After two decades, Within Temptation is ready to break with the past. With the recent release of their first single since 2014, “The Reckoning“, Within Temptation is ready to rock the world. “The Reckoning” is the first single taken from their seventh upcoming studio album “RESIST“, set for release 14 December 2018 via Vertigo Berlin.
Music video
Since the release of the music video for “The Reckoning”, fans on social media are wondering what inspired the Dutch rock band to create this music video. My name is César Godino, and I would like to share my thoughts and visions about this music video with you.
GIF from the official music video. Click to enlarge.
Fan visions: Alien
While watching the music video for the first time, I noticed one of the band members dressed in white was bleeding white blood from his hand. It reminded me a lot to the androids in the “Alien” movie series, which also have white “blood”. Maybe in the concept of “RESIST“, there will be androids and/or artificial intelligence. It could be possible, since the lasers seem to be some sort of AI (artificial intelligence) too. This also connects to my next point;
Giant spaceship
The giant spaceship which is trying to abduct/attack Sharon is very similar to the one in another “Alien” series movie: “Prometheus“! In this movie, the spaceship meets the same fate as the spaceship in the video, it crashes on the ground almost hitting both the characters in the video and the movie. Could both of this things be a nod to these movies or the sci-fi universe in general?
The spaceship in “The Reckoning”. Click to enlarge.
The mystery man
As written before, the video includes a mystery man. The mystery man has black eyes, as well as white clothes. This gives him a very similar look to another Alien movies character: The Engineer, the one from the very beginning in the “Prometheus” movie. The mystery man seems to be the only one without protection on his face, which could mean he’s not entirely human and the dust of the storm does not affect him like the rest…
White flags
Last, but not least, they’re carrying white flags. So does that mean they’re in a war and they’re on a journey trying to make with the enemy? For all we know, the group looks like a resistance on behalf of humankind.
In my beliefs, the white flags are in their intention to make peace with the enemy. I was listening to the song before and realized that it could be a reference to a part of the lyrics;
“The end of war, the great divine, we’ll see the day of reckoning”
Since their intention is good but all they get is attacks from the lasers and the spaceship. As well, a part of the group is left behind and left prisoners on the lasers field, including the mystery man. Eventually they have no choice but to resist and bring the enemies to their reckoning, whoever they might be. The very sign of peace, the white flags, are what they use as a weapon, so it could be a metaphor to say “We’re fighting, we’re not surrendering”.
Still of the official “The Reckoning” music video. Click to watch the video.
Fan vision
This all is a part of my imagination, together with my vision and thoughts on the music vide for “The Reckoning”. Will Within Temptation be giving clues and hints to what is coming in the new era?
Let us know your opinion about this all on the Donttearmedown social media accounts, Facebook and Twitter!
