With guest musicians like Sharon den Adel, Marko Hietala, Liv Kristine and Ad Sluyter it’s not that difficult to create a powerful and appealing gothic metal sound.
Martijn Westerholt gathered these musicians and added an unknown jewel, the vocals of eighteen year old Charlotte Wessels, to them. This resulted in a product that is somewhere in between almost all the present day gothic metal bands. Sure there are some obvious references. The fact that Westerholt played with Within Temptation in the past is noticable on the album and there are some pieces that remind me slightly of the work, Arjen Lucassen did over the years.

Overall though I dare to say that Delain managed to give their debut a distinctive sound. Quite an achievement since – and I write this with respect – the gothic metal genre is not one of huge originality. In this perspect it’s nice to hear a female lead vocalist with a more popular sound than the usual opera influences (I didn’t figure that one out myself, it’s from the info sheet). I wonder whether the leading gothic metal bands are up for this new compititian.