Formed as The Portal in April 1996 by the couple Robert Westerholt / Sharon den Adel, with the former's brother, Martijn Westerholt and members of The Circle/Voyage (Jeroen and Michiel), initially with Richard Willemse as drummer. Shortly they changed name to Within Temptation, found a new drummer in (Dennis Leeflang), recorded the Untitled and Enter demos, and landed a deal within a short period of two months with DSFA.
After Martijn Westerholt left the band due to a chronic illness, he was replaced by another ex-The Circle/Voyage member, Martijn Spierenburg (who used to perform keyboards and drums for the aforementioned bands).
Robert and Sharon have married and had kids during the course of the band, resulting in the former becoming a stay-at-home dad, not being part of the touring lineup since 2011.
"Ice Queen", from their Mother Earth album, reached the top three in the Dutch Top 40 charts.
The Voyage song "Frozen" (featuring Sharon den Adel) was put on the internet a couple of months before the release of Within Temptation's The Heart of Everything album because it was thought to be the track "Frozen" from that album. However, both songs are completely different and were a total mix-up. The Voyage track "Frozen" is a reworking of a track recorded by The Circle for a DSFA compilation in 1995. Both Voyage and The Circle are pre-WT bands.
Track list:
01. We Go To War (4:19)
02. Bleed Out (4:32)
03. Wireless (4:42)
04. Worth Dying For (4:55)
05. Ritual (3:37)
06. Cyanide Love (4:05)
07. The Purge (4:17)
08. Don't Pray For Me (3:43)
09. Shed My Skin (feat. Rudi Schwarzer & Christoph Wieczorek of Annisokay) (4:32)
10. Unbroken (5:10)
11. Entertain You (3:31)
/ XBTT (1) by Dejavu
