WITHIN TEMPTATION: 'Hydra' Listening Party Scheduled For Los Angeles

Dutch symphonic rockers WITHIN TEMPTATION will celebrate the February 4 North American release of their new album, "Hydra", with a special listening party at The Joint, 8771 Pico Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California on Friday, January 24 at 9 p.m. The event, which is open to the public, will be attended by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarists Robert Westerholt and Ruud Jolie of WITHIN TEMPTATION.

Fans are invited to attend and meet Sharon, Robert, and Ruud, listen to "Hydra" in its entirety, and take home a Nuclear Blast grab bag.

"Hydra" will be available in several luxury formats. The cover artwork was created by Romano Molenaar ("X-Men", "Batman", "The Unforgiving"),and can be seen below.

Pre-order "Hydra" via iTunes now, and you will instantly receive the first two singles: "Dangerous", featuring a guest appearance by former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Howard Jones and "Paradise (What About Us?)" featuring ex-NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen.

The digital premium album, complete with digi-booklet, will be available on iTunes and includes 18 audio tracks and a music video. The digital premium album features bonus "Evolution Versions" of four new songs, which contain audio commentary from guitarist Robert Westerholt and Sharon and give you unique access to the development of the songs, their lyrical inspiration and the sound of the initial demos and vocals.

"Hydra" digital premium album track listing:

01. Let Us Burn
02. Dangerous (feat. Howard Jones)
03. And We Run (feat. Xzibit
04. Paradise (What About Us?) (feat. Tarja)
05. Edge Of The World
06. Silver Moonlight
07. Covered By Roses
08. Dog Days
09. Tell Me Why
10. Whole World Is Watching (feat. Dave Pirner)
11. Radioactive (originally performed by IMAGINE DRAGONS)
12. Summertime Sadness (originally performed by Lana del Ray)
13. Let Her Go (originally performed by PASSENGER)
14. Dirty Dancer (originally performed by Enrique Iglesias)
15. And We Run (evolution track)
16. Silver Moonlight (evolution track)
17. Covered By Roses (evolution track)
18. Tell Me Why (evolution track)
19. Paradise (What About Us?) (feat. Tarja) music video (exclusive to iTunes premium version)

Aside from the digital premium version, "Hydra" will also be released in a deluxe box set including exclusive items many of you have been asking for, for a long time:

"Hydra" deluxe box set

* "Hydra" 18-track album including bonus tracks in the form of a media book with a hot foil print cover, featuring a 100-page booklet consisting of unique photos
* Double gatefold black vinyl version of the album including bonus tracks
* Instrumental version of the entire album
* Songbook with sheet music of the songs of the album
* "Hydra" guitar pick
* Packaged in an especially designed LP-sized box

In a recent interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com, Sharon stated about the songwriting process for "Hydra"": "A lot of bands were inspired by the '80s at the time we were writing 'The Unforgiving' album. There was a lot of music based on the '80s coming out and it had a lot of '80s flavors. With this new album, even though we're only a few years further up the road, you can feel that music has changed again. Music is not inspired on the '80s, but more like there are different influences in the music again. Music's always organic, and you feel things are changing comfortably."

She added: "When people asked us after 'The Unforgiving', 'Are you gonna make another 'Unforgiving' album?" we said, 'Of course.' Because we were really full of it in a positive way. We really like the album a lot and still do like it a lot but we really feel there's an '80s feel to the songs. When we started writing this album, again we felt like we were already knowing we were gonna go a different direction also."