Artist: Unravel Album: Lion Music Label: InsideOut Music Website: http://www.delphian-metal.nl Reviewer: Paulo André

Track List: 01. Starting to Unravel 02. Creation 03. Sleepless Lullaby 04. Focus on Acid 05. Black & Blue 06. Hidden 07. Undone 08. Air Delphian hails from Holland, a hotbed for female-fronted metal bands (no pun intended there, OK?), and this is how their label presents them: "A metal band with a female singer....another one? But one without a ball dress, “tough” leather clothes, make-up or fake choirs on tape. Just a band with melodic, progressive and honest music that doesn’t need a gimmick to distract your attention from the music." If I wasn't so naïve, I'd probably say they are trying to pick a fight with Within Temptation. Or are they? There really is no leather, there are no fantasy lyrics and from the promo shots, definitely no ball dresses. They're also harder than The Gathering ever got and proggier than Lacuna Coil ever attempted to be. In fact, it's hard to categorize Delphian as they seem to be making up an identity of their own. I haven't had the chance to hear their full length 2005 debut, "Oracle", so I'll have to go on simply from what I've heard here. And here is an album that demands repeated listenings for its joys to start shining through. Opener "Starting to Unravel" does unravel the heavy side of Delphian, with twin rhythm guitars making the proverbial wall of sound with a nice riff to boot. But soon we enter singer Aniek Janssen's flute, contrasting with the brutality of the guitars and double bass drumming. If there's one bit of criticism from me about the flute, is that there should be more of it. It works so well within the context of Delphian's music that I was left wanting more. Aniek lists Jethro Tull as an influence, so no surprises here. Aniek's mid range voice suits the overall sound of the band and sounds original to my ears. She can range from desperate cries of "Go away!" in this song all the way to beautiful soothing ballads in a blink of an eye. And everything in between. She sometimes reminds me of a more agressive Anneke van Giersbergen, former The Gathering singer. "Creation" is another riff oriented heavy song and a point should be made that the drumming, while solid, sometimes errs too much on the simplistic straight-ahead 4/4 rock beat side. Maybe this can be partially blamed on the fact that the band had a single week to record every track, but certainly the band's music would greatly benefit if Roel van Helden (also the drummer for Sun Caged) would add some spice to the proceedings. Proof of that is that softer songs like "Sleepless Lullaby", the slow mid section of "Hidden" and certainly "Air", the last song, are the most interesting cuts on this record. "Air" is also the longest composition on "Unravel", clocking in at a little over 10 minutes, and features guest appearances of Rene Kroon on piano and keyboards as well as Leon Brouwer (The Barstool Philosophers) on vocals. The production is crisp, sometimes just a little bit over the top, but generally this is a very good sounding production with enough punch. Sometimes the whole band lacks intensity, perhaps a trade off for the simplicity and honesty they surely seem to be impressing on their music. The heavy parts sound good but are not particularly innovative and the slower songs are definitely more engaging, at least for me. The potential, however, is right there and if things go right for them in the future, I can see this band becoming one of Holland's top prog metal acts. Just get more flute in there, will ya? Band: Aniek Janssen - vocals/flute Coert Bouten - guitar Marcel Volleberg - guitar Sjoerd Hoeijmakers - bass Roel van Helden - drums