April Rain

April Rain
Studio album by Delain
Released March 20, 2009 (2009-03-20)[1]
Recorded Hansen Studios (DK), SpaceLab Studios (DE), Excess Studios (September - November 2008)
Genre Symphonic metal
Gothic metal
Label Roadrunner
Producer Martijn Westerholt, Oliver Philipps
Delain chronology
Lucidity
(2006)		 April Rain
(2009)		 We Are The Others
(2012)
Singles from Stay Forever
  1. "April Rain"
    Released: February 2009
  2. "Stay Forever"
    Released: October 16, 2009
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Rock Sound [2]
Allmusic [3]
Dangerdog [4]
The Metal Crypt [5]
Lords Of Metal [6]
Sonic Cathedral
Kerrang
Mettalum
Progressive Melodies
Altsounds

April Rain is the second full-length album by the Dutch symphonic metal band, Delain. It was released in the Benelux on March 20, 2009 and was released internationally on March 30, 2009 by Roadrunner Records. It was released in Australia on April 10, 2009.

Contents

History

Martijn Westerholt, founder of Delain, originally did not intend Delain to be a live band. But after the success of debut album Lucidity a live band was created. With this band, the album April Rain was recorded.

Demo versions of Stay Forever and Start Swimming were already played live by Delain in 2007 and 2008. In November 2008, a version of the song I'll Reach You with alternate lyrics was performed live on a Dutch TV show to get attention for Unicef & BT's "Inspiring Young Minds" charity.

The original release date for the album was February 9, 2009, but in January it was announced that the release was postponed to coincide with foreign release dates.

In February 2009, April Rain[7] was revealed to be the first single from this album when it became available for purchase online.

On March 13, 2009, the Dutch website of Roadrunner Records put the entire album up for streaming, only available to residents of the Netherlands.[8]

In October 2009, it was announced that the second single from this album would be "Stay Forever".

Tracklisting

On January 22 the band revealed the tracklisting and cover art on their official site.

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "April Rain"   Martijn Westerholt and Charlotte Wessels 4:36
2. "Stay Forever"   Westerholt, Ronald Landa, and Wessels 4:26
3. "Invidia"   Westerholt and Wessels 3:47
4. "Control The Storm" (Featuring Marco Hietala) Guus Eikens and Wessels 4:12
5. "On The Other Side"   Eikens and Wessels 4:09
6. "Virtue And Vice"   Westerholt, Landa, and Wessels 3:55
7. "Go Away"   Westerholt, Eikens, and Wessels 3:35
8. "Start Swimming"   Rob van der Loo and Wessels 5:19
9. "Lost"   Westerholt and Wessels 3:23
10. "I'll Reach You"   Westerholt, Eikens, and Wessels 3:29
11. "Nothing Left" (Featuring Marco Hietala) Westerholt and Wessels 4:39
12. "Come Closer" (American, Digipak, and Japanese Bonus Track) Westerholt and Wessels 4:30
13. "No Compliance" (Charlotte Only Vocals, Japan Bonus Track[9]) Westerholt 5:09

Special MP3 Edition tracklisting[10]

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "April Rain"   Westerholt and Wessels 4:37
2. "Stay Forever"   Westerholt, Landa, and Wessels 4:27
3. "Invidia"   Westerholt and Wessels 3:49
4. "Control The Storm" (Featuring Marco Hietala) Eikens and Wessels 4:14
5. "On The Other Side"   Eikens and Wessels 4:11
6. "Virtue And Vice"   Westerholt, Landa, and Wessels 3:56
7. "Go Away"   Westerholt, Eikens, and Wessels 3:38
8. "Start Swimming"   Van der Loo and Wessels 5:21
9. "Lost"   Westerholt and Wessels 3:24
10. "I'll Reach You"   Westerholt, Eikens, and Wessels 3:30
11. "Nothing Left" (Featuring Marco Hietala) Westerholt and Wessels 4:42
12. "The Gathering" (Live) Eikens 11:50
13. "Silhouette Of A Dancer" (Live) Westerholt, Jan Yrlund, and Wessels 5:46

Personnel

Guests

While Delain's previous album Lucidity contained a lot of guest appearances, this album contains only a few: by Finnish singer Marco Hietala, who was featured on multiple Lucidity tracks as well and by Maria Ahn, cellist from the Ahn Trio. Only one song on April Rain contains death growls, Virtue and Vice. This time the growls are recorded by guitarist Ronald Landa, who also contributes clean vocals on Invidia.

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Dutch Alternative Top 30[11] 1
Dutch Album Top 100[12] 14
Japan[13] 19
France[13] 88
Switzerland[13] 91
Germany[13] 96

References

  1. ^ Delain Online - Discography
  2. ^ Rock Sound review
  3. ^ Raggett, Ned. April Rain at Allmusic
  4. ^ Dangerdog review
  5. ^ The Metal Crypt review
  6. ^ Lords of Metal review
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ [2]
  9. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.jp/release/April+Rain/
  10. ^ Play.com (UK): Delain - April Rain (Special Edition)
  11. ^ Dutch Charts - Alternative Top 30 2009-03-28
  12. ^ Dutch Charts - Delain - April Rain
  13. ^ a b c d Delain Online - April Rain charts through Europe and Japan
Delain
Charlotte Wessels · Martijn Westerholt · Timo Somers · Sander Zoer · Otto van der Oije
Ewout Pieters · Rob van der Loo · Ronald Landa · Ray van Lente · Roy van Enkhuyzen · Frank van der Meijden · Anne Invernizzi · Martijn Willemsen · Tim Kuper

| group1 = Studio albums | list1 = Lucidity  · April Rain  · We Are The Others

| group2 = Singles | list2 = Shattered · Frozen · See Me in Shadow · The Gathering · Stay Forever · April Rain · Smalltown Boy · Nothing Left}}

| group3 = Demo | list3 = Amenity }}