Tag Archives: sander zoer

Concert Review – Delain (The Axis Club, Toronto, ON, 03/20/2025)

Posted on by
Reply

Three of the best bands of the current Symphonic Rock and Metal scene worldwide beautifully warmed up the city of Toronto on a cold but fun night of first-class music.

OPENING ACTS: Edge of Paradise and Xandria

Despite the cold rain that fell over Toronto during most of the day this Thursday (after a warm and sunny Wednesday, by the way), the turnout at The Axis Club to see EDGE OF PARADISE, XANDRIA and DELAIN during their North American Tour 2025, another excellent event brought to the city by Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment, was amazing, with over 3/4 of the venue taken by metalheads eager for some Symphonic and Melodic Metal, plus of course some of the city’s best metal photographers like Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi. Not only that, now that pretty much all the snow has already melted, the time needed to get in and out of the city, as well as to find a parking spot, has improved considerably, allowing fans to get to the venue in time for all attractions. Doors opening at 6:30pm and the first show starting only at 7:15pm also helped a lot, giving people time to grab some merch and drinks before the shows started.

The first band to hit the stage was Los Angeles, California’s own Hard rock band EDGE OF PARADISE, spearheaded by the beyond stunning frontwoman Margarita Monet. They sounded absolutely amazing live, driving the energy level up and properly prepping all fans for the upcoming attractions. Having just released their sixth album Prophecy, the band played a few new songs as part of their setlist, including Prophecy Unbound, Death Note and Falling Light, and the crowd’s response to their new songs couldn’t have been better. This was not the first time the band played in Toronto, and definitely not the last, as I’m sure Maragarita and the boys will return to the city with their Rock N’ Roll attitude sooner than later, and who knows, maybe next time as headliners of their own tour.

Setlist
Prophecy Unbound
The Other Side of Fear
Hologram
Death Note
Falling Light
Give it to Me (Mind Assassin)
The Unknown

Band members
Margarita Monet – vocals
Dave Bates – lead guitar
David Ruiz – rhythm guitar
Kenny Lockwood – bass
Jamie Moreno – drums

From all three bands playing Thursday night, Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany-based Symphonic Metal act XANDRIA is by far my favorite one, in special after the Greek goddess Ambre Vourvahis joined the band back in 2022, with their 2023 album The Wonders Still Awaiting and their 2024 EP Universal Tales being used as the base for their setlist. Songs like You Will Never Be Our God, Reborn and Universal sounded powerful onstage, plus of course the fan-favorite closing song Nightfall, proving they’re more than ready for a headlining spot in Toronto in the near future. As mentioned a few times in other reviews for Xandria, the band’s founder Marco Heubaum nailed it with their new lineup, with Ambre of course being the icing on the cake in their recent “rebirth”, and that translates into sheer admiration, screams and horns high in the air every time they hit the stages of Toronto. The volume of the vocals during the entire night for all three bands, not only for Xandria, was a hit and miss mainly due to their high range, but nothing that would make any of the shows less enjoyable, and of course Ambre killed it as usual for our total delight.

Setlist
You Will Never Be Our God
Reborn
Universal
200 Years
Two Worlds
Live the Tale
Nightfall

Band members
Ambre Vourvahis – vocals
Marco Heubaum – guitars, keyboards, programming, backing vocals
Rob Klawonn – guitars
Tim Schwarz – bass
Dimitrio Gatsios – drums

DELAIN

Diana Leah had big shoes to fill back in 2022 as the replacement of the iconic vocalist Charlotte Wessels for Dutch Symphonic Metal/Rock band DELAIN, but after seeing her live this Thursday in Toronto I must say the Romanian kicks some serious ass and the band was spot-on in choosing her as their new frontwoman. The drumming by Sander Zoer and the grinding riffs and solos by Ronald Landa also sounded fantastic during the entire night, while Diana sounded superb on both new songs like The Reaping and Dance With the Devil, from their new EP Dance With the Devil, and old songs such as April Rain, Not Enough and We Are the Others. The lighting was also on point the entire night for all bands, and in the case of Delain that only made their show even more special for their fans. Just like what happened with Edge of Paradise and Xandria, I’m beyond certain we’ll see Delain again in Canadian lands sooner than later based on the smiles on their own faces and on the faces of all fans at the venue, proving Symphonic Metal indeed has its place in the heart of Torontonian metalheads.

Setlist
The Cold
Suckerpunch
The Reaping
Dance With the Devil
Burning Bridges
Creatures
Sleepwalkers Dream
Stardust
Get the Devil Out of Me
Your Body Is a Battleground
Queen of Shadow
The Gathering
Don’t Let Go
Moth to a Flame
April Rain
Not Enough
We Are the Others

Band members
Diana Leah – lead vocals
Ronald Landa – guitars, harsh vocals
Ludovico Cioffi – bass, harsh vocals
Martijn Westerholt – keyboards, orchestrations
Sander Zoer – drums

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Album Review – Delain / The Human Contradiction (2014)

Posted on by
Reply

Very symphonic, professional and pleasant. That’s the new album from Delain.

