Within Temptation maintains its strong connection with the Brazilian audience by returning to the country as one of the confirmed acts for Bangers Open Air 2026, promising an intense performance.
The Dutch band is known for its status as one of the biggest names in symphonic metal worldwide, and fan anticipation grew even more after the band's recent appearance at Summer Breeze Brasil (now Bangers Open Air), where they delivered a show praised for its energy and the strong audience response.
They recently released Within Temptation: The Invisible Force, addressing the war in Ukraine, in addition to releasing songs in collaboration with Ukrainian artists. Now, Within Temptation is working on the release of their new album and preparing for a show in Brazil.
In an interview with Wikimetal, Sharon den Adel spoke about politics, the affection of Brazilian fans, details of the new album, and gave her opinion on Artificial Intelligence.
The importance of talking about politics
Wikimetal: Regarding the documentary Within Temptation: The Invisible Force, you decided to take a public stance on the war in Ukraine. At a time when many artists avoid political topics, why did you feel it was important to speak out?
Sharon Den Adel: Mainly because I think we experienced the personal shock of the fact that Kiev was only a two-hour flight from Amsterdam, and that, in my opinion, World War III was beginning, albeit in a different way than World War II. It felt like something was happening, the global order was shifting, things were changing again, something we never imagined we would see happen in my lifetime. And, growing up with all these stories about World War II, the feeling was that things were getting worse and worse. Even now, three or four years after the album's release, the world seems to be getting increasingly insane.
There isn't a single day that goes by that I'm not surprised by what's happening in the United States or what the American leader is saying about other people, threatening them, and, my God, what he's going to do, what he did in South America and who he is. But also Iran. It's like it never, never ends. So, it's important to talk about these things. In my opinion, it's, at the very least, very inspiring to talk and write about it. And the thing is, we made this documentary because we were asked to play at an acoustic event to raise awareness.
At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, a Ukrainian organization asked us to play a song, as they were promoting a kind of 24-hour music marathon, with live music from all over the world, people playing in front of a camera, trying to draw attention to the war happening in Ukraine. In doing so, we got involved, met more organizations, and more people asked us to do more things. That's how we got involved with the Ukrainian organizations we've been working with, and eventually, we made a documentary about it.
WM: Your music videos have always been full of very strong visual concepts. Today, there's a lot of discussion about the use of Artificial Intelligence in music and the arts. How does the band view this tool?
SDA: To be honest, I really regret that we used AI in the beginning. But we were very curious and it was something new, something we wanted to explore. Even though, in the live show we have now, we also have a bit of AI. And although the videos we made didn't cut people out or anything like that, what we did was actually record real videos of us as a band, and then they were processed by AI. So it's not like we excluded people who normally work with us or anything like that. We were just very interested in what the technology could bring to the video itself.
Although it was cool to experiment, now we're going back to the old way of doing things because we see how far it can go. It [Artificial Intelligence] will be used for many good things. But it also scares me a lot what else it can do that we don't control. All these deepfake videos, all sorts of things happening now, which makes me think, "My God, we never imagined this would be possible," but the AI creators have already said, "Think the unthinkable." And that's what's going to happen with AI, and now I'm quite scared, to be honest, even though it can be used in so many good ways.
But we need laws for this. It's always the same with these technologies being launched into society without laws in place. Our governments are always late, trying to regulate certain things. And that's a shame, because if we did this in advance, if we didn't allow anything to be launched into society until it had been tested to a certain extent, it would be much safer for people. But I'm glad to see that now there are, even with regard to social networks, for example, laws to protect children in our countries here in Europe, such as the prohibition of social media use for those under 16.
I think that's great, because social media is really contaminating their minds and their development. In my opinion, I'm very happy to have grown up in a time when these things didn't exist yet. I used to play in the street, with a basketball or doing other children's things. But nowadays, everyone is on their cell phones; these are different times.
Legacy of Within Temptation
WM: In the late 90s, Within Temptation helped lay the foundations of Symphonic Metal, and today we have many promising bands with female vocals like Seven Spires, Ad Infinitum, among others. How do you feel looking at this new generation and seeing the legacy you helped build for women in metal?
