Delain

April Rain
Sensory Records

The cover to this album was a little misleading to my eyes. This beautiful girl, hair blown back, with her band sihouetted in the background gave the appearance of some type of dance/pop album. Wrong again. Remember folks, you can't judge the music by the cover. Delain is a symphonic metal band with female vocals. The band was founded by ex - Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt back in 2002. "April Rain" is their second album. Granted their are several bands of this ilk; Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Leave's Eyes, Midnattsol etc... Delain definitely shows they have the talent to keep up with their peers. Vocalist Charlotte Wessels has a stunning, beautiful voice and her range is impeccable. The guitars are downtuned for maximum heaviness, and the entire album is slick and well produced. There are also some male vocals by guitarist Ronald Landa who moves from clean to "growling vocals". Thankfully the growling vocals are only on one track. Not that I don't like that style, but their are two many bands of this type who go back and forth between the beautiful female and growling male vocals already. I was definitely impressed and I think you will be as well, especially if you like this type of metal.

- Craig Harvey