I listened to two older Within Temptation albums today that I haven't listened to for a while,
The Unforgiving and
The Silent Force.
The Silent Force had its moments - Stand My Ground is probably my favorite song from it - but between the two of them, I definitely liked
The Unforgiving better, as I figured I would. You can tell that it came out well after
The Silent Force. It just sounds more polished and refined.