Concert Reveiw: Delain at Concord Hall in Chicago April 28, 2017 Photos and words by Danny Nichols

Delain is a Dutch Symphonic Metal in the style of Nightwish.  Even thought Delain had already become a force in Europe and garnered significant attention in the United States, I was unfamiliar with them a year ago, when my wife recommended I give them a listen.  Soon after their fifth album Moonbathers appeared in my inbox and they announced a North American tour with my favorite band HammerFall.   Clearly the universe was pointing me in the direction of Delain.  I wish the universe had not waited so long to introduce me to this amazing band.

Charlotte Wessels

I was surprised by the number and the dedication of the Delain fans.  This first thing I noticed as I approached the venue, after an epic battle with Chicago traffic, was the many Delain t-shirts donned by queuing metalheads.  A few brief conversations revealed many were not casual fans either, but enthusiastic and knowledgeable followers as excited to see their the Delain set as I was for HammerFall.  Their status as co-headliners was well deserved.

Why HammerFall Is The Greatest Band In The World: Photos and review of their show at Concord Music Hall in Chicago, April 28, 2017 by Danny Nichols

On November 27, 2002, I had tickets to see Dio perform at Pop's in Sauget, Illinois.  The opening band was a leather clad power metal outfit from Sweden called HammerFall, which was heretofore unknown to me, or most of America at the time. 

Album Review: "Moonbathers" by Delain

Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band which takes its name from a fictitious kingdom featured in my favorite Steven King novel.  They are highly regarded throughout Europe, have released five full length albums and two EPs, all but one of which have charted in several countries.  They also play amazing heavy music which fits neatly into the wheelhouse of what I want to hear.  Yet, until they announced a North American tour with my favorite band Hammerfall, they had almost completely escaped my attention.

This is a fine example of why I find it so frustrating when someone declares there is no good music coming out, or decrying the death of rock.  I try to keep up with new music, and by virtue of reviewing albums for this website, am daily bludgeoned with access to much of the best new metal. Yet, I still regularly miss some of the finest bands.  The problem is quite opposite of the rumors of rock's death, there is so much quality material, some of it gets lost in the shuffle.

Sill, this is only part of the problem.  The other part is I live in the United States, where symphonic metal seems to be tragically unappreciated.  I have a few theories on why this might be so, but I am not sure any of them are valid or supportable enough to see print.  Whatever the reason, it seems Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Evanescence (whom I consider to be close enough to symphonic metal to bear mention here) are the only of these acts to have garnered significant attention stateside.