Delain is a spinoff of the Dutch symphonic band
Within Temptation,
with keyboardist Martijn Westerholt leaving his former band for health
reasons; while recovering, he continued to compose music, music that
would eventually become Delain.
His first album (Lucidity) is driven by an impressive array of guest
appearances, including his former bandmate
Sharon del Adel,
Liv Kristine
(Leaves' Eyes,
Theatre Of Tragedy),
Marco Hietala of
Nightwish,
and many others.
Eventually a proper band was put together for the followup,
2009's April Rain.
The Dutch seem to have a monopoly on quality female-fronted symphonic
gothic metal, what with
Within Temptation,
Epica,
After Forever,
and of course
The Gathering
leading the way.
Delain is somewhat more poppy than some of those bands, and
not surprisingly a bit more keyboard-dominated, but Charlotte Wessels
puts in a strong vocal performance, and overall the songs are strong,
if a shade on the commercial side.
Westerholt announced in early 2021 that the rest of the band were leaving
to pursue new projects and that Delain would revert to a solo project.
