In the 90s, symphonic metal was more a glittering garnish than a scene in itself, something bands from Therion to Celtic Frost would sprinkle on their music to make it sparkle. While the genre would start coming together into something more tangible towards the end of the decade, it wasn’t until a few years later that a song would emerge to put symphonic metal on the map.
That song was Within Temptation’s Ice Queen. A complete volte-face from the gothic doom of the Dutch metallers’ 1997 debut, Enter, it appeared on the follow-up, Mother Earth, in a flurry of lavish arrangements and fairytale histrionics. Buoyed by vocalist Sharon den Adel’s crystalline voice, it pushed metal towards a new frontier, quickly whipping up a buzz in mainland Europe.
While Nightwish would eventually emerge as scene leaders and symphonic juggernauts, at that time, the Finns were still very much in their power metal phase, having just released 2000’s Wishmaster. Instead, Ice Queen can take credit for being symphonic metal’s first major hit, pushing women to the forefront and influencing a brand new generation of bands.
"A lot of people got to know us through Ice Queen," Sharon told Hammer in 2022. "I still like the song because it brings me back to my love of Nirvana – and look, I know nobody hears Nirvana in it except me. But when I’m singing it, I feel like I’m singing Nirvana! It feels like a rebellious song."
In many ways, it was. Within Temptation had already been laying the groundwork for symphonic metal's ascension on their 1997 debut Enter, but for their second album they were looking to ditch their roots in gothic death metal almost entirely, putting Sharon in the spotlight.
“It was a big step, but then again, also a logical step to toss away the grunts at that time," admits WT co-founder and guitarist Robert Westerholt. "We originated from death metal, so for us, adding a female focus was something new. We knew we could do way more with Sharon’s vocals and also, I think our songwriting skills had improved. So for us, it was like a whole music musical world was opening.”
While Within Temptation would blow up thanks to both Mother Earth and Ice Queen as a single, the song's origins were fairly humble when it came to recording.
“At the time, we lived in Sharon’s parents’ house," Robert explains. "We had a studio in a little room, with a tape deck and eight-track. We really had this separated way of working; I wrote the music in there, then when I finished the track, Sharon would go into the room and write the melody lines. We were on a very tight schedule at that time for recording music. It was quite a romantic way of working for a young band. Those were exciting times.”
While Within Temptation were moving away from their roots, some influences remained. Paradise Lost were still a big influence on them, but Robert also credits Marillion and goths The Sisters Of Mercy.
"Also, soundtracks have always been inspiring thing for us," Robert explains. "The soundtrack of Braveheart – not the film! That’s the combination that took us in a more symphonic direction.”
At the same time, Sharon Den Adel was stepping more confidently into her role as frontwoman of the band. During writing sessions for Mother Earth she took a more active role as songwriter, cementing her status as a new metal icon.
“Her voice became more and more important, where at first it was really... I don’t know. It was more the gothic, the doom vibes, and then it became... I think she became more important," Robert considers. "Mother Earth and Ice Queen were the first time when it really became her band.”
Of all the songs Within Temptation worked on for Mother Earth, Ice Queen was the most obvious hit. A dramatic composition that owed as much to the alt. rock boom of the 90s as it did to doom and heavy metal, the song's lyrics perfectly represented the album's wider themes of nature with the titular queen being a personification of winter at the turning of seasons. Fittingly, the song went through its own changes in the early days.
"Actually, it was called Believer in the beginning," Sharon told Hammer. "But we wanted to continue the theme of Mother Earth.
“At that time, the topic of nature was really on our minds – how we treat the world and how it should be better," Robert explains. "We loved the adventure, the melancholic vibe, but also it hurt us to see that the beauty of the world was dying in a lot of places, very much a contradiction to the beautiful worlds of fantasy we created."
Mother Earth was originally released on Christmas Eve 2000 in the Netherlands, but wouldn't see wider release until August the following year. In many ways, it set the pace for how the album's popularity would spread - slowly, but with a sense of unstoppable momentum.
"It started in Holland at first," Robert says. "We really felt there was something boiling because every show that we did was selling out and we didn’t know why. We went to Netherlands festivals, like Lowlands and Pinkpop, and people were going crazy, it was packed. We felt that we were doing something new, something people hadn’t heard before. Something was building.”
In June 2001, Within Temptation released Ice Queen as a single. It crystalised the point where everything changed for the band.
“Until Ice Queen, we had felt resistance from national radio, then on a video channel called The Box in the Netherlands, the video for Ice Queen became the most requested video," Robert recalls. "At a certain point we beat Britney Spears! Then the general radio couldn’t ignore us anymore. They had to play it! Later on, Ice Queen spread to Germany and more countries in Europe and suddenly we were up there in the mainstream.”
While the band remain incredibly proud of the song that helped propel them into the mainstream consciousness, the same can't always be said of the CGI-heavy video...
“Actually, we made three videos for Ice Queen, none of them we’re really happy with," Robert admits sheepishly. "The original one, which broke through on The Box, was even way worse!”
Either way, Ice Queen turned out to be a hit. The single would reach number 2 in the Dutch charts, while Mother Earth would peak at Number 3 on the Dutch album charts in February 2002 - 14 months after it had originally been released.
"I don’t mind playing it for the rest of our lives," Sharon told Hammer. "We’ve tried to make different versions of it that give it a new life and a new shine, and it’s taken many different shapes: we did an acoustic version where we tried to give it a more bluesy sound, we had Jasper Steverlinck cover it who did an amazing job, and now we’re playing the original again.”
“Ice Queen was a huge kick-off," Robert confirms. "Because of Mother Earth, we got the opportunity to work with real orchestras afterwards on [2004’s] The Silent Force. The orchestral parts on Mother Earth were all samples. From Mother Earth, we invested everything we had in making our shows look bigger and cooler.”
While the arena headline shows the band are now known for were still years off, Ice Queen was the song that set Within Temptation on the path to bigger stages, including headlining Bloodstock Festival's indoor edition in 2005 (and ultimately headlining the open air festival in 2015). More than that, it inspired a new generation to get into music.
"I have a feeling that for a lot of girls and women, it was like, 'Oh, yes, finally, now we can participate as well.'" Robert says.
"It also goes together with the fact that, at the time, metal wasn't that melodic. It was bold to do different things again and to use a lot of melody. And the way women [in symphonic metal] dressed was also a big thing. Sharon has always embraced her femininity. She's never wanted to be one of the guys. I think sometimes it’s really just luck that you’re there at the right time. That’s the legacy, the magic of that time, and that music.”
