Delain - Interlude

Artist: Delain

Album: Interlude

Label: Napalm Records

Released: May 7th, 2013

Genre: Symphonic metal

With Interlude the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain around former Within Temptation keyboard player Martijn Westerholt and vocalist Charlotte Wessels bring us their fourth recording.

Interlude is an odd mixture of new songs, covers and live recordings. The new songs show the new direction Delain are heading in to, the covers seem to be mostly filler material, and the live recordings look back into their old style.

The new style of Delain is certainly more pop-oriented, and similar to Evanescense. Maybe Delain are aiming at more airplay and a broader audience? Unfortunately, that also means that they sound more mainstream: catchy tunes that don't stick to your soul.

The vocals of Charlotte Wessels are still top-notch, and on the new tracks she shows how versatile her voice can be. I can't help but think of their fellow Dutchmen from Krezip when I hear their new work.

The 3 covers on Interlude are “Cordell”, originally by The Cranberries, “Such a Shame”, originally by Talk Talk, and “Smalltown Boy” originally by Bronski Beat. At their best, these covers just sound a little bleak – but “Smalltown Boy” gets completely massacred by Delain. The horror.

After the new ballad version of “We Are The Others”, Interlude serves up 6 live recordings of previously released material. “Mother Machine” and “Electricity” stand out among the live recordings, for the more bombastic symphonic metal laced with the strong vocals of Wessels and the pronounced keyboards of Westerholt.

To conclude: unless you are a big fan of Delain or can't control your curiosity for their new material, I wouldn't recommend Interlude, which seems to be more filler material than anything else.

Buy Delain - Interlude