Review: DELAIN – Dance With The Devil EP

Napalm Records (November 8^th 2024)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

I don’t follow many press releases or band announcements too closely.  I may read a social media headline on a band and register that a new release is imminent, and then check every Friday for new releases on a YouTube account. I was aware that Delain was releasing a new EP and I have been listening to their first single, the title track, for a few weeks now. I enjoyed their last album, loved this single, and was eager to review what I believed would be a four or five song EP. I was completely taken aback to find fifteen tracks! Is it really an EP when the EP is longer than most artists’ albums?  What we have here are two new songs, two instrumental versions of the new tracks, a re-recording, a re-working, and a mini live album. It’s an EP on steroids.

Since the title track has been out for nearly two months, let’s get right to the next new track.  ‘The Reaping’ is a heavy mid-tempo rocker with a groove that’s familiar but effective. It has the type of verse where the guitar fades, allowing the singer to say a line, then comes roaring back with the melody line. Done before but done well here.  It is on par with some of their best material from their last release Dark Waters (review here).

Re-recordings are always going to be divisive. You will have older fans who have lived with songs for many years and newer fans who do not have that history or potential bias. With this new recording of ‘Sleepwalkers Dream‘, I decided to play both songs back-to-back several times to get a feel for each in an attempt to compare/contrast and remain unbiased. While both versions sound great, my preference is for the original version. The re-recording technically has a better production sonically, but I prefer the reverb effects of the original. Diana Leah sounds great in the new version, but the way Charlotte Wessels carries her choral note from lower to higher is effortless and impressive. Diana has to break up the parts in the chorus between the words and the elevated scream.

The other track previously released is not a re-recording, but a re-working. One of my favorite tracks off the last album, ‘Underland‘, has been reworked with a slightly different ending.  The ending allows Diana to complete all her lines in the outro without a fade out.  The song is also mixed to the sound of the new tracks, so it is a little richer sounding with the highs a tad lower in the mix.

Now it’s onto the live tracks. The band sounds in fine form here and the crowd response is well represented. I love live recordings where the crowd is incorporated in either a background choral response, with chants and hand clapping, and that happens in nearly every song in some sort of way. It adds a unique aspect that cannot be replicated in a studio version and makes the material that much more special.

The only negative for me would be the two new tracks represented with instrumental versions.  It’s a personal bias as I’ve never been a fan of songs where the vocals are removed and added as another track. I won’t fault the band for this though as there are thirteen other tracks, which is plenty for a stopgap EP.

For fans of the band, this is a real treat. You get a mix of things new and old, and it was great to compare the old and new versions of the band. It’s the type of EP that has so much to offer it makes you want to buy a physical copy, with the price being justified for some great material. I enjoyed this so much I decided to check out when the band would be touring the USA and found out they will be in my neck of the woods in the Spring. Any release that makes you want to go check out a band live is worthy of your time.

Tracklist:

1. Dance with the Devil
2. The Reaping
3. Sleepwalkers Dream (Re-recorded & Remastered, Vocals by Diana Leah)
4. The Cold (Live)
5. Burning Bridges (Live)
6. The Quest and the Curse (Live)
7. April Rain (Live)
8. Invidia (Live)
9. Queen of Shadow (Live)
10. Your Body is a Battleground (Live)
11. A Moth to a Flame (Live)
12. Control the Storm (Live)
13. Dance with the Devil (Instrumental Version)
14. The Reaping (Instrumental Version)
15. Underland (Alternate Ending)

Delain Live 2024/25
 
Dark Waters Over UK/IE 2024
15.11.24 UK – Glasgow / Garage
16.11.24 UK – Wolverhampton / KK’s Steel Mill
18.11.24 IE – Belfast / Limelight 2
19.11.24 IE – Dublin / Academy
21.11.24 UK – Manchester / New Century
22.11.24 UK – Bristol / SWX
23.11.24 UK – London / Electric Ballroom

24.01.25 NL – Zwolle / Hedon
25.01.25 NL – Nijmegen / Doornroosje

North America Tour
Special Guest: XANDRIA
Support: Edge Of Paradise
07.03.25 US – Phoenix, AZ / The Nile
08.03.25 US – Los Angeles, CA / Whisky a Go Go
09.03.25 US – Sacramento, CA / Goldfield Trading Post
10.09.25 US – Portland, OR / The Bossanova Ballroom
11.03.25 US – Seattle, WA / El Corazon
13.03.25 US – Salt Lake City, UT / Metro Music Hall
14.03.25 US – Denver, CO / The Oriental Theater
15.03.25 US – Lawrence, KS / Bottleneck
16.03.25 US – Joliet, IL / The Forge
17.03.25 US – Detroit, MI / The Token Lounge
19.03.25 US – Columbus, OH / The King of Clubs
20.03.25 CA – Toronto, ON / Axis
21.03.25 CA – Montreal, QC / Fairmount Theatre
22.03.25 US – Cambridge, MA / Middle East
23.03.25 US – New York, NY / The Gramercy Theatre
24.03.25 US – Baltimore, MD / Soundstage
26.03.25 US – Atlanta, GA / Masquerade (Hell)
28.03.25 US – Dallas, TX / Granada Theater
29.03.25 US – Austin, TX / Come and Take It Live

Line-up:

Martijn Westerholt – keyboards
Diana Leah – vocals
Ronald Landa – guitars and backing vocals
Ludovico Cioffi – bass and backing vocals
Sander Zoer – drums

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