April Rain

Before I start this review, let me make one thing clear: I love this album. It is so much fun to listen to.Now, the first I heard of this band was when I heard they were founded by the former keyboardist of Within Temptation. Then I heard this album had Marco Hietala doing some guest vocals on a couple songs. After hearing these things, I was greatly intrigued. After buying the album and listening to them for a good month or so now, I can pretty safely say that they're not really like either band. I'd more closely equate them to a darker version of Visions of Atlantis or Edenbridge, although they still have a unique enough sound to be distiguishable from all the other Symphonic Metal bands.That's probably because they seem to place more emphasis on the "Metal" part of that label than most other bands of the genre. The vocals are your standard-fare alto female combined with various male vocal parts, both growled and sung. They are much heavier than most Symphonic Metal bands and are not shy with the breakdowns (hence the title of this review), and when combined with the epic choir/strings played on the keyboards, it all combines to create some really powerful music. The breakdown in "Go Away" especially lends itself to this point; I could listen to that one part over and over for a long time.Which brings me to my first complaint with the band. It's more of my own personal preference, but I would love it if these songs were longer. I've been inundated with Nightwish and Epica, which makes me really used to an average of six or seven minutes per song. Delain only has one that's over five minutes, and it's the slowest one (not that that's a problem). Again, probably my own preference, but I think they'd do a lot better if they could lengthen some of their songs.My main problem with the music, though, is that it seems to lack maturity or range. Delain seems content with bringing you the adrenaline rush more commonly associated with the heavier sub-genres of metal, without looking to evoke a wider range of emotions. Say what you will about Nightwish's Dark Passion Play, but you can't really deny that it can take you from tension and suspense, to anger, to sadness, and ultimately to triumph. Delain just doesn't do that. They almost perfectly mix heavier metal stylings with symphonic elements to create amazingly powerful music, but it lacks the depth of most Symphonic Metal.That said though, this is still some really great music and is absolutely worth the purchase.

As one grows older, they often grow more cynical about contemporary music. I know I've been there several times in my life, growing up during the musically diverse early 1970s, surviving the disco era, falling asleep amidst a wash of synthpop bands in the '80s, being reinvigorated when alternative rock and grunge appeared, and finding the first decade of the century dominated by soul-less corporate pop.Symphonic metal is something of a breath of fresh, if incense tinged, air. I'd heard some stuff by Nightwish, Coheed and Cambria, and a few others. Interesting, I thought, a lot of it reminiscent of early Rainbow or the Scorpions (and all owing a certain debt of gratitude for Led Zeppelin for writing "Kashmir" . But no recent band has excited me as much as Delain. From the moment I clicked on the amazon.com sample of the song "April Rain" I knew I was listening to something special.Lead vocalist Charlotte Wessels has a fine, sultry voice, brimming with emotion and self-confidence. Keyboard player (and founder) Martijn Westerhold, I feel is up there in ability with the classic ProgRock keyboardists. Guitarist Ronald Landa does a good job at both the genre's signature heavy licks and is a very good soloist. And drummer Sander Zoer truly sets the band apart with a deft hand on the drumsticks.The songwriting is consistently good, with the title track, "Stay Forever", and "I'll Reach You" standing out. Even the "death growl" vocals on "Virtue and Vice" don't diminish the song's quality (and I'll take the growls over the unnaturally implanted rap in found in (too) many current pop songs anyday).This is a band (and a genre) to keep an eye on.

I first heard the single "April Rain" on Pandora and I simply was hooked by a very catchy song. I see reviews disappointed that this album turned out to be more like pop than metal and I harbored that very same fear which is why I hesitated to buy the entire album. I caved in for a long road trip and I'd say it's not what I expected it to be based on my Pandora station criteria, but I found it to be a very enjoyable album. It's somewhere between Evanescence and The Corrs with vocals that reminded me more of Nightwish post Tarja. Not symphonic metal when compared to bands like Nightwish or Within Temptation but I didn't care. Lots of good tracks on it if you find yourself enjoying a sound described as above. Of course, the title track is one of the catchiest, but I really liked "I'll Reach You", "Lost", "Invidia" and "Vice & Virtue." The lyrics are not on the mystical side of a lot of symphonic metal I've heard but more about human emotions and relationships which I like just as well. The rest of the album is pretty good, but the above are the most notable.

Not my usual cup of tea, but I do like a few of the songs on this CD. It is more accessible than a lot of the, "Opera singers in front of a wall of chunky guitars and soundscapes". Personally, I find a lot of this stuff boring and pointless. It is amazing what you can do with a computer and "samples" from orchestras. This does not always lead to good songs. OR good music (I try not to confuse good music with well recorded music). To often, the opera singer seems laid over the bed of pre-recorded music with NO interaction with what is going on back there. This CD almost convinces me that the singer was standing around when the music was being put together and made suggestions about accents and such. I could be wrong and it was just presented to her with a lyric sheet. But there were some good songs on this CD.

