Tracklist:1. April Rain
2. Stay Forever
3. Invidia
4. Control the Storm
5. On the Other Side
6. Virtue and Vice
7. Go Away
8. Start Swimming
9. Lost
10. I'll Reach You
11. Nothing Left
Brilliantly executed pop metal – 8,5/10
Delain... the band that conquered many hearts with their strong debut album Lucidity is now back in the game. With April Rain they perfected their sound and presented us yet another set of great songs. Despite what others say, Delain has a lot of pop influences. This is not necessarily a bad thing and Delain are the living proof of that very fact. But whether you want to call this album heavy metal, gothic metal, pop metal or jazz, the most important thing of all is that the album rocks! And this album certainly does.
We are still being embraced by the bombastic keyboard-driven songs by songwriter/keyboardist Martijn Westerholt like on Lucidity, but there’s something drastically different. Where Lucidity had a more atmospheric ambience overall, April Rain sounds more epic and massive. The keyboards are really the most dominant and sometimes even overwhelmingly present, but we still don’t have synth-solos. The guitars are still heavy and downtuned playing a few powerchords each song but nothing truly stunning, the guitar solos are still a bit few and not relying on technical abilities but on sheer melody. That’s what Delain is all about. Each song contains so many melodies. They are mostly voiced by their great vocalist Charlotte Wessels, who really shines on this album. She has a great voice and she lets us know on each and every song. But also she does not rely on her technical abilities like vocal range; the whole band keeps it simple and effective. The album contains powerful fast-paced songs like “April Rain” and “Virtue and Vice”, ballad-ish pop songs like “On the Other Side” and “Start Swimming” and instant epics like “Control the Storm” and “I’ll Reach You”. There is much variation to be found here with lots of pop melodies.
We start off with the title track. Like we know from Lucidity, it begins with a piano-tune and then the bombastic riff jumps in. It’s more aggressive than the likes of which we heard on the predecessor and faster. When the verse starts we calm down a little bit and give Wessels some space for her vocals but not much later we reach the chorus and the power comes in again. This is a great way to open the album and to get in the April Rain mood. The power continues with “Stay Forever”, another heavy aggressive riff with high evil keyboards above them. The verses are almost quiet here, but the more bombastic the chorus is the more it stands out. Wessels’ melodies sound very original and she sings full of emotion. The guitar solos on both of the mentioned songs are very simple in nature but very catchy. “Invidia” continues in the same mood and then we have the absolute epic “Control the Storm”. This one begins with the trademark piano-tune which explodes into the riff. But then the verses sound very odd and yet catchy at the same time. Charlotte sings a weird melody which is partly in some kind of effect and the drums play a tom-tom rhythm, but this disappears when the bridge and the epic chorus begin. Guest musician Marko Hietala from Nightwish is once more present, just like on Lucidity, and takes over the chorus from Wessels. He really sings powerful and that’s just what this chorus would need. It is followed by “On the Other Side” and this one actually sounds quite poppy, having dismissed the distortion guitar almost entirely and still not wanting to be a ballad. We have the keys playing some pizzicato piece with the sound of violins at first until the drums come in to guide Charlotte at her beautiful melodies. It’s really a relaxing song and quite refreshing to hear in the middle of all that bombastic metalized pop.
I’ll be discussing a few more highlights then. “Virtue and Vice” starts with the familiar piano-tune and the explosion after just before the aggressive tone of the riffs begin again. Needless to say, this song is catchy as hell again, just like all the other tracks here, but what stands out is the return of grunt vocals here. Just after the chorus we have the growler giving his take on the song and it actually really fits there and adds a lot to the somewhat poppy atmosphere. After the fast-paced “Go Away” we have another softer song in the shape of “Start Swimming” and this one again really stands out. Pure clean guitars and piano combined with Charlotte’s beautiful voice, with the drum ‘n bass joining in later. Later on we get to hear “I’ll Reach You”. It starts with a cool riff and then some piano verses, and they’re very beautiful, but we all know Delain mostly shines on the choruses. And that’s exactly the case again here. The chorus is downright epic. As if the album wasn’t on a high note already we have “Nothing Left” to close the album. This one sounds a bit like it could’ve been on Lucidity at first, due to the atmospheric riffs, but really doesn’t misfit on this album. Marko Hietala returns once more on the chorus ‘to bring shivers to the bone’. An epic, simple but effective guitar solo tops it off and as the song fades out I realize this was a great album.
In short, April Rain is a great follow-up to Lucidity. It relies mostly on melodies that are simple but effective and is slightly more aggressive than its predecessor. The sound is still very bombastic and keyboard-driven, yet a bit poppy. This is a great album. I definitely recommend it to fans of Delain and the genre alike.
Strongest tracks: “April Rain”, “Control the Storm”, “Nothing Left” and “I’ll Reach You”.
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