Delain - Apocalypse & Chill (2020)

Consistently pushing their sound and delivering excellent releases, today we have Delain’s fifth full-length release “Apocalypse & Chill”. With a very modern concept and image, the band unleashes 13 hyper catchy songs that are full of lush orchestrations and the signature angelic vocals of Charlotte Wessels. If you are a fan of the band, this release will certainly rank among their best, after a small adaptation period.

Opening with style, “One Second” sets a very bombastic and explosive mood. The band’s well oiled machinery seemingly effortlessly crafts one intense and lush opener. As the band experiments with some electronic elements on tracks like “We Had Everything”, “To Live is to Die”, and “Chemical Redemption”, we get a slight modern Within Temptation and Amaranthe edge, but of course with Delain’s brilliant balance of melody and crunchy guitars. While the band hasn’t gone full-on mainstream Pop-ish Metal, this release does hedge them a bit more into that space.

However, do not think the band is fully abandoning their roots, as brilliant tracks like “Vengeance” still remind us of their “April Rain” days. The heavy distorted guitars and in-your-face sound is still more than present on “Let’s Dance” and “Creatures”, allowing for a good dose of headbanging in this release. For fans of the mellower and balladesque side of the genre, “Ghost House Heart” and “The Great Escape” deliver a very dramatic vibe thanks to the lush classical arrangements.

Just before the end of this release, “Legions Of The Lost” is definitely our favorite track with all its Delain-esque explosiveness and glory. Overall, “Apocalypse & Chill” is a bit of a deceiving release as one would expect a lot less from the Alana Rey-esque cover and title. However, as life will teach you, never judge a book by its cover, as the release is quite bombastic and along the lines of the band’s traditional sound with a few improvements/experiments.

Label: Napalm Records

Release: February 7th, 2020

Genre: Symphonic/Melodic Metal

Country: Netherlands