February 9th will see the release of "April Rain", the eagerly awaited new album from Dutch metal band Delain. "April Rain" follows the successful 2006 debut "Lucidity", which sky-rocketed the career of the band in their home country of The Netherlands. "The new album "April Rain" is a real group effort, that's what we're most proud of" says Martijn Westerholt, keyboard player and composer for Delain.

Delain has been Westerholt's project from the start and the debut "Lucidity" was recorded with a star studded cast of musical friends. Westerholt: "The album was never meant to be played live, but the demand was strong, so we eventually got a live band together. That's the band we've recorded "April Rain" with. Compared to "Lucidity", I'd say that this album musically is more coherent and consistent because of the fact that it was recorded all the way through by the same musicians. Production wise this album has more of a metal feel to it, as opposed to the more 'poppy' production of "Lucidity". Also the songs tend to be a bit faster. Less 'doomy' than on our debut. That said, that album was never intended to be played live and when performing we all felt that these kind of songs were missing in our repertoire. We can't wait to go out and play these new songs on stage! Another big difference is that there are almost no guest appearances on this album. There's only Nightwish vocalist Marco Hietala, whom we also worked with on "Lucidity", providing guest vocals on the song "Control The Storm"."

Currently Delain is in the studio working on the final details of "April Rain", which will be mixed and mastered soon after. The rest of 2008 and early 2009 will be used to go on tour again. First up is a tour through Germany in December. Then on February 5th the album will be launched in Amsterdam at a special event at the Melkweg venue before hitting the stores on February 9th. Westerholt adds: "And after that we'll tour Europe with Kamelot and do multiple headline shows throughout Europe. I'd never intended Delain to be a real touring band? but now that we've become one, I'm definitely enjoying it to the fullest. We're looking forward to seeing our fans again real soon!"

Source:	delain.nl
Band profile:	Delain