WITHIN TEMPTATION’s SHARON DEN ADEL Says There Hasn’t Been ‘A Lot Of Development In Metal’ In Recent Years

In a recent interview with Spain’s The Metal Circus, WITHIN TEMPTATION singer Sharon Den Adel was asked if she feels heavy metal got “too complicated” or “too dark and “too harsh” in the last few years and that the genre as a whole is missing a little bit of that “pop aspect” and “that easy-listening sort of feeling.” She responded (see video below): “Well, maybe. I don’t know. The only thing what I think is that there wasn’t a lot of development in metal. I think the scene would be much bigger if it would have evolved a little bit more. I’m not making complaints or anything, but it’s more like that’s something that we’re always trying to find.

“When you try to find a way to connect with the people who are growing up nowadays and also the same audience that you had for [all these] years, to do that, you have to [evolve] sound-wise also and it has to do with everything else that’s happening in the world — also topics, but also the music — and you have to go along with certain kind of development,” she continued.

“I think LINKIN PARK was the last band that did something for the scene — bring something new to the table. And everybody went, ‘Woah! Amazing.’ And they inspired a lot of other bands. And I don’t see any bands who are so different from the majority of bands. There’s missing some kind of development at the moment. I think it’s coming, but it’s not there yet. And I think a lot of bands, like BRING ME THE HORIZON, are experimenting a lot, and ASKING ALEXANDRIA — a lot of bands. And some of them are really trying to [experiment] and some of them are really content with what they’re doing and how they sound, which is also okay, because there’s a certain audience for that. But I think we are a band like some of the bands I just mentioned — we’re always searching for, like, okay, what can we do to make it interesting for our music, and especially for ourselves, because we want to develop ourselves and find new ways to reconnect with all generations.”