Always Solid, but Never Really Exceptional | April Rain

Incredible second album for the Delain project | April Rain | Delain

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	• April Rain Delain Sensory Records, 2009 average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the best albums of 2009, no doubt about it

As you all may know, I absolutely love Metal music. I especially have a knack for Symphonic elements in Metal music; my favorite band Iron Maiden has done that before and they reached great heights with it. Which led me to get into Within Temptation, Kamelot, and Apocalyptica. However, while I had a friend of mine over back in the summer, she asked me if I had heard of Delain. After (shamefully) answering "no", we went on YouTube and listened to Control The Storm. I LOVED it! It was refreshing, like something I hadn't heard of before. A few days later, in HMV, I saw a copy of this, and picked it up. And wow, I was blown away instantly. The music was excellent, unlike something I've ever heard. Charlotte Wessels has a BEAUTIFUL singing voice!!!! She is very Karen Carpenter-like, she has a lovely and clean voice, and soars on the songs. She doesn't once oversing, she has perfect control over her voice. The symphony adds total effect to the mood, most of the songs have a dark mood, and the symphony is spectacular. MUST HEAR TRACKS would be Control the Storm, I'll Reach You, and Start Swimming. Overall, if you like symphonic metal, give this one a listen. You will not regret it.

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Always Solid, but Never Really Exceptional

I was walking through the store shortly before the holidays, and I just somehow stumbled upon this CD, which I was attracted to, not because of it's quasi-gothic artistic cover commonplace with the bands I've gotten into over the past 5-6 years or so, but a sign on the front telling me that it's from a former composer of Within Temptation, which is easily one of my favorites of this list of bands I've gotten into. And so I popped it in, and I listened to it, and for the most part, my high expectations were to an extent met. All - not most, but all, of these songs have some solid rock elements, some well-composed orchestral elements, and even some slight elements of 'good' pop; that is, that slight bit of bubbly energy and an additional metalic sound, versus something that sounds like Brittany Spears. However, while this album has no real downers, I can't say that any songs really blew me away. Let's just say that on my iTunes, I've ranked all the songs a 4/5 rating, none a 5/5, none a 3/5 or lower.

There are a few slight highlights. The first song, the title song 'April Rain' keeps a nice consistent sound that's always pleasing and fun, if a tad traditional. And towards the end of the album is 'I'll Reach You', a song which sounds good for the most part, but certainly climaxes with a chorus that sounds like it's from a truly exceptional song; the problem is that the bulk of the song isn't as strong. The same, or opposite, could be said about the third song, 'Invidia' (no relation, I'm thinking, to the graphics card company NVidia), which starts off truly beautiful, almost hauntingly and mesmerizingly, but during it's chorus, turns almost nasty. The same types of problems are throughout the album - every song, pretty much, has segments that are excellent, and segments that are just good.

There is also one other thing I should mention, which is that the mixing doesn't seem that great. The mixing sounds a lot like 'Enter', the first Within Temptation CD, which was well composed as well, but certainly not as sharp-sounding as something such as their later album 'The Silent Force', or Nightwish's 'Dark Passions Play' - if you don't like those albums, just note that I'm merely pointing out the sound quality. This album is, by contrast, very light on both the lows and highs, mostly in the middle-frequency range. Luckily, it's clear enough, lacking such problems of other albums like the piano being swallowed up by the guitar/bass.

Overall a good CD - I only discovered moments ago that there was another CD previously released, so I cannot state which is superior, but I can say that if you're a fan of groups like Within Temptation, Nightwish, or particulartly Sirenia, you should get a reasonable amount of enjoyment from this.

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Incredible second album for the Delain project

April Rain is Delain's second album. The Delain project was originally started as side project for keyboard player and composer Martijn Westerholt. Their first effort was well recieved enough that it created a following, allowing him and Charlotte Wessels to create April Rain.

I liked their first record quite a bit. It didn't have the sharp edges that much of current Dutch "gothic" metal usually has, but it had a sweetness and musicality that I enjoyed.

Enter April Rain... NOW we're talking about progress. This is a fantastic record in all respects, from writing to playing to production values. Its important to note, that if you like those silly B&B growl bands, then Delain's minimal to non existent use of this gimmicky filler might disappoint you. There is vibrant melodious music here, clearly sourced from the keyboards of Mr Westerholt, and embellished by his friends on many other instruments.

Ms Wessels voice has firmed up, and her control and expression has become nothing short of astonishing. For someone so young, her vocal prowess is quite remarkable. You need only watch the April Rain video on youtube to how far she has developed as a vocalist.

People like to classify and compare everything these days, but I'd rather assume most musicians would rather be viewed on their own, and indeed Delain has developed their own unique style on April Rain. It is grounded in the foundational keyboards, surrounded by guitars and drums, and led by Ms Wessels remarkably expressive voice.

This young band has certainly came out of nowhere to become quite popular in their native Netherlands. Its worth it to explore these music makers, just simply not to miss Charlotte Wessels vocals. The genre of "gothic metal" has become polluted with all sorts of noisy and screeching followers, which Delain might have been with their first record. But April Rain just explodes with maturity and progress. Give it a try

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Lighter approach to symphonic metal...

