BMG Records | Through the Shattered Lens

Symphonic metal stalwarts Within Temptation was first introduced to me not by resident metal expert necromoonyeti, but through an anime music video first witnessed at Anime Expo 2010. The video was “Alchanum” and while the anime used, Fullmetal Alchemist, was entertaining enough it was the song used that hooked me in. That song and the latest “Song of the Day” is “See Who I Am” from Within Temptation’s full-length album The Silent Force.

From that moment forward I’ve been an ardent follower of Within Temptation. There’s just something about the melding of metal and that of an orchestral symphony that just makes perfect sense. I’m more than satisfied with the raw, brutal, speed and guttural melodies of what many outsiders consider heavy metal (how wrong they can be), but symphonic metal just does it for me.

And for those who think heavy metal (and all it’s many subgenres) are all about angry dues with long, unwashed hair or tatted up to no end should be surprised to see that Within Temptation’s singer is a classically-trained mezzo-soprano by the name of Sharon den Adel.

See Who I Am

Is it true what they say?
Are we too blind to find a way?
Fear of the unknown
Clouds our hearts today.

Come into my world,
See through my eyes.
Try to understand,
Don’t want to lose what we have.

We’ve been dreaming
But who can deny?
It’s the best way of living
Between the truth and the lies.

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let’s show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands,
This is not the end.

Fear is withering the soul
At the point of no return.
We must be the change we wish to see.

I’ll come into your world,
See through your eyes.
I’ll try to understand,
Before we lose what we have.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands
This is not the end.

We just can’t stop believing
Because we have to try.
We can rise above their truth and their lies.

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
Let’s show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.

This is not the end.

I hear their silence
Preaching my blame.
Will our strength remain
If their power reigns?

See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.
See who I am,
Break through the surface.
Reach for my hand,
And show them that we can
Free our minds and find a way.
The world is in our hands.

This is not the end.

“I talk sense condensed into the form of a poem
Full of knowledge from my toes to the top of my dome”

It was 1989 and MTV was already something I was watching on a daily basis, but there was something missing from their daily music video rotation. They were criminally lacking with hip-hop videos. So, into the void was BET.

Where MTV was more about dance, pop and rock music videos, BET was all about R&B and hip-hop videos.

I will get all “grumpy old man” and say that I definitely enjoyed hip-hop the way it was during the 80’s and as late as the mid-90’s. For me things in that music scene just ended up becoming too commercialized. Not saying there’s no gems and gold in the trash I here now, but the hip-hop artists back in the my day were pure lyricists. Sure, their rhymes were still all about machismo and bragging about how they’re the best, but they had skill in doing so. I will put it up there that No. 9 on the 27 Days was one hell of a lyricist and he did so at the age of 16 (15 depending on when one thought the track was recorded).

I am talking about Special Ed and his hit track “I Got It Made”.