Rating4

coverIf the only Heavy Metal band you know from the Netherlands is Within Temptation, and especially if you are a fan of their work, you have to listen to the new album by Dutch Symphonic Metal band Delain, named The Human Contradiction. The band was formed in 2002 by former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt, which explains all the similarities between his current and his former bands, and the gorgeous redhead singer Charlotte Wessels, another good example of how talent and beauty always walk hand in hand in the Netherlands.

Delain might not be that new, but it seems that the quality of their music and overall production has achieved a higher level with The Human Contradiction, with all instruments sounding pretty clear and Charlotte’s voice being very polished and strong. Moreover, if the band has already toured so many different countries with their previous records, I believe this time their music will take them to even further places, which is something they deserve due to all their hard work to produce high quality heavy music.

Talking about each track of the album, we have an excellent beginning with Here Come The Vultures, a 6-minute song (which is a bold move to open an album nowadays, as the attention span of people doesn’t seem to go over 3 minutes) with a beautiful intro by Charlotte Wessels and dark and heavy riffs that work pretty well to warm us up for the rest of the album; and Your Body Is A Battleground, the first track to feature Finnish bassist Marco Hietala (Nightwish), who does a great duet with Charlotte and makes me wonder how good this song will sound live if he joins the band for a few concerts. The lyrics to this song are also an interesting and effective part of it (“Any disorder? / No restriction / Too hard to handle? / No hesitation / For your protection / Just an injection / We’ll write you a letter / The younger, the better”), making the overall result even better.

delainStardust showcases a good duo of drums and keyboards and has an excellent chorus, while My Masquerade, despite its more commercial approach (especially the chorus), is another good song from the album. Then come Tell Me, Mechanist, featuring Dutch musician George Oosthoek (Celestial Season, ex-Orphanage) doing guttural vocals in another great duet with Charlotte; and Sing To Me, another good song with Marco as a guest musician, although not as powerful as the first one.

The last songs of the regular version of the album are Army Of Dolls, an average song with its “80’s dance music” intro, which might sound better live; the beautiful Lullaby, a more gothic track with dense riffs, atmospheric keyboards, and Charlotte kickin’ ass on vocals one more time; and The Tragedy Of The Commons, featuring Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy, ex-The Agonist), a very symphonic track where Alissa’s characteristic guttural vocals add a lot of energy to it.

Although the regular album is relatively short, if you purchase the special edition you’ll put your hands on a lot of excellent extra material, including songs like the beautiful ballad Scarlet, excellent live versions for some of the bands old songs and even of the new My Masquerade, which sounds a lot more powerful live, and unique orchestral versions for two of their new songs. It’s surely the wisest choice if you’re a fan of Delain’s music, or even if you’re just starting to know the band better.

To sum up, The Human Contradiction is a very consistent and pleasant album, perfect for fans of Symphonic Metal with female vocals. And if the band is performing live in your town this year, don’t miss the chance to check them. It’s an awesome choice for taking your boyfriend or girlfriend and enjoying together some good heavy music from a non-arena band, which is something we really need to support nowadays.

Best moments of the album: Here Come The Vultures, Your Body Is A Battleground and Lullaby.

Worst moments of the album: Sing To Me and Army Of Dolls.

Released in 2014 Napalm Records

Track listing
1. Here Come The Vultures 6:05
2. Your Body Is A Battleground (feat. Marco Hietala) 3:49
3. Stardust 3:56
4. My Masquerade 3:43
5. Tell Me, Mechanist (feat. George Oosthoek) 4:51
6. Sing To Me (feat. Marco Hietala) 5:08
7. Army Of Dolls 4:55
8. Lullaby 4:54
9. The Tragedy Of The Commons (feat. Alissa White-Gluz) 4:30

Special Edition bonus tracks
10. Scarlet 4:36
11. Don’t Let Go 3:56
12. My Masquerade (Live) 5:02
13. April Rain (Live) 4:45
14. Go Away (Live) 3:42
15. Sever (Live) 4:54
16. Stay Forever (Live) 4:31
17. Sing To Me (Orchestral Version) 3:41
18. Your Body Is A Battleground (Orchestral Version) 3:20

Band members
Charlotte Wessels – vocals
Martijn Westerholt – keyboards
Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije – bass
Sander Zoer – drums
Timo Somers – guitar

Guest musicians
Marco Hietala – clean male vocals
George Oosthoek – death growls
Alissa White-Gluz – clean female vocals & death growls