DELAIN – April Rain

Female fronted Gothic Metal from The Netherlands? And symphonic, too? Everybody has a clear cut picture in his mind, and ear, what to expect for the next 46 minutes or so. Right? Well, close – the expectations induced are not too far from the truth, but this album is worth your attention anyway.

Delain have started only three years ago and released their debut album Lucidity after mastermind Martijn Westerholt had recovered from an illness which cost him his former job: playing keyboards for Within Temptation. It comes as no surprise that some similarities to his former band are audible on April Rain. After the debut album, Martijn turned his project into a full blown band which is partly the reason for the giant step up the band has taken. The most important asset remained the same on both releases, which is the voice of Charlotte Wessels. She is not unusual and comparable to other genre stars such as Anette Olzon from Nightwish or Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil, but far away from the opera Metal heard so often, and never longed for again. Instead, the album is definitely not just another Goth album and only gains from the powerful, but clear and beautiful voice of Charlotte without focusing everything purely around her. Even a guest like Marco Hietala from Nightwish cannot make her pale on tracks like the powerful “Control The Storm”.

And that is the second part which lets this album get ahead of the predecessor: The songwriting is much improved. Every single song on April Rain will cling in one’s ear, and after a few spins the album makes one simply feel good. It is futile to pick tracks for recommendation, everybody may have a different favorite song, but since the overall quality is very high, one can pick any track to get an impression of the songwriting skills on April Rain. Even the ballads, mandatory for this style, like “Star Swimming” or “On The Other Side” are not the stuff one would use the skip button on.

The support for Kamelot, with whom the band is touring currently, hopefully lets them gain a wider audience. The female fronted Gothic Metal genre has become stale due to too many mediocre releases that one must fear a release like this may not get the attention it deserves. Because eleven great songs, which are melodic and emotional, with lots of well placed keyboards, such that the album is not drowning in it or skittering into the corny corner of the genre, is what Delain have delivered this year. That may not be too “metallic”, but good music is good music. And this album is. Period.