Delain – Moonbathers

[schema type=”review” name=”Delain – Moonbathers” description=”Label: Napalm Records” author=”Gamze Öyünc” pubdate=”2016-08-26″]

Dutchies have done it again! I have been waiting for this new soul-food for a while now and it definitely seems like Delain have made a stellar album called “Moonbathers”. The genre is Symphonic-Melodic Metal if you are new to Delain’s music.

Isn’t it a great name for a metal album? It’s dark, romantic, alchemical, surely kind of gothic and it’s an antithesis to Sun. Sun here, being the mainstream, standard in metaphorical sense. You can say that one can become good and popular at what they do without having to sell out. To me, this is what Delain is about.

Celebrating a decade of their career as a band, they released their 5th full studio album. In the past spring, “Lunar Prelude” EP with 2 new songs from the upcoming album gave away the signs that this album would be definitely heavier and kind of like in the same vein as the previous album; “The Human Contradiction” production-wise. That, by no means, does not mean this album is repetitive and tamed. Everything is still as exciting as the previous album, dare I say even more tasty.

In the opening track “Hands of Gold”, the band continued the tradition of having a guest singer in their songs. Being close friends with the band, Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy contributes to “Hands of Gold” with her brutal goddess vocals. The track immediately foretells that massive metal riffs with symphonic elements all over will be heard throughout the album. “The Glory and The Scum” delivers the most dramatic symphonic arrangement, fits as a soundtrack of a dystopian-apocalypt’c-sci-fi sorts of a movie. But I gotta share my excitement with you about my favorite tracks; “The Hurricane”, “Pendulum”, and the glorious “Danse Macabre”. I just can’t get enough off them as they were created and recorded so tastefully. “Dance Macabre” kicks off with a paganistic/indigenous chant, as Charlotte Wessels belts it out, the unyielding lyrics ornate the song. “Fire with Fire” is the empowering and defiant track of this album. Delain makes one or two encouraging songs in almost all of their last few albums which enable the listeners hold their own proud selves and embrace the uniqueness they have.

“Chrysalis – The Last Breath” and “Monarch” are slow ballads and you can hear the symphonic strings; woodwinds as well as ever-present keyboards of Mr. Westerholt. However, as soulful as they are, my ears pined for a touching ballad like “Scarlet” from the last Delain album. “Turn The Lights Out” starts slow but it turns into a beautiful heavy lullaby. The first single “Suckerpunch” is extremely catchy, with a catchy chorus and a glossy music video. The album has a pleasant surprise cover as the intro of Queen’s “Scandal” kicks off with 80’s flashy trademark keyboards. It’s nice to hear the song from a siren’s voice because it adds another dimension to it.

All in all, it’s amazing that Delain has fed our greedy ears with greatness of their symphonic metal melodies regularly over the past years and “Moonbathers” is so much welcome like a new candy to my ears. They will be widely touring the new album in the US and Europe. I say, catch ‘em live wherever you can!

Tracklist: 01. Hands of Gold 02. The Glory and The Scum 03. Suckerpunch 04. The Hurricane 05. Chrysalis-The Last Breath 06. Fire with Fire 07. Pendulum 08. Danse Macabre 09. Scandal 10. Turn the Lights Off 11. The Monarch

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