The latest EP (new – live – instrumental) from Delain confirms their status as a formidable Symphonic Metal force.
Release Date: 8th November 2024
Label: Napalm Records
Format: CD / LP / digital
Delain test the EP definition with a shedload of new, live, instrumental and alternative tracks. Fifteen tracks make Dance With The Devil more than an album from some quarters.
Following up the Dark Waters album, the release promises to showcase the best of Delain while looking ahead and explore new, more synth-driven soundscapes than ever before.
Their second release with a revitalized lineup anchored by founding member and band mastermind Martijn Westerholt, Dance With The Devil features two brand new tracks, two newly-presented favorites, nine live performances – in itself almost a live album – and two instrumental bonus tracks.
new!
The offering is a chance to debut two gripping new tracks. The immediate appeal of the title track Dance With The Devil, sees Delain toggle between the angelic Diana Leah sweetness, a melodic and hook saturated chorus and some devilishly harsh growls. The Reaping serves up a churning bassline, catchy electronic synth melodies and modern heaviness. A track that delves into themes of disillusionment with the current path of society toward imminent and inescapable consequences – as we write the results of the 2024 US presidential elections are emerging… Two new tracks that are primed for the live set that’s set to hit the UK in a couple of weeks.
Following the thrill of the two new pieces, the EP dips into the archive with a brand-new version of Sleepwalkers Dream from the 2006 Lucidity album. Hitting some impressive high register notes on the “truth lies out there” line, it’s a chance to set on record a dramatic new Delain version of the track in the same way that the older material has been re-interpreted by the new line up on stage.
live!
Nine live performances come next. The Cold re-enacts its position as a set opener with the epic symphony of massed choral voices and crowd chants that has Diana rabble rousing and encouraging (very politely, as is her style) the crowd to “be as loud as you can be” for Burning Bridges. The live material shows off her initiation into the band with the Dark Waters album with The Quest And The Curse, A Moth To A Flame and Queen Of Shadows all becoming quickly welcomed and established as Delain classics. The Quest sees Diana in full haunting operatic mode as the band inhabits the space on the Venn diagram where the new songs meet the old and the join is seamless. Having seen the band in action in Manchester last year, it was the affirmation that the new line up works. Any doubts s or worries long since gone.
For a few cherry picks to add to the icing on the cakes, dipping back into April Rain in particular, The Human Contradiction and Apocalyse & Chill confirms the strength of the catalogue; whatever the line up, whoever the singer, it all comes under the name Delain. Fitting exactly what main man Martijn Westerholt once told us was the ‘Delain DNA’.
In addition, the digipak edition features, as is their wont, instrumental versions of the two new tracks as well as an alternate ending version of Underland. Value for money for sure – enough music for your bucks with an affirmation that Delain remain a formidable force in the Symphonic Metal world. Roll on the next round of live dates!
Here’s the title track:
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