Designed to whet the appetite before they unveil their new album at the end of 2019.
For the record, Delain are one of my all-time Top Three favourite acts and thus I also consider them to be the greatest band to have emerged since the early nineties. The 'Hunter's Moon' extended EP is designed to whet the appetite before they unveil their new album at the end of 2019. It comprises a CD that contains four studio tracks and ten live songs with an accompanying Blu-ray of the live offerings. The four studio cuts are made up of two songs from said new record and a pair of exclusive tracks. The ten live songs were recorded at the Utrecht date of their special 2017 'Danse Macabre' tour and feature guest appearances from Marco Hietala (Nightwish) and George Oosthoek (Orphanage).
Delain recently released a video for the opening track 'Masters Of Destiny' and let me be absolutely clear... this song is a fecking jaw-dropper! After I heard it for the first time, I honestly sat there totally stunned by what I'd just witnessed. It's an immensely epic, bombastic song with a thumping rhythm, a whopping riff, a soaring solo, clever orchestration and sprightly keyboards. However, as brilliant as it is musically, it's the singing of Charlotte Wessels that truly blew me away. I've always considered her one of the top female vocalists in the world, but what she's delivered on this track is nothing short of spectacular! From hushed tones during the opening, she suddenly explodes with colossal wails and fierce vocals; the pitch, depth, control and power displayed are a revelation, even for this already supremely-talented singer. It's possibly their finest song yet and only the massive infectiousness of 'We Are The Others' maintains it as my favourite Delain number.
The marvellous 'Hunter's Moon' has a slight Dance-like aspect to the backing vocals, but once again it contains a huge riff, a bouncing beat, a catchy choral hook and a few harsh vocals from Timo Somers. Delain's two guitarists wrote the remaining pair of studio offerings; Somers was responsible for the revolving 'This Silence Is Mine', while Merel Bechtold penned the fantastic Techno-infused, guitar-roaring 'Art Kills'.
The ten live songs consist of six Hietala compositions from Delain's history (including the amazing 'The Gathering'), 'Hands Of Gold' featuring Oosthoek and three further tracks ('Danse Macabre', 'Scarlet' and 'Not Enough'). They all sound glorious with each member perfectly clear, the crowd nicely audible and together they provide another tremendous live example of Delain. I haven't received my 'Deluxe Edition' box-set yet so I can't comment on the visual footage, but if it's anything like 'A Decade Of Delain: Live At Paradiso' it will look every bit as good as it sounds.
Whilst the live set and two extra songs are excellent, it's the two remarkable "preview" tracks that stand out. If they are representative of the other material on the upcoming album, Delain could be about to unleash something quite special!
Dave Scott
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