SHARON DEN ADEL Explains Why WITHIN TEMPTATION Used AI Technology To Create Recent Music Videos

In a new interview with Wikimetal, vocalist Sharon Den Adel of Dutch metal titans WITHIN TEMPTATION spoke about the band's decision to use artificial intelligence technology to create the videos for their recent singles "Bleed Out" and "Wireless". Asked if she and her bandmates were concerned about the variety of dangers AI poses, ranging from the small to, potentially, the existential, before embracing it for the creation of their videos, Sharon said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, yes, very much, because I understand the concerns and I hope there will be a law soon to guide everyone to what's allowed and what's not allowed because sometimes it's not very obvious what the dangers are and that will help people to make the right decision, I guess. For us, it is a tool that we love, especially because of the fact that it gives so much opportunity and a lot of times, it would not be… It's very expensive to do what we did actually now normally, and it still was a very expensive video, though it may not look like one… We were very happy how it turned out because it became a very new type of video for us, something that we would not able be to be to afford because it takes so much time. And also money-wise, it's very expensive to make something like that similar, an animation like that. We always wanted it, and this is the first time that, with a tool like this, it's still even possible. And we wanted to have like a painting coming to life, and that's what we tried to do. And it worked out like that. But like I said, the lip sync is something that needs to be worked on in the future; that's something that AI is not very good at. So on that point, that's a little bit less beautiful. But on the other hand, we did everything in the same way that we normally do. We use the same group of people, worked with the same people, I mean. And so we had the director, we wrote the storyline together. There were actors who were filmed, the band was filmed, everybody was filmed like we normally do, but the only thing is we added someone to it, to the team; that's the AI specialist. And, of course, there's a lot of things to still figure out what to do with AI in the future. But I think there's a lot of upside, not just in the art way, but also in hospitals, like finding certain cures for certain things — not cures, but maybe problems, like scans and everything; it goes easier with AI, for instance, than it normally would with a lot of people, which is more expensive."

Last month, WITHIN TEMPTATION released a brand-new single "Ritual". The song is the focus track of the band's upcoming album, "Bleed Out", due out on October 20.

"Bleed Out" will be released in multiple physical formats and across all streaming via WITHIN TEMPTATION's own label Force Music Recordings in a joint venture with Bertus Distribution for worldwide distribution and Amped Distribution for the U.S. and Canada.

WITHIN TEMPTATION will embark on the "Bleed Out" European headlining tour in the fall of 2024. The trek starts in October 2024, with the U.K. leg kicking off in November at the Cardiff Utiliia Arena (October 15),followed by London's Wembley Arena (October 16),Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (October 18) and Leeds First Direct Arena (October 19),ahead of the band continuing their run across the rest of Europe into December.

"Bleed Out" 2024 tour marks WITHIN TEMPTATION's return to indoor venues after the successful "Worlds Collide" tour featuring WITHIN TEMPTATION and EVANESCENCE as co-headliners. During this tour the band performed at some of Europe's largest and most iconic venues in the autumn of 2022, including The O2 in London, Accorhotels Arena in Paris, and Ziggo Dome in the Netherlands.

WITHIN TEMPTATION's last album, "Resist", was released in February 2019 through Spinefarm Records, the specialist hard rock label of Universal Music Group.

"Resist" featured guest appearances by PAPA ROACH's Jacoby Shaddix, IN FLAMES' Anders Fridén and ARID's Jasper Steverlinck.