The Heart of Everything is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released by GUN Records on 12 March 2007 in Europe. It was released in North America on 18 June 2007 by Roadrunner Records. The album follows the symphonic metal sound the band had been improving and deepening until then, and is considered by lead vocalist Sharon den Adel as the album in which the band finally managed to achieve this kind of sound. The album originated a total of five singles. The first and most successful one, "What Have You Done", was released on 14 February and was met with moderate chart success across Europe. The second single was "The Howling", released on 1 May exclusively in the United States. The third single, "Frozen", was released in Europe on 11 June. The fourth single, "All I Need", was released on 11 November. In order to promote the album the band embarked on their first world tour, entitled The Heart of Everything World Tour, visiting countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. The track "Forgiven" was released as a single on 12 September 2008 for promoting the live album Black Symphony, recorded during the tour. The album was met with commercial and critical success, earning positive reviews from publications such as Metal Hammer, allmusic and PopMatters. It opened at number 1 on the Dutch Charts and entered top ten positions in countries such as Belgium, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. It was also the first Within Temptation album to enter the Billboard 200 charts, peaking at the number 106. Composition and recording Composing for the album started at the end of 2005, and recording lasted for half 2006. About their inspiration, the band cited books as well as important moments of their personal lives, mainly the act of making choices. About certain songs, like Our Solemn Hour, lead vocalist Sharon den Adel wrote about how "people get sacrificed also for war and we don't learn from that." About their second single, "Frozen", den Adel said that they "wrote a song about child abuse", so they released the song as a single and gave all the profits to the Child Helpline International. In den Adel's words: "We chose this organization because they are represented in 160 countries and it is very easy to get in contact with them. You can send them an e-mail