As we’re moving from the season of skull-shaped candy and into our selection box era, it seems appropriate that dutch symphonic metallers Delain are gift-wrapping us a sampler of treats in the form of their new EP, ‘Dance With The Devil’. To straighten a couple of things out first; there’s only two new songs included on the tracklist, three if you stretch the definition to include a re-mastered version of an older track, five if you’re really, really pushing ‘new’ to also include instrumental versions. The rest of the package is a live album by any other name; nine fan favourites recorded with their new lineup. Don’t forget, this is Delain 2.0, the version of the band featuring only one original member that rebooted for last year’s ‘Dark Waters’ LP. The rest of the band that you’d recognise from earlier releases are now attached to former vocalist Charlotte Wessels’ otherworldly solo project. This raises an important question: what happens when a band splits their sound in two in a Jekyll and Hyde moment? We’ve heard Wessels’ lunar orchestral visions, so now it’s time to see what Delain’s new originals can offer.
‘Dance With The Devil’ is poppy, synth heavy fun with a club-classic sweetness. It’s solid, but by Delain’s standards it’s a little more straightforward than we’d expect. ‘The Reaping’ stands much stronger, taking it’s foot off the brakes to speed into more of the gothic charm and complexity contained within the lyrics that we’d hope for. The remastered update of 2006’s ‘Sleepwalker’s Dream’ doesn’t differ tremendously from the original, aside from Diana Leah’s mighty wail and bonus emphasis on the strings. It’s a great song, but we’ve known that for nearly twenty years now.
This is the trap which the new Delain have laid for themselves with this EP; it is very impressive when they draw on their whole back catalogue, proving that they can still pull out all the stops live and when re-interpreting their older songs, but it makes the new originals seem slightly empty in comparison. As an aural tour advert ahead of their next UK visit at the end of November it’s brilliant, but as a chance to display their songwriting prowess in their most recent configuration it’s far less convincing. Of course ‘April Rain’ is great in concert, Delain’s live album released seven years ago proved that, so gaffa-taping another live album onto essentially a single release feels unnecessary.
Perhaps it’s a way to show to the world that they still have plenty to offer, but surely focusing on top-notch new material would have served that purpose better. It’s more than likely that ‘Dance With the Devil’ and ‘The Reaping’ will feature on their tour setlists with all the bells and whistles that we’d expect from our hyperactive favourites, and with that added dimension they’re likely to shine far brighter than they do on studio recordings.
KATE ALLVEY