With Nightwish currently on somewhat of a hiatus following the departure of vocalist Tarja Turunen in 2005 – although due to release a comeback album later this year – The Heart of Everything represents a real chance for Dutch six-piece Within Temptation to capture the market in the European female-fronted symphonic metal scene. Certainly it seems they’ve really gone to town to do so, as The Heart of Everything is all-round bigger and more expansive than previous breakthrough album The Silent Force, featuring not just string sections but epic choirs and orchestral arrangements.

Lead single ‘What Have You Done’ – featuring Keith Caputo from New York hardcore band and fellow label-mates Life of Agony – is probably the most commercial track on offer, and no doubt an attempt to achieve mainstream success following Evanescence, who also first came to public notice with a similar male-female duet (‘Bring Me To Life’). Though it perhaps isn’t as immediately obvious as ‘Stand My Ground’ (from the previous album) you can see why it was released – it’s rather atypical of the rest of the album, however, which is for the most part far more operatic rather than straight-ahead rock.

While the rest of the album does have some more radio-friendly tracks, such as opener ‘The Howling’ (from PC role-playing game The Chronicles of Spellborn) and the ballad ‘Frozen’, it tends to far more grandiose arrangements that threaten to over-clutter the songs. ‘Our Solemn Hour’, for instance, features not only samples from a Winston Churchill speech, but the chorus sanctus espiritus, taken from Catholic mass, which I just find rather annoying. The many layers mean some songs take a while to grow on you, but a few seem strangely uninspiring despite the polish.

Ultimately it’s clear that the band have gone all out to make this their biggest and best work to date and such is their ambition and scale that, when it works, it works well, as on ‘Hand of Sorrow’, but it seems they over-reach themselves somewhat at times. Consequently, while The Heart of Everything is still a very accomplished album, that will surely help cement their reputation, it doesn’t quite manage to top The Silent Force in my opinion.

(4/5)