced vocals, giving space to other singing techniques and also adventuring on lower registers. The album is described as alternative metal, symphonic metal, gothic metal, and pop metal, with elements of metalcore, gothic doom, and djent.
Music and lyrics
According to main lyricists Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt, all tracks on the album are somewhat related to the concept of freedom. For writing the songs, they took inspiration in societal issues, as well as their repercutions on the inner lives of people. The depthness and seriousness of the themes addressed led the band to a darker and more melancholic musical approach.