After such a fantastic night last night here at KK’s, it was hard to be honest to drum up some enthusiasm and drag ourselves the thirty odd mile round trip to Wolverhampton for tonight's gig. But we hadn’t seen local band Stone Broken for some time and we were eager to hear the latest Delain set up.
First on tonight though was an act neither of us were familiar with, Damian Wilson (10). He has a huge list of singing credits to his name, mostly within the world of Prog, and is much sort after for his incredible voice (he’s even performed in Les Miserables). Tonight though was a short one man acoustic set to get us warmed up for the main acts, and he did that with the consummate ease of a seasoned performer.
The first thing that struck me was his voice. Big, strong and booming, not like in a Brian Blessed sort of way, more like a Shakespearian actor sort of way. It carried out over the audience effortlessly. At one point he sang without the mic and you could still hear his voice still able to coney a sense of passion, and at times, sorrow. His songs are wonderfully composed and his arrangement of Iron Maidens Evil That Men Do was a triumph. And if that wasn’t enough, he tops it off by being a very funny man with his stories and banter. A very pleasant and unexpected surprise and our spirits were lifted.
Tony’s connection with Stone Broken (9) goes back to their very early days when he worked at Midlands Rocks and he said then that they had the talent and drive to go places. To some extent they have. Three excellent and highly acclaimed albums, numerous high profile tour supports and always in demand for festival appearances have kept them busy for more than a decade now. Tonight sees them in front of a local partisan crowd, their hometown of Walsall is just a few miles down the road, so they were guaranteed a warm welcome.
With those three albums to call on they have plenty of material to pick from and waste no time in kicking off with the title track of their latest album Revelation and begins a set of their most popular hard rocking songs. Stay All Night, Remedy, The Devil You Know are the highlights for me, but every song bounces along, the crowd sing along to every word and the set flows along so fast that the forty minutes or so is over before you know it. They end with the rousing anthem Not Your Enemy, a splendid end to a splendid set.
Tonight’s headliners are Dutch symphonic metallers, Delain (7). A band that began has a cathartic side project for former Within Temptation keyboardist, Martijn Westerholt, but grew into a popular international act that had an adoring army of fans around the world.
In early 2021, long time vocalist Charlotte Wessels decided to part ways with the band and the fans wondered what the future would hold. Westerholt said he would keep the name Delain going and went back to the studio to write new material with the intention of returning back to the more fluid and organic project he originally envisaged. It wasn’t long before he announced he had recruited some former members to join him in this new chapter of Delain and he unveiled a new vocalist in the form of Diana Leah, a relatively unknown singer from Romania previously known for more dance and trance orientated music.
So with a new band and new material, an album was recorded and released, Dark Waters followed by an EP Dance With The Devil. There is a sense of anticipation in the crowd, and roar goes up as the band members take their place on their designated plinths. They open up with the track The Cold taken from Dark Waters and unfortunately, it left me cold. I found Leah’s vocals weak and overwhelmed by the rest of the band. Not sure whether this was a sound issue or what, but it wasn’t a great start.
It picked up a bit with the next track, going deep into the back catalogue with Suckerpunch off the 2016 album Lunar Prelude, followed by The Reaping off the latest EP. This was better, Leah seemed to be getting into her stride, she definitely looked more comfortable with the tracks she’s recorded. The must be an element of knowing what a great singer Wessels was, the proverbial big boots to fill.
It didn’t help that she didn’t really interact with the crowd inbetween songs, guitarist Ronald Landa did most of the talking, but I’m guessing that’s probably down to a language thing rather than any lack of confidence. But the high points were very few and far between, Leah continued to look awkward on stage at times, I’m afraid I really wasn’t warming to her, despite a sudden spark of life and energy with the song Dance With The Devil.
The set finished with their most popular track We Are The Others and this is one of the older tracks that Leah actually seemed to be making her own, the wave of enthusiasm from the crowd must have gave her a boost. I don’t want to sound too harsh, she obviously has a great voice, but I’m not sure whether this is the right fit for her. The rest of the band were on point, faultless and I reserve judgement on Leah, I would like to see them again to see if she can grow into this role, but tonight just wasn’t a great night for me.
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