I love April Rain.The rest of the album was pleasantly enjoyable

Just by chance I heard a track called April Rain on a radio station by a band called Delain. I thought this sounds pretty decent so I ordered the album. The album arrived and From the first play I just thought wow!Some fantastic tunes on this one, Virtue & Vice and Nothing Left are my favourites at present but this is a top band.If you like bands such as Evanescence, Within Temptation you will probably enjoy Delain.I loved April Rain so much I ordered 5 other Delain albums so I highly recommend this band.

Bought the "standard" CD back in 2011 -Review Below! A year on, heard "Come Closer" track and HAD to get ,tried to download:* Amazon UK ,they dont have , nor did anyone else in UK* Amazon USA , they DO have, but cant/wont download to UK (legal stuff I guess), still at least I learned it was a bonus track on a version of April Rain:S0.....IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY BOUGHT,LOOK OUT FOR A "DIGIPAK" OR "LTD EDN" VERSION ,EXPAND THE IMAGE & MAKE SURE IT INCLUDES "COME CLOSER"...MIGHT COST A LIITLE MORE UP FRONT, BUT TRUST ME YOU'LL BE QUIDS IN AS YOU WILL ONLY THEN EVER NEED TO BUY IT ONCE !!(PS "COME CLOSER" IS NOT LISTED AS BEING ON "INTERLUDE" EITHER!)---------------------------Debut album "Lucidity"was about as hard an act to follow as you can get, but "April Rain" does just that and in style that from first track to last. Grows from good to great in first couple of plays and over a year on is still a real "stayer" like very few others, definitely one of my top few albums of the last year or two.A must for any lover of femme metal, the album should appeal widely to fans of bands like Stream of Passion,Leaves Eyes,Kingfisher Sky, Agua de Anneke and not least Within Temptation. Martijn Westerholt as many will know was a WT founder member but had to drop out after falling ill with ME .Which makes his recovery and founding of Delain and its success to date a true "triumph over adversity" like few other bands.Thanks to which also Charlotte Wessels awesome vocals and grest songwriting talents got the lucky break they fully deserved sooner rather than later ...methinks the (Silent) Force was and is clearly with them!So, "Buy now while stocks last" !!!

If you're into gothic symphonic rock and are new to Delain, you'll probably like this. Now a full band, Delain was originally a project started by Martijn Westerholt, brother of Robert from Within Temptation. But if you're already a fan and familiar with the debut CD Lucidity, prepare yourself for a shock.For April Rain Martijn has taken a step back and allowed the other band members to contribute more. The result is something that sounds more like a straightforward rock band and is not as adventurous as Lucidity. Marco from Nightwish is the only guest vocalist this time round although he does a good job on two of the best tracks. Without him I think it would sound a bit dull, surprisingly despite the great vocals of Charlotte Wessels.The only track here that would not sound out of place on Lucidity is the title song. I think it's unfair to compare the two CDs though because of the different approach taken. It's better to judge them on their own merits, and what we have here is a pretty solid rock album which should appeal to fans of the genre. Just treat this as a different band to that which made Lucidity.

I have heard all of Delain's albums and I can say that April Rain is by far one of the best.The album opens with the title track, a bit poppy but rocking nonetheless. Stay Forever follows and this song is probably one of the weaker ones. It is still a good song, just not as gripping (especially after that opener). Invidia (Latin for envious) is next and is a good track to pick up the pace, making way for Control The Storm, one of my favourites. Charlotte and Marco battle during the song, without taking away from the music in the background. One of the absolute highlights!As the album progresses, through On The Other Side, Virtue and Vice and Go Away, I can feel myself getting enjoying the album to its fullest then Start Swimming begins. I think that not many fans would agree with me, but this song is my favourite on the whole album! Starting off slow an nice with an acoustic guitar, with Charlotte delivering her lyrics really well. My personal highlight is towards the end, where the instruments drop out and we just hear a violin playing sweet melody which reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean for some reason. I love it when the symphonic elements of the band shine and this song does it justice. Brilliant from start to finish.I love how Delain round up their albums. I'll Reach You is an amazing metal ballad which I just feel with all my heart, seguing into Nothing Left, another collab with Marco.Overall, April Rain is Delain's some of best work and they have kept up the standard going into their next albums, So good!

This album is of very high quality, the group as a whole pull of a musical feast of heavy rock, orchestral influences, singing a matter of beauty and slow songs with power, passion and panache. Lyrically brilliant and well all I can say is wow! Delain are fast becoming my number one group with The Human Contradiction being my favourite CD with this one following a close 2nd. All I can say is...purchase and enjoy