I first heard about Dutch symphonic metal band Delain through both Facebook and Amazon. I was constantly being bombarded by Facebook ads about the band since I belong to symphonic metal fan groups and have added several band fan pages. On Amazon, whenever I would check out my recommendations, Delain's April Rain was, 9 times out of 10, the top suggestion. I resisted for several months, citing the fact that I didn't know anything about the band, the general lack of information about them online and the fact that they were always advertised as the band from the "former keyboardist of Within Temptation." While I'm a big WT fan, it seems like singer Sharon den Adel and her partner and guitarist Robert Westerholt are the driving creative talent behind WT, so what could I expect from the "former keyboardist"?

I finally decided to do some research on Delain, and found that the WT former keyboardist is actually Robert's brother Martijin, who had left the band due to a chronic illness in 2001. After meeting then-relatively-unknown singer Charlotte Wessels, the pair formed Delain. Originally begun as a studio project, Delain's first album, Lucidity (which I haven't heard) was filled with guest appearances (notably by Sharon den Adel, Marco Hietala of Nghtwish and Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes). After success, Martijin and Charlotte decided to add band members, step out and become a touring band. That was the goal with April Rain -to help Delain become most established as a unique band rather than just a project.

At first listen, April Rain is barely a symphonic metal album, in fact, I would call in more of a rock album with some heavier moments, a lighter, more "pop" type feel and a few symphonic elements. Probably the best way to think of it is to consider April Rain as "Within Temptation light." It's not as heavy, intense, or emotional as most bands in the symphonic metal genre and tends to go more toward the "commercial," which many fans of the genre won't be too happy about.

For me, Delain's April Rain was a mixed bag. There were good and bad things. First, it's hard to really stand out in a genre that's saturated with so many established, talented bands and, as much as newer acts may hate it, they will always be compared to older bands, particularly Nightwish and, in the case of Delain, Within Temptation. Compared to these two bands, which are genre favorites for me, Delain's April Rain is very average. The music is good, and even has some flashes of awesome, but doesn't have the raw emotion or intensity that these other bands can evoke with virtually every song.

The biggest problem I had with this album was that it just felt overproduced, particularly with Charlotte's vocals. It felt like I couldn't hear or understand her for about 80% of the CD because of the mixing and production. When I actually did get to hear her voice, particularly on "On the Other Side," it was gorgeous. Sure, it's not a classically-trained opera voice, but it's still pure and amazing -I just wish that I got to hear more of that than production. Several songs also felt like they were just a little too overdone -kind of like the band had so many ideas, but weren't able to effectively edit them down for each song so some songs became just too much. If they would have taken out some of these ideas and broken them up, I'm sure there would have been potential for even more music -that could even be better!

Also note that there is a guest appearance by Marco Hietala of Nightwish (on "Control the Storm" and "Nothing Left"). Marco's vocals, as intriguing as always, don't seem to add much while Delain guitarist Ronald Landa's growls take the album to a completely different place ("Virtue and Vice") and just doesn't fit at all (his clean vocal on "Invidia" is better). I could honestly have done without any the male vocal work and just stuck with Charlotte. If Delain wants a duet with a male vocalist, maybe they should consider Mario Plank from Visions of Atlantis or Keith Caputo who sung with Sharon den Adel on "What Have You Done Now?" -I think they would fit the musical type (and work with Charlotte) better.

There are a few high points here, and I can't ignore those. Title song "April Rain" is incredibly fun and catchy -it kept getting stuck in my head and I would have a great time singing to it on the way to work. I really found a way to invest in this song, particularly the music itself, though it is a bit unoriginal, light and "commercial" (which would turn off many hardcore metal fans, but hey, I have to admit I like this song). Also, "On the Other Side" shows off Charlotte's vocals the best in its raw form. I loved the sound of her voice over all the strings, which made up the "core" of the song, and I finally felt like the band found a way for Charlotte to really engage with the symphonic aspect of the music. Of course, it would bother some that this has a more "pop" type sound, particularly around the chorus, but the rest of the song makes up for it in my mind. "Lost" is the last highlight. The song starts out with a pulse-pounding metal opening before leading into a lighter melody that carries Charlotte through the song. Again, I like this song because I can hear Charlotte more, I love the piano work, and I really thought "Lost" did the best job of keeping all the elements together without becoming a big mess.

April Rain is good for when I'm in a little bit lighter mood, but tends to be average for the most part. I've listened to this album several times now in an attempt to give Delain more chances (I really wanted to like it more). Maybe it would grow on me, like Visions of Atlantis' Trinity album. Heck, it even took a few listens before I became a Nightwish fan! But alas, I couldn't quite get to that magical place with Delain's April Rain. After a week of trying, when I put in the CD I listen to "April Rain" and sometimes flip to "The Other Side" and "Lost," but don't always get through them before I want to switch CDs. I really think that Delain could become better with future albums -I'm excited to see where they go -but they aren't quite there yet.

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Trinity Sounds

The first time I listened to April Rain I was uplifted by the musicianship in the way each of the songs are put together. Each track is different and exquisite. Beautiful melodies and harmonies. I could not stop playing this cd, with each play There was something new in the magical sound. I love it and will always keep it as one of my favourites. This is a must album for the lover of DELAIN. There best yet.

U.S. pressing includes the exclusive bonus track 'Come Closer'. 2009 release, the much anticipated sophomore album from this band led by ex-Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt. With Charlotte Wessels on vocals, Ronald Landa on guitar and grunt vocals, Sun Caged bassist Rob Vander Loo and Sander Zoer on drums, Delain took Europe by storm. April Rain is THE symphonic Gothic Metal album of 2009. The album debuted on the Dutch Top 100 charts at #14 and at #1 on the Dutch Alternative Charts. The band just completed a tour as support of Kamelot which was immediately followed by their European headlining tour.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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