Dutch female-fronted symphonic metallers Within Temptation have set 'The Unforgiving' as the title of their new album, tentatively due in March 2011.

The conceptual effort is said to be be based on a comic-book series written by Steven O'Connell (BloodRayne, Dark 48) and will feature characters and scenery by comic artist Romano Molenaar (Witchblade, Darkness, X-Men).

Commented the band: "On this album, we've taken a totally different approach. Each song on 'The Unforgiving' was written along Steven's narrative. The main characters of the comic are reflecting the characters of our songs. The concept pushed us and gave inspiration to come up with a new approach in our sound. It resulted in writing our best songs so far.

"We have been big comic fans since our childhood. With this album we felt the time was there to take a new step in our creative development, take it further and broaden our horizon. Next to the concept form of the album, the songs are more diverse than ever before. In addition, the music of the late '80s, that's when we started to read comic books, certainly has left a mark on our new sound."

Drummer Stephen van Haestregt left Within Temptation earlier in the year in order to focus on his family life and work as a studio technician.