Delany Blaze & Ashes
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
Based on best-selling German author Wolfgang Hohlbein’s new novel, Blaze & Ashes is a Melodic Rock project led by chief songwriter/bassist Volker Leson. The main character in Hohlbein’s work, Delany, is where Leson found this project’s name. While concept albums can walk a precipitous edge between listenable and pretentious, especially when Progressive Metal bands take up the yolk, Delany’s individual songs can be heard and enjoyed apart from the whole of the story. Like Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime, you don’t need to know the tale to enjoy a single track, essential when attempting the “concept album” feat.
Leson is the architect, but he brought on several others to bring Hohlbein’s work to life. One of the most surprising vocalists is Davy Vain, who also helped scribe some of the compositions and produced the release—you just don’t imagine him singing on this type of project. The seemingly omnipresent David Readman (Pink Cream 69, Voodoo Circle, etc.) and Lana Lane comprise this vocal triumvirate, but once it is all said and done, it’s Vain who steals the show.
“Blood and Ashes” is the first page of the story. Mysterious keys open this track, symphonic and melodious, and this leads into Readman’s first contribution. Maybe it is an artistic decision, but Readman’s vocals are not nearly as smooth and accessible as what you’ve heard on his solo work or with Pink Cream 69. It’s meaner, more theatrical, and of course, top-tier. The chorus, “I’ll give you blood, I’ll trade you blood, for ashes,” is a repetitive image that raises your curiosity—what kind of deal is that?
Vain’s first song is “Here Comes Lonely.” You may, and should, remember him from the Hair Metal conjuration known as Vain, but that doesn’t even come close to defining his talent today. If you haven’t heard Vain’s On the Line, that’s a much better representation of his musical skills. “Here Comes Lonely” is a driving, up-tempo rocker with some serious guitar leads from Jamie Scott, and a killer composition all the way around.
Lana Lane’s first track is “Love’s Tears,” a semi-ballad, which you may have expected considering her career thus far. The verses are flowing, soft, buoyed by acoustic guitar and a mellow bass line. The chorus amps things up. The one thing you’ll notice is that Vain and Lane share a similar singing style, especially with the clarity of their enunciation. If you ever liked anything Lane has done before, “Love’s Tears” is just as good as all of them.
Readman comes at you with “Incarnation” and “Web Over London,” and it’s obvious his role is the doom-bringer in the story. While “Love’s Tears” was accessible and melodic, “Incarnation” is droning and aggressive. “Web Over London” features one of the heaviest riffs, although they are somewhat softened by the accompanying keys. “It’s a web of darkness, over London, it’s a web of madness, over London,” are the lyrics to the chorus, foreboding, and Readman sings angry, something you may not recall him using in his vocal arsenal.
If you are not familiar with the story, the way the songs are written may not give you as much insight as you need to understand the journey you are supposed to be taken on. These are short compositions and written as hit songs, varying between 4-5 minutes in length for the most part. In “Planets Turning,” another Vain vehicle, the song culminates in the refrain, “And time waits for no one,” repeated twice. This is important to the story, based on the breakdown, but you’ll have to listen numerous times to figure it all out. Regardless, “Planets Turning” is Vain singing at his most impassioned, with a searing guitar solo and Leson’s bass line pulling the plow. Vain and Leson make a surprisingly adept team.
Lane is up next, with “Shadow On Your Heart.” While always consistent, Lane isn’t as renowned as other vocalists like Pamela Moore. Maybe she was just missing the songwriting element, because “Shadow On Your Heart” is one of the strongest tracks on Blaze & Ashes, eerily melodic and portraying that feeling of being bereft that is nearly indefinable. Vocally, she stuns.
“Distance of Love,” with Vain, is a dreamy, churning track, sultry and sensual, something Vain excels at conveying with his vocal style. Vain actually sings in a lower key for much of the song, instead of his more natural mid-range. The tempo here just pulses, pummels you. It’s a sexual composition, with the drums and bass laying out the cavorting rhythm.
The story ends with “London Bridge,” sung by Readman. You will hear a steady drum beat, keys, and then Readman sings with his now believable theatric delivery; it seems that he embraced and sold this storytelling assignment even more than Lane and Vain. “The world is burning, fate is calling, in this hateful time when evil reigns. The world is burning, Gods are dying, in this fateful night we hope evil will die,” repeats Readman throughout the track. Again, unless you know how the story ends before you hear this song, you don’t learn how the story ends.
Perhaps Blaze & Ashes partially failed in telling the entire story. This isn’t King Diamond’s The Graveyard, a concept album that walks you through the story and basically narrates the journey each step of the way. That doesn’t mean Delany is a failure though; it’s a well thought out project, with talented vocalists, superior songwriting and stellar musicianship across the board. Maybe it’s the listener’s fault for not knowing their German authors to a fuller extent. Regardless, Delany should impress all listeners, and probably surprise some with Davy Vain’s outstanding contributions vocally, with songwriting and production efforts.
Label: Music Buy Mail
Artists:
LANA LANE – Vocals
DAVID READMAN – Vocals
DAVY VAIN – Producer, Songwriter, Vocals
TOMMY RICKARD – Drums
JAMIE SCOTT