WITHIN TEMPTATION guitarist and mastermind behind the concept of forthcoming album The Unforgiving Robert Westerholt recently chatted to Sonic Shocks about the eagerly anticipated opus, which is scheduled for a release on March 28th.

“We didn’t want just a superhero comic kind of story.” he states, “I always think a story starts as more of a thriller/detective kind of story and then the adventure element slowly starts to kick in. We also like movies in which you can feel with the character’s personality so that for us was really important“.

“As far as the album goes it feels for us like a new era”. Robert continues, “Not that we’ve changed everything but we’ve kind of dropped any limitations we had in the past. Due to that more influences from the past came to the surface and we let them slip through so you get a mix of modern sound with ones from the 80’s so not only bands from the metal side like Maiden and Metallica but also Chris Issak, Billy Idol, Sisters Of Mercy, Pink Floyd and even on the pop side a few Kim Wilde style call outs here and there. Everything’s in there and that’s what I feel makes the album so diverse. For the movies it has more of a Sin City/Max Payne kind of feeling to it but a different style of story.”

You can read the full interview now at this location.

First single Faster is available now digitally- pick it up online iTunes. You can pre-order The Unforgiving online at Play.com now.

If you want to see the first of the short movies to accompany the album, click on the player below…