Delany
Blaze And Ashes

April 2010
Released: 2009, Music Buy Mail
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: JP

This is kind of an odd mish-mash project. Delany is a side project of Volker Leson of the German True metal act Wizard. In my experience often a side-project is just one guy in a band who is pissed off that his songs keep getting rejected by the rest of the band and the resulting product is a sub-standard version of the original band. I’m very pleased to report that this is NOT the case with Delany. BLAZE AND ASHES sounds nothing like Wizard and really does seem to be a true expression of the more introspective and melodic compositional talents of Leson.



Volker has brought some mega-talent along for the ride specifically a number of vocalists including David Readman, Lana Lane and oddly enough Davy Vain, of Vain. I say oddly because this seems like a very European project and Vain is the black sheep for sure. Each vocalist handles three or four songs giving the album a scattered feel because every song has a new sounding voice behind it. This is less of ‘band’ and more a collection of songs, which is fine by me though.



In terms of songs there is a quite a bit of diversity on the album. The opener is a fast, heavy title track with Readman on the microphone, and than they switch gears into a rare, glammy cover tune, called ‘Here Comes Lonely’ from Davy Vain’s band, Vain and then switch again into a symphonic semi-ballad sung by (you guessed it) Lana Lane! The first time I heard this was in the car and I actually had to stop and look at the credits to see if there was a problem in sequencing or manufacturing, because it was like three different songs by three different bands in a row. But no..it’s just Delany. Aside from the virtual inconsistency in delivery, everything on this varied album is really, really good, almost like a collection of excellent singles.



The production is great and the songs really are very diverse. All the vocalists are in fine form and play their role accordingly. Another Vain connection is that the bassist and guitarist are also in Vain. The keyboards are competently handled by Erik Norlander, long-time partner of Lane. The songs overall fit the style of the respective vocalist but all have a slightly darker feel, than the uptempo fist-in-the-air pounding of Wizard. Delany is Metal no doubt but more progressive, restrained and sophisticated. I really hope Leson writes and records some more material as this collection of songs was very enjoyable.