Within Temptation - Raise Your Banner - Single / Firelight - Single [Review]

Since their release of the epic single "The Reckoning" (which I reviewed here), Dutch metal band Within Temptation has released two more singles from their upcoming seventh studio album Resist (which was originally scheduled for release on December 14, 2018 but has unfortunately been delayed until February 1, 2019) - "Raise Your Banner" and "Firelight." While neither song manages to match the sheer power of "The Reckoning" (which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest songs of the band's entire discography so far, with a visually stunning music video to match), they are competent. "Raise Your Banner" features guest vocals from Anders Fridén of Swedish metal band In Flames, and two versions are available - the full-length version (which is likely the album version) and a shorter radio edit. The song follows Within Temptation's typical symphonic metal sound, and both the song's lyrics and its melody bring me back to the band's 2007 album The Heart of Everything, reminding me especially of that album's song "The Truth Beneath the Rose." My favorite part of the song is when frontwoman Sharon den Adel says (yes, it's more speech than it is singing), "The way that you torment me, the way that you challenge me, the way that you make me bleed..." The song is lyrically similar to songs like "The Howling" and "Our Solemn Hour" from the aforementioned The Heart of Everything, as it seems to cover the tragedies of war: "Raise your banner. Won't you come? Fight the venom. The good die young." The music video also follows in the footsteps left by the music video for "The Reckoning," as it also features futuristic sci-fi elements, this time cyborgs reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell.

The third single released from Resist thus far is titled "Firelight," which features guest vocals from Jasper Steverlinck of Belgian alternative rock band Arid (a band which I admit to never having heard of prior to this song being released). This song, too, has two different versions available - a short single edit and a full-length version. I find "Firelight" to be a bit more interesting than "Raise Your Banner," especially since I consider it to be a unique song from Within Temptation's catalogue thus far. It features tribal chanting that persists throughout the song underneath den Adel's and Steverlinck's alternating parts, and the two of them make a memorable vocal pairing, as their voices sound lovely together. The lyrics are not as transparent as those from "The Reckoning" or "Raise Your Banner" are, but I believe this song to be about how we shouldn't let an opportunity to voice ourselves go to waste, that expressing ourselves is a crucial privilege: "Silence rules spineless fools." This would, of course, also be in keeping with the title of the album: Resist. It really is so unfortunate that the album has been delayed by nearly two months because were that not the case, we would now have the album, and I am really looking forward to this album, as it is, so far, possibly promising to be the best Within Temptation album since The Heart of Everything. It will likely be a tough call to make, however, because I do also really love The Unforgiving (featuring memorable songs like "I Don't Wanna," "Shot in the Dark," "In the Middle of the Night," and "Sinéad"), but I am definitely hoping for more songs with the epic energy of "The Reckoning" to be heard on the rest of the album, which, as previously stated, drops on February 1, 2019 as long as there are no additional delays.