SDA: I'm very proud of the fact that it's become such a big scene, actually, with so many colors, tastes, and diversity even within the bands. And that's really beautiful to see. If we contribute just a little bit to it, it's really cool to see so many women in these bands too. That's something I'm really proud of because we need more women everywhere, in my opinion, and we need more equality in every aspect. But I still believe that quality should speak for itself. And that can come from both men and women, of course, but it's more like… It's cool to see little girls being inspired by another girl playing on stage. Like, "wow, I can do that too." It's like planting seeds in a positive way for the next generation.
WM: The band has always explored various styles beyond metal. Is there any artist outside of that universe that you would like to collaborate with or even do a cover of?
SDA: There are so many bands we like and so many styles we haven't yet explored. But I can reveal one thing: the next album will surprise you, because we're already quite far along and we're not sure of the exact release date, but we're working on it right now. We've written so much music… It's been such an inspiring period, in an incredible way. We're going to do something completely different from anything we've ever done before. I don't know if people will understand, but it's something typical of the imitation genre, with so much emotion in these songs. I think we've never had an album so emotional in every track, but in a beautiful way. It's a very emotionally heavy album. But from such a different genre that… I'm curious to know people's opinions.
Within Temptation's relationship with Brazil
WM: Brazil is a country where Within Temptation has always had a very passionate fanbase. What makes Brazilian shows different from those in other parts of the world?
SDA: Well, I think for me, especially South America, and of course, also Brazil, this continent is so passionate about music. I feel that sometimes you miss out on seeing all the bands, not all of them go to your country, but when they do, you show how much you love them. And it's this passion that drives you, this intense awareness and the feeling of experiencing music the way you experience it is unique and it's the best for all the bands that go there. It's the greatest compliment you can receive.
WM: Are there any special memories from performances in Brazil that have stood out for the band?
SDA: I remember we played once, I think it was in Rio de Janeiro. At a certain point, towards the end of our setlist, we didn't feel comfortable leaving because people were so into it, like, "okay, let's play song X and then another one." We had the longest setlist ever and we thought, "Can we leave the stage now? Yes, I think we can safely leave the stage now." Because people were jumping off the stage. They were floating above each other, being carried, my God! It was so intense, sweaty, sensual…
It was like everyone was sweating, like my makeup was running down my face. It was hot, and even before we started the show, people were outside the gates already singing our songs. They had already played almost the entire set we had prepared for them outside the gates. And we were like, "Oh my God." People were rushing to the stage, and like I said, we barely dared to leave after an hour and a half of playing. It was like, "Okay, let's play one more song." At a certain point, we thought, "Now we really need to go.".
WM: Besides the show at Bangers Open Air, you'll be performing at a series of festivals during the European summer. After that, what are the band's next steps? Are there plans to record a new album?
SDA: Well, we're already recording a new album. We're working hard on it. But it's still in a very early stage. We just finished our demos and we've already written a lot of music, so it's very difficult to say what will go on the album and what will be left out. I think if we have 40 songs, no exaggeration, and 40 really good songs, then we have to see what's very similar and make the best of it.
But I'm very, very, very excited to release this album because it's something completely different. And now it's just a matter of adding color to all the songs. For example, what kind of amplifier do we want to use, what kind of guitar do we want… How many solos are we going to do? Who are we going to collaborate with? So, analyzing that kind of thing is the most fun part. Composing music is like taking the extra color, adding color to all those demos to make them better and more beautiful. It will be interesting to see how people react, but so far so good. I think this is going to be a resounding success.
WM: Thank you for the interview! Would you like to leave a message for your Brazilian fans?
SDA: As I said, we know you for your passion and your love for music, something I always say because it's the purest truth, it's unique, and I value that and hope you value it too. Keep it up, because that makes you special and, for us, a treasure we always want to see again. It will be a joy to play for you again. Bring that energy, and let's have a lot of fun together. I'm looking forward to it.
READ ALSO: Bangers Open Air 2026: Check out the full schedule of side shows
