Review: Delain, Marble Factory

Britain was slow to catch on to symphonic metal, but by god we’re making up for lost time. Not so long ago, you had to haul ass to London to see occasional shows by Within Temptation and Nightwish. Now those bands are headlining Wembley Arena, and hordes of second-tier acts are heading our way. Leaves’ Eyes play this very venue in a couple of weeks, followed by Epica at the Academy.

The Marble Factory is packed to the rafters by 8pm for what might as well have been billed as a co-headlining show given the enthusiasm for the nominal support band. These days, multi-talented Anneke van Giersbergen is probably best known for her work with crazy ol’ Devin Townsend, though she spent more than a decade fronting increasingly 4AD-influenced Dutch ethereal rockers The Gathering. The Gentle Storm, a project she formed with rarely touring studio whizzkid Arjen Lucassen, sees her firmly back in metal territory.

An equal opportunities sextet with three female musicians, they kick off with the jaunty if somewhat cheesy Heart of Amsterdam, but quickly find their feet with Brightest Light and The Storm. Despite being plucked out of sequence from a concept album that bears all the hallmarks of Lucassen’s convoluted solo oeuvre, these work perfectly well as standalone pieces. No mere backing singer, Mexican soprano Marcela Bovio’s voice meshes superbly with Anneke’s on some stunning duets. She leaves the stage while they disinter a couple of old Gathering songs, but returns for a cover of Devin Townsend’s Fallout and album standout set-closer Shores of India, which sounds a little like a second cousin of Middle Eastern prog-metallers Orphaned Land’s Sapari. Shame they had to rely so heavily on backing tapes for much of their expansive sound, presumably for budgetary reasons. Doubtless this will be rectified when they return to headline.

Founded by former Within Temptation keyboard player Martijn Westerholt and one-time jazz singer Charlotte Wessels, Delain was originally intended as a studio project, but subsequently acquired a life of its own. They haven’t recorded anything since 2014’s The Human Contradiction, so it was unclear what to expect tonight. What we get is a fan-pleasing set drawn more-or-less equally from the band’s five albums, all the way back to Frozen and Silhouette of a Dancer from Lucidity, including plenty of material that they rarely play live. Wessels is on magnificent vocal form, and there’s little sign of first-night nerves as the band begin a lengthy European tour. The Gathering and Get the Devil Out of Me are both crunchy, punchy delights, sounding much heavier than on record. And while it would be untrue to describe Delain as a political or sermonising outfit, Wessels’ increasingly confident lyrics address social themes that are not usually tackled in the genre, The Tragedy of the Commons being a particular highlight. A new song is also premiered. On no account to be confused with Steel Panther’s Turn Out the Lights, Turn the Lights Out marks no fresh departure, but slots in neatly alongside the fan favourites. The encore includes a soaring Stay Forever, before Wessels announces that a girl at the front has a request. This is a pretty calculated move, as there’s one song that every woman in the room wants to hear: the Sophie Lancaster self-empowerment anthem We Are the Others.

Wo(man) of the match, however, was diminutive, permanently grinning Merel Bechtold, who played guitar with both bands and never stopped headbanging. Madam, you out-rocked everybody.