CD Review: The Human Contradiction by Delain

Dutch symphonic metal band Delain released their fourth studio album 'The Human Contradiction' on 4th April. According to lead singer Charlotte Wessels, who is also responsible for all the lyrics on this album, the album's title was inspired by Octavia E. Butler's science fiction trilogy 'Lillith's Brood'.

In all honesty, I never really cared for Delain. I knew they existed because of their collaboration with Marco Hietala from Nightwish, but their previous work failed to grab my attention. It wasn't until I read mostly positive reviews that I decided to give their new album a shot. To my biggest surprise, I ended up being hooked right from the very first tunes of 'Here Comes the Vultures'. And this 'being hooked' state of mine continued throughout the entire album. The songs have catchy melodies indeed, but I never felt that the 'catchiness' is forced or calculated. Again, we have the pleasure to hear Marco Hietala on two songs 'Your Body is a Battleground' and 'Sing to Me', which also belong to my favourite songs. Another two guests, George Oostheok (ex-Orphanage) and Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy, ex-The Agonist), provide growls to songs 'Tell Me, Mechanist' and  'The Tragedy of the Commons'.

After a couple of spins I can definitely say, that 'The Human Contradiction' is on my list of favourite albums of this year. I even learnt to appreciate Charlotte's vocals more than ever before. I believe it's time to give Delain another try and listen to their other three albums again.  

Delain's New Album Out In April

Dutch symphonic metal band Delain will release their 4th studio album "The Human Contradiction" on 7th April in Europe and 8th April in the US and Canada. The band released lyric video "Your Body is a Battleground" featuring Marco Hietala from Nightwish.

Tracklist:

1. Here Come the Vultures
2. Your Body is a Battleground
3. Stardust
4. My Masquerade
5. Tell Me, Mechanist
6. Sing to Me
7. Army of Dolls
8. Lullaby
9. The Tragedy of the Commons

The Human Contradiction - preview

 

Delain's New Video

As a follow-up to this post, the new Delain album, We Are the Others, will be released - finally! - at the beginning of June.  And here is the first single and video from that album, "Get the Devil Out of Me".  Enjoy!

Label Douchebaggery

For those of you who are fans of Delain, as I am, you might be interested in this interview my Sonic Cathedral colleague, Robin Stryker, did with mainman Martijn Westerholt and lead vocalist Charlotte Wessels.  In it, we learn why there has been such a long delay in the releasing of the band's third album, entitled We Are the Others.



Apparently, Roadrunner Records went through a major re-organization and is now being run by Warner Music Group, AKA WMG.  Says Martijn in the interview:

A lot of people left the company, were fired or restructured, etc., which meant for us that the guy who signed us and assisted us with our album process from the record company side was fired. They needed a new A&R manager for us. There was none in Holland, so it was quite a search to get the new structure working.  In the end, we had a new management, which also is the A&R and artist relations with Roadrunner. That took a lot of time, which meant that the whole album process was on hold as well.

The album was supposed to be released around a year ago, but to this day still has no release date, though late March was rumoured. The album is done and ready to go, and Delain is embarking on a headlining tour around Europe this spring.  The buzz around this album and the potential promotional opportunities such a tour would bring are huge.  Yet the label isn't onside with the record.



Martijn continues,

We heard that Warner Music didn’t want to release us because they just don’t get metal. They just don’t get it. They bought Roadrunner to get this metal DNA into their body, I would say. I have the feeling … I don’t know because I’m not in the organization itself … but I have the feeling that they are still searching for the right working method.  The Roadrunner company wants to release us, and there are several people within Roadrunner who are working to release us nonetheless. So actually, for us it’s a nightmare.

No kidding it's a nightmare!  I have no idea what WMG is thinking in doing this but it's ridiculous.  The album is mastered and ready to go, complete with artwork and the whole fucking shabang.  "Not getting metal" is a poor excuse - you're Warner fucking Music for crying out loud!  Incidentally, I have not failed to notice that WMG is one of the worst labels for yanking YouTube videos off YT for "proprietary reasons", causing them to miss out on numerous marketing and promotional opportunities.  I don't know the specific legal ins and outs of Delain's contract or what the label obligations towards the band are now that WMG has taken over, but it seems like utter douchebaggery to not release the CD because they "don't get it."  I don't get half the pop shit they release!



Anyway, I urge fellow Delain fans to join the "Petition for Warner Music to Release Delain - We Are the Others" page on Facebook to show their support for the band.  And let's hope WMG comes to its senses - quickly.

Some News

1. "Requiem for the Indifferent" is the title of  Epica's fifth full-length album . According to the band: "This title refers to the end of an era. As we are all connected; the universe, earth, nature, animals and human beings, this period in time will be the prelude to the end for those who still don't want to, or simply won't see it. 'A Requiem For The Indifferent', but also a possibility for a new beginning with great new chances!" The album will be out on March 9, 2012.

2. Another Dutch metal band Delain revealed the title of their third album. "We Are the Others" is also a song from the album, which will be out in spring.

3. Today, The Helsinki district court dropped all charges and compensation demands related to the Nightwish book. In other words, Marcelo Cabuli lost the lawsuit against publisher and author of the Nightwish's official biography. Finnish speakers can read more about it here. For the rest of us, here is the translation of the article.

4. Within Temptation decided to make a full length film about the concept of ''The Unforgiving". Since the comic does appeal to a lot of people and the short films were received very well the film should be out within next few years.

5. Couple of days ago, Lacuna Coil released "Trip the Darkness" music video. The single is from their upcoming album "Dark Adrenaline" due to be out January 23.

Some news

1. Nightwish’s  "Imaginaerum" film will be done with mostly Canadian actors/actresses. Post-production will take place in Canada and Finland. The names of the actors who have two of the main roles in the film are Marianne Farley and Quinn Lord. Behind the scene photo gallery.

2. Sonata Arctica changed release date   of the new  DVD "Live in Finland". The DVD will be released November 11th, Europe and November 15, North America. Teaser can be found here.                        

3. Delain completed the songwriting process for its third studio album, which will be released in the spring 2012. Videos from the studio can be seen here.

4. Opeth released the official music video of their first single "The Devil Orchard" from the new album "Heritage".

5. Evanescence's new song "Made of Stone" with lyrics is now avaible for streaming on their official site.

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 08: A Song I Know All the Words To

OK, I really like Delain. Yes, they are radio-friendly and "lighter" Gothic metal, but I still like them. I thought April Rain was a bit disappointing, but I loved Lucidity. I love Charlotte Wessels, and I love this song, which yes, I do know all the lyrics to, "Frozen." I also love this video and the music box-like keyboard intro. I'm not totally stoked about the edited version of the song they did for the video, but it happens a lot, so I guess I can live with it.