Entertainment
Andrew’s Judgmental Album Reviews: Delain – Dark Waters (2023)
Delain has a new lineup, and the JAR doesn’t hit too much Symphonic Metal. So lets see how this fairs in judgment!

So a little set up for this one, since I’ve been aware of the band for years. We have here, a Symphonic Metal Band in a similar vein to Within Temptation, Amaranthe, Nightwish, and that general sound. However, my general disinterest was because they cropped up at a time when there were a ton of female fronted Symphonic Metal bands. So early 00s being a saturation of a certain sound; this band never really stood out to me.
Then in 2021 they broke up for like 5 months, and the founding keyboardist rebuilt the lineup. We have a mixture of new and old faces on this album, a new singer and yes, the most recent single Moth to a Flame; intrigued me, if for no other reason then what the chord progression of the chorus sounds like.
Now you’re caught up enough, the band has been around nearly 20 years in some iteration, if you like Epica, you probably won’t hate this. So lets do the band intro and get to the review!
Delain is: Martjin Westerholt (Keyboards), Sander Zoer (Drums), Ludovico Cioffi (Backing Vocals, Bass, Harsh Vocals), Ronald Landa (Guitar, Harsh Vocals), Diana Leah (Lead Vocals)
- Artist: Delain
- Album: Dark Waters (2023)
- Label: Napalm Records
- Total Track Time: 48:00
Hideaway Paradise is definitely on the nose with the title. Musically its a little too mid tempo for my personal liking as an opening song; but it does have a nice victorious vibe and feeling within the arrangement. While the lyrics are open enough to the severity of the separation and feeling of being on the edge, the hiding away from your problems concept is valid and comes across clearly. “Feel the distance grow, Between two hearts that lose touch in the crowd, The storm is bearing down, Whispered echoes call me down” – again severity is a little murky, but the overall uplifting instrumentation takes a song that could be depression encapsulated and leaves it feeling hopeful. The Quest and The Curse is one of those song that contrasts the clean female vocal with the harsh male vocal for effect the concept of struggling to find ‘their Neverland’. But with the choir breakdown and the orchestral influences trills and flairs; the song comes off more like poor man’s Planet Hell. Reductive, sure, but I can’t find myself not sticking on that song comparison. Beneath (feat Paolo Ribaldini) is honestly a very rhythm/groove driven song and its either about drowning or some underwater/sinking imagery for confronting things far beneath. While sometimes I like vague lyrics, these are a little too vague. The sounds cool, and its definitely a solid single, but any depth the lyrics could’ve added feels like they missed the mark a little.
Mirror of Night has an almost Castlevania vibe with the prominent drum drive and a haunting symphony that compliments lyrics that are actually pretty clever. Mirror of Night gets across the imagery of night time bringing in constant thoughts be it reliving regretful actions that you replay or just the mind racing a million miles an hour concept. The haunting arrangement definitely helps get across that concept of night time lucid dream level of not being able to shake thoughts. Tainted Hearts is…uninspired. It just kinda stays in a boring and ethereal tempo until the chorus, and that doesn’t really excite the palate. Its really just empty calories, every generic symphonic song ever. The Cold opens like more of a wartime vibe. Lyrically this song sounds like Within Temptation and H.I.M. had a baby; and I’m not sure how I feel about it. While not objectively a bad song, it does the same thing for me as the last song, nothing. Toward the end is a bit of an orchestral breakdown, but this fails to evoke anything from me beyond the desire to get more coffee to stay awake.
Moth to a Flame is a song that at the start, all I can say is, ‘Yes, I can’t unhear Cascada Everytime We Touch either’. Lyrically its all about someone who’s drawn to someone else like a moth to a flame. Musically it is very pop oriented, like Amaranthe levels of pop music. Its still catchy and not terrible, but if Pop music makes you cringe…avoid this one. Queen of Shadow at least does what the title implies, bringing a darker and heavier tonal shift. This song also does a lot of different things for the album, there’s a great guitar and keyboard harmony and the chorus uses clean male gang vocals reminding me a little bit of Avantasia. So the song sets itself apart as unique and interesting, so we’re building well to the end of the album. Invictus (feat Marko Hietala) just off who’s on the feature I’m excited. Marko is the most well known Bassist and Male Vocalist for Nightwish, also rose to prominence with Tarot. So I’m immediately intrigued because the song is mid tempo, but I love the layered vocal effect they do with Diana and Marko. Its not really backing vocals, its choral part work that gets layered very nicely onto each other. I’m not really paying attention to the lyrics as caught up in the arrangement and musical choices they made for this. Oh Marko does get some solo singing with the bridges. Given that last year he officially retired from full activity and only agreed to finish out promises and do a few special one offs; I’m going to value the Marko content we get in the coming years. Underland has a nice menacing color to the music, and the lyrics being a Underworld hellscape of Wonderland (like the Alice in variety), it makes the song interesting. Dark and looming the song at least ends the album in a more ‘heavy’ vein, but it leaves a little to be desired still.
So I feel like the Disney/fairy tale lyrical content and some arrangements that harken back a little too closely to Nightwish may hurt the general appeal. While none of the music was inherently bad, a lot of it was boring, far too much mid tempo and felt like it turned further into the pop elements than symphonic. Now that’s not to discredit the songs that were pretty damn good. Just the album felt more average with a few standouts.
Much like the Annette years with Nightwish, it may take more than the first album to really click. Invictus, Moth to a Flame, Mirror of Night and Queen of Shadow are gems for different reasons. Not a complete mess, but not as far above average as I was hoping for.
Final Judgment: 6/10
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
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Prepare for the most electrifying even of the HPW calendar!
While the stage is set for Blood & Thunder 4 and the HPW World Trios Championships, HPW must also address the return of KAGE!
Thundra Plateau is ready.
Wrestling is Life, but life has its stormy weather. The rain is going to be hot in June, but will the reign continue through the Summer? The Dark Forces may have failed to take the Undisputed Triforce World Championship from Zelda, but they still have the World Trios Championships. Harlequin, Lupay & Glutko will step inside the double ring, double cage to defend their gold. On one side, Arrow Club’s special combination of Fin Balure, Torbevito & Bad Croc Scaly. On the other, a new combination of its own in Cia, Lana & Midna.
Speaking of Cia, Lana & Midna…
The three of them are together, dressed in workout attire, in what appears to be a dance studio. This is a collaboration stream for Midna and Lana as they’re both big presences on the internet, aka “influencers.” Lana and Midna wave and say hi, and they give introductions, including Cia, who is reluctant to be standing there. Cia doesn’t know why they need to do this. Lana says they have to improve their teamwork. They may have won against Los Taros Locos, but it was really sketchy there for a second. Midna adds that doing a dance routine together is great for their timing and coordination.
Cia says she didn’t mean that, she meant having to stream it! Oh, well obviously, combining Midna’s viewing audience with Lana’s, and HPW’s overall, this makes huge numbers! So? And huge money…! Cia raises her eyebrow and says, “Oh really?” The trio sets up, and Lana says obviously they first have to learn the steps. Midna brings up, “Wait, what song are we dancing to?” Oh, good point. Lana was thinking something from Lulu. Cia asks, “Lulu? From the Indigo-Go’s?” Midna says Lulu’s got a great solo album. Lana agrees! That’s so great that they like the same music. Cia isn’t as familiar with her solo stuff, so she’ll rely on them for this.
Lana suggests they go with Energetic Me. For one, it has the most energy, duh. And it still has a dance vibe, which is the whole point. Midna says she might’ve gone with Royal Discotheque or Ten Outta Ten, but she sees Lana’s point. Lana shows them the dance moves she has in mind. Left arm up, bent at the elbow, and the hand up against the side of the chest. Then they switch so the right arm goes up to mirror that position while the left hand goes back to the hip. Maybe add a little hip pop as that happens. Do that a couple times, and then turn to the right. This puts the left hand on the back of the hip, right hand on the back of the neck for a sexy pose.
Then you turn to flip it the other way, then do a 360 with a big neck whipping, hair flipping move. Then finish with feet apart and double V’s up by the eyes, maybe with a wink. Cia says, “Yeah, okay…” while Midna says, “I like it!” Midna says she’ll set up in the middle. Cia asks why Midna is in the middle, and Midna says it’s symmetry. She’s the tallest, Cia and Lana are about the same, it makes sense. Yeah, but it also means Midna is the center of attention. Well, that’s just coincidental. Lana says it doesn’t matter, the point is them doing it all in synch. Cia sighs and says, “Fine.” Midna is in the middle, Cia is on her right, and the music plays.
Left arm, right arm, left arm, right arm, pose to the right, pose to the left, 360 spin and neck whip, then double V. Midna nailed it, but Cia was lagging. Cia defends she was not, but Lana says it’s alright, they’ll just keep trying. They run through it a couple more times, they do tighten it up, and all three feel really good about how that went.
The Dark Forces are watching.
They aren’t impressed by the “little dance party.” Harlequin says the Faces of Evil are way better anyway. Especially with the classics like the Thriller dance and Macarena. Zant says, “The Macarena? Pfft, and people think I’m a dork…” Harlequin says, “Don’t you dare mock the Macarena!” Harlequin changes tabs on the computer and starts playing the song! After the introduction, he lifts his right arm up flat, then his left. Then he turns the right hand up, the left hand up, puts his right hand on his left shoulder, left hand on right shoulder, then moves right hand up behind his head, and then his left.
Now his arms crisscross, right hand on left hip and left hand on right hip, to then switch so right hand on right hip and left hand on left hip. And of course, he swivels his hips in one big circle to go with “HEY~ Macarena! AIGHT!” Zant rolls his eyes while Harlequin keeps going, jumping 90 degrees to his left. Ganon walks in, Ghirahim following behind, and he tells Harlequin to “turn that crap off.” Harlequin pouts but he does as told. Ganon seethes as he takes a seat in his big arm chair. “Needless to say… Wrestling is Life didn’t go how I’d hoped. What was Kage even doing there?! Did either of you have any idea he was going to betray us?!”
Zant and Ghirahim are a bit flustered. Zant isn’t even sure Kage was part of The Dark Forces at the time Ganon took ownership. He’d kinda gone rogue at some point, didn’t he? Ghirahim agrees, it didn’t seem like he was even aligned with Cia and the others. All the more reason for Kage to keep his nose out of Ganon’s business! If Kage cared about the Dark Forces, then he would’ve helped them fight back at HyruleMania, or any time since. Kage clearly just wants the title, same as Ganon, so he’s a dead man walking. Speaking of that… Where’s Kevin? He came back in April, why isn’t he here?
Somewhere dark and spooky…
Heavy footsteps can be heard echoing as Kevin Gibdo moves down the hallway. He speaks with a low, airy voice, “Majora… Your madness… spread like wildfire… You thought by setting me ablaze… I would crumble into ash… You were wrong! Instead, I have been purified…! Purged of flaws and weaknesses… I now come forth… as gold!” There’s a light at the end of the hall, and Kevin enters a grand hall, with treasure gleaming in the light. At the center is the sarcophagus. Kevin walks up to it, opens it, and then his burnt and tattered bandages fall away before he steps inside. The sarcophagus closes, then the eyes on it begin to glow… Then the entire thing glows!
The glowing becomes a shining light, and that shining becomes so bright that nothing can be seen. It is clear things between Kevin and Majora are not over. Will the Masked Monster even stand a chance once the Gibdo of All Gibdos is restored to full strength?
Back to the Dark Forces…
Shabonne says, “I’m sure Kevin is just fine doing whatever Gibdos do on their time off.” Tali says, “What matters is what I’m about to do to that tiny little weasel with the Goddess Championship. If The Dark Forces is gonna have all the gold, then I need to squash her like a bug and take that title off of whatever’s left!” Ganon nods and says he likes the initiative. Tali will start on her own Triple Crown as the Dark Forces will make Hyrule Pro-Wrestling their kingdom! The group cheers while raising a toast! And then Harlequin gets Glutko and Lupay to join in on the Macarena, to which Ganon groans and facepalms.
And so, the ThunderStruck card is set!
The double ring, double cage will rattle with Blood & Thunder as the HPW World Trios Championships are on the line! The Gerudo Ace looks to settle a grudge with the Hero’s Shadow! And now, the Million Rupee Championship and HPW Goddess Championships will also be on the line! Will the Dark Forces absolutely dominate the Summer? Be ready to endure the heat on Friday, June 20th!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Bandwagon Nerds
Bandwagon Nerds #287: Filling A Void
The Nerds review Thunderbolts*, check out the latest trailers, and celebrate Star Wars Day as only they can!

The Bandwagon is stripped down this week as Dave and PC Tunney helm the ship for a big week in the Nerdosphere. Naturally, we are covering Thunderbolts as Dave, Tunney (and the rest of the Bandwagon, for that matter) all saw the latest entry into the MCU. What was the consensus, and did the longest post-credit scene in MCU history push the Universe in the right direction? In other MCU News, we discovered why Hawkeye had no second season. From there, the guys head into the Trailer Park to look at the latest, including a sizzle reel for Netflix’s TUDUM event, Dwayne “The Rock ” Johnson’s latest movie, The Smashing Machine, and a very creepy look at Weapons. GTA 6 got delayed, again….but could that be a blessing in disguise? But this Episode was recorded on Star Wars Day, and to commemorate the event, Dave tries his best to convince Tunney to watch Andor, while Tunney tells Dave what he likes most about one of the most successful franchises of all time. All that, plus Dave tells you why The Last of Us is the best show anywhere on TV. Dave & Tunney cover a lot of ground in an action-packed episode of BWN, so make sure you tune in!
- @AttitudeAgg
- @WrestlngRealist
- @itsReyCash
- @PCTunney
- @itsmedpp
- @ViolentAesop
- @TheMindlessPod
- @therealcplatt
- @ChairshotMedia
- @BandwagonNerds
PROWRESTLINGTEES.COM/TheChairshot – Makes a GREAT GIFT!!!
About Bandwagon Nerds
Join Patrick O’Dowd, David Ungar, PC Tunney, Rey Cash, and DPP as they keep everyone up on all things nerd and maybe add some new nerds along the way. It’s the Bandwagon Nerds Podcast!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – 4 Corners Podcast (sports)
WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY – POD is WAR
FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
http://TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Chairshot Radio Network
Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts… Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!