The Chronicles of Spellborn MMO features three songs written by gothic-rock band Within Temptation. Spellborn International has alerted gamers that live performances of "The Howling", "Hand of Sorrow" and "The Heart of Everything" are featured in the band`s upcoming CD/DVD release Black Symphony performed by Within Temptation and the Metrople Symphony. The full story behind the landmark fusion of a videogame developer and band is retold on the Within Temptation site. Here`s an excerpt from the page:
In the end of 2005 Within Temptation started a corporation with game developer ‘The Chronicles of Spellborn’. This is the first time in history a rock band and the developers of a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game have announced such collaboration, marking a new era in the fusion of the arts of music and making games.

"The Chronicles of Spellborn" is a MMOR- Playing game, players from all over the world will be able to interact through the internet with each other in an original fantasy setting, experienced through a unique graphic style.

Robert Westerholt comments:”Since there are quite a few game fanatics in our band we didn`t hesitate long when we were given the opportunity to work together with a game-developer on the music for a videogame. Especially since a game like `The Chronicles of Spellborn` is graphically, as well as story-wise, very inspiring.” The Black Symphony DVD will be available in Europe September 22 and September 23 in the US. You can get the latest information on The Chronicles of Spellborn at the official website which will be relaunching later this month.

Personally, I would like to see more collaborations of this type in the future. It just builds a more solid foundation for both the music and games industries as well as being a big win for gamers. I leave you with the trailer for Within Temptation`s Black Symphony.