WITHIN TEMPTATION vocalist Sharon den Adel was interviewed by MetalUnderground.com when the band was in Worcester, Massachusetts to perform at the Palladium. In the interview, she discusses a broad range of subjects, including their status as innovators within the female-fronted metal genre, the creative process behind the band’s newest album The Unforgiving and more.

“We were one of the first to make this kind of music, together with the bands you mentioned [Theatre of Tragedy and Nightwish], but the bands that came afterwards they still have their own identity. We are a pioneer, maybe inspiration, but still everyone has their own identity and that is so beautiful to see because that gives diversity within the scene. It becomes a scene that is worth mentioning because there is so much diversity within it. I feel that is really cool.”

Sharon went on to comment about the new album, “With The Heart of Everything we felt we finalised a certain sound that we were working towards for many years. We couldn’t go over it but also we were done with it, more or less. We had to renew ourselves to get new inspiration and to go on somehow…we said to each other that the only way to get further from this is to open up and see if we can get inspired by different kind of music. Normally, we would never let Within Temptation be influenced by bands that are so far away to be an inspiration, but now we did…The four of us all went back to our youth to what we liked, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde even – pop songs. If the ’80s would have been written now, it would sound like this.”

Head over to MetalUnderground.com to read the full interview and be sure to get your tickets for WITHIN TEMPTATION’s UK tour over at THIS LOCATION. You can also get your hands on some rare WITHIN TEMPTATION promo CDs by CLICKING HERE.