April Rain is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Delain. It was released in the Benelux on 20 March 2009[6] and was released internationally on 30 March 2009 by Roadrunner Records. It was released in Australia on 10 April 2009.
| April Rain | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 20 March 2009 | |||
| Recorded | September – November 2008 | |||
| Studio | Jacob Hansen Studios, Ribe, Denmark, SpaceLab Studios, Grefrath, Germany, Excess Studios, Rotterdam, Netherlands | |||
| Genre | Symphonic metal | |||
| Length | 45:30 | |||
| Label | Roadrunner | |||
| Producer | Martijn Westerholt, Oliver Philipps | |||
| Delain chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from April Rain | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |    [1] |
| AllMusic | [2] |
| Lords of Metal | (94/100)[3] |
| Metal Underground | [4] |
| Rock Sound |   [5] |
History
editMartijn 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 which recorded the album April Rain. While Delain's previous album Lucidity featured many guest appearances, this album has only two: Maria Ahn, cellist from the Ahn Trio and Finnish singer Marko Hietala, who was featured on multiple tracks of Lucidity as well. "Virtue and Vice" is the only song on April Rain containing death growls performed by guitarist Ronald Landa, who also contributes clean vocals on "Invidia".
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 9 February 2009, but in January it was announced that the release was postponed to coincide with foreign release dates.
In February 2009, "April Rain" was revealed to be the first single from this album when it became available for purchase online.[7]
On 13 March 2009, the Dutch website of Roadrunner Records put the entire album up for streaming, only available to residents of the Netherlands.[1][permanent dead link]
In October 2009, "Stay Forever" was announced as the second single from the album.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "April Rain" | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 4:36 |
| 2. | "Stay Forever" | R. Landa, C. Wessels | M. Westerholt, R. Landa | 4:26 |
| 3. | "Invidia" | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 3:47 |
| 4. | "Control the Storm" (featuring Marko Hietala) | C. Wessels | G. Eikens | 4:12 |
| 5. | "On the Other Side" | C. Wessels | G. Eikens | 4:09 |
| 6. | "Virtue and Vice" | R. Landa, C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 3:55 |
| 7. | "Go Away" | G. Eikens, C. Wessels | M. Westerholt, G. Eikens | 3:35 |
| 8. | "Start Swimming" | C. Wessels | R. van der Loo | 5:19 |
| 9. | "Lost" | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 3:23 |
| 10. | "I'll Reach You" | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt, G. Eikens, C. Wessels | 3:29 |
| 11. | "Nothing Left" (featuring Marko Hietala) | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 4:39 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Come Closer" | C. Wessels | M. Westerholt | 4:30 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "No Compliance" (Charlotte only vocals) | M. Westerholt | M. Westerholt | 5:09 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "April Rain" | 4:37 | |
| 2. | "Stay Forever" | 4:27 | |
| 3. | "Invidia" | 3:49 | |
| 4. | "Control the Storm" (featuring Marko Hietala) | 4:14 | |
| 5. | "On the Other Side" | 4:11 | |
| 6. | "Virtue and Vice" | 3:56 | |
| 7. | "Go Away" | 3:38 | |
| 8. | "Start Swimming" | 5:21 | |
| 9. | "Lost" | 3:24 | |
| 10. | "I'll Reach You" | 3:30 | |
| 11. | "Nothing Left" (featuring Marko Hietala) | 4:42 | |
| 12. | "The Gathering" (live) | G. Eikens | 11:50 |
| 13. | "Silhouette of a Dancer" (live) | M. Westerholt, J. Yrlund, C. Wessels | 5:46 |
Personnel
editDelain
- Charlotte Wessels – vocals
- Ronald Landa – guitars, vocals on track 3 and 6, backing vocals
- Martijn Westerholt – keyboards, production
- Rob van der Loo – bass guitar
- Sander Zoer – drums
Additional musicians
- Marko Hietala – vocals on tracks 4 and 11
- Maria Ahn – cello on tracks 5 and 6
- Guus Eikens – guitars on tracks 4, 5, 6 and 8
- Oliver Philipps – guitar on all tracks except 6, orchestrations, production
Production
- Jacob Hansen – engineering, mixing
- Mark Jansen – photography
- Joachim Ehrig – mastering
- Dennis van der Meule – art direction, design
- Hans de Ruiter – art direction, design
Charts
edit| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Alternative Top 30[9] | 1 |
| Dutch Album Top 100[10] | 14 |
| French Albums Chart[11] | 88 |
| Swiss Albums Chart[12] | 91 |
| German Albums Chart[13] | 96 |
| Oricon Japanese Album Chart[14] | 127 |
References
edit- ^ Bowar, Chad. "Delain - 'April Rain'". Heavy Metal. About.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ Raggett, Ned. "Delain - April Rain review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ Arntz, Winston. "Delain - April Rain". Lords of Metal.nl. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain - April Rain (CD)". Metal Underground.com. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ Moorehouse, Giles (24 January 2010). "Delain - April Rain". Rock Sound.tv. Rock Sound. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain Discography". Delain Official Website. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain Discography - Singles". Delain Official Website. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "April Rain (Special Edition)". Play.com. Rakuten. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Dutch Alternative Top 30". Dutch Charts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. 28 March 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain - April Rain (album)". Dutch Charts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain - April Rain (album)". Lescharts.com (in French). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Delain - April Rain". Hitparade.ch (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ "Album - Delain, April Rain". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ ディレインのアルバム売り上げランキング (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 8 April 2014.