YMMV / Within Temptation

• And You Thought It Would Fail: The announcement that Xzibit would be featured on Hydra was met with Questionable Casting reaction. Critical and fan reception to the decision was largely positive upon the album's release, however.
• Awesome Music:
  • The entirety of "Black Symphony," hands down, is the embodiment of this trope.
  • "Iron" from The Unforgiving. Badass riff, epic lyrics, blistering solo and an amazing "Living on a Prayer"-esque key change for the last chorus.
  • "The Last Dance" with its emotional vocals, and heavy usage of Native American-esque instrumentation and chanting.
• Broken Base:
  • They seem to be bracing themselves for this in the wake of using fewer orchestral sounds and more '80s pop elements in The Unforgiving; their website implies that the first preview song was the more traditional WT song "Where is the Edge" (rather than the first single, "Faster") as a reassurance to old fans that the old style isn't completely gone. A year after the release seems to suggest that this was averted, with it tied with Enter for their highest rated album on Sputnik Music.
  • Amusingly discussed in this video.
  • Hydra also got a mixed reception. While professional reviews were mostly kind to the album, opinions on social media were much more varied, with fans praising them for trying new things and experimenting with their sound but critics saying the band had strayed just a little too far from the symphonic/gothic metal sound that made them what they are today and that trying to combine their sound with rap and metalcore came off really awkward and forced.
• Complete Monster: The unnamed Serial Killer from "Angels" is a demon who dresses up as trustworthy people—such as a cop, a doctor, a construction worker, and a clown—and lures women into his home, pretending to be a friendly individual, only to kill them after he's gained their trust by chloroforming them and burying them alive in the desert. He has succeeded at least 16 times, and keeps newspaper clippings of their disappearances on his wall. He intends to do the same thing to the protagonist under the guise of a priest, after her friend has seemingly abandoned her on the side of the road.
• '80s Hair: The most well-known Mother Earth cover. It was released in 2000.
• Fan Nickname: The Three Minutes of Writhing that Sharon does in many music videos is known by some fans as "The Sharon Dance".
• Fandom Rivalry: They're not even in the same subgenre but Evanescence fans often get into fights with WT fans. See Hilarious in Hindsight.
• Fridge Brilliance / Fridge Horror: Utopia depicts various crimes, some minor (kids spraying graffiti), some major (gangsters retrieving a drug shipment). And then there's a prostitute getting into a client's car. Fitting from a US perspective, not so much from the Netherlands one with its more relaxed laws concerning prostitution. Right until one recognizes the client as the serial killer from Angels...
• Funny Moments:
  • Picture this image◊ on the cover of Mother Earth.
  • "Gothic Christmas:"
    Rudolph, he will change his name,
    'Cause "Rudolph" just sounds really lame
    Now we'll call him Ragnagord,
    The evil reindeer overlord.
  • The band has actually re-tweeted fanart from Sharja (Sharon/ Tarja) fans, which lead to a "That's so awesome / Oh, god, what have we done?!" moment for fans.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Very popular in Japan, to the point where their album The Unforgiving has three special bonus tracks recorded exclusively for the Japanese CD.
• Growing the Beard: Within Temptation's sound gets noticeably more mature and more complex around the time of The Silent Force, with The Heart of Everything being even better and The Unforgiving earning its place as a Rock Opera. They go for a more subtle approach to fantasy and take on a lot more serious issues, at the same time.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • In "Our Farewell:" "Because my child, this is not our farewell."
  • The duet with Tarja, and the accompanying music video.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The male guest vocalist on "What Have You Done?," Keith Caputo came out as transgender in 2011 and after undergoing gender reassignment surgery, now goes by Mina Caputo, which makes fans disliking the song for having a male singer pretty interesting.
  • The WT-Evanescence Fandom Rivalry became this in 2019 when the two bands revealed they were co-headlining a festival in Switzerland. Sharon would later contribute backing vocals to the Evanescence song "Use My Voice", while a subsequent plan to undertake a joint tour together in 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Les Yay:
  • Anneke van Giersbergen & Sharon singing "Somewhere" to each other at the Black Symphony concert.
  • Tarja Turunen and Sharon have boatloads of it in the video for "Paradise (What About Us?)" They give each other longing looks, smile coyly, stand really close to each other (to the point where Tarja's hair keeps blowing in Sharon's face)... And it all culminates in the two of them dressed in flowing gowns, holding hands and singing to each other.
  • "Jillian" could be interpreted this way if one does not know about the books the song references.
• LGBT Fanbase: With all the above Les Yay it's perhaps not surprising that the band themselves have embraced this part of their audience, regularly posting LGBT-positive content on social media.
• Memetic Mutation: In a bit of Borrowed Catchphrase, some fans have taken to posting Hail Hydra comments on their videos and on their Facebook page. Among other places.
• Narm Charm: While their music is generally serious and of high quality, their music videos (at least until The Unforgiving) are... Decidedly not.
• Questionable Casting: The announcement that Xzibit would be featured on Hydra.
• Signature Song: All of their concerts typically end with "Ice Queen." Despite this their most popular is "What Have You Done Now."
• So Bad, It's Good: "Ice Queen" is one of their signature songs, the video on the other hand...
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Faster" and Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." Lampshaded by Sharon herself:
  So, we've been going like: "Ooooh we have re-written Wicked Games" and then "No, the chords scheme is different, we don't have to worry. And it's a written song!" (laughs) "Yay!"

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