The Reckoning

"The Reckoning" is the first single from Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation's seventh studio album Resist, and features guest vocals from Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach. It was released worldwide via digital download and streaming on 14 September 2018. A promotional lyric video accompanied the release. The official music video for the song was released on September 24. The video was nominated for an Edison Award for Best Video. Background After recovering from a burnout, a writer's block and some personal problems during the year of 2017, lead vocalist Sharon den Adel felt able again to write for Within Temptation and entered the studio again. On 14 September 2018, the band announced a new album for a sooner release and revealed "The Reckoning" as the first song and first single of it. The official music video for the song was officially released on 24 September. The song features Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach as a featured vocalist. Den Adel, who already liked his work, first met Shaddix at the 2015 of the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium, with whom she engaged in a conversation and felt personally connected. After the song was already completed, he was invited to provide his vocals as the band thought that Shaddix could provide the song a certain anger mixed with some vulnerability and melancholy. Musically, it differs from some of the band previous works, as it features a combination of more electronic elements and heavier riffs than usual. It features alternative metal influences and contains heavy riffs from an eight-string guitar. Regarding the symphonic elements of the songs, for which the band is mostly known for, the group opted to use only where they found it would have an impact instead of in the whole song, in order to offer a bigger showcase of the other instruments and den Adel's vocals. Lyrically, the song takes inspiration from political contemporary themes such as technology and the dangers of a possible loss of freedom, a subject also not frequently addressed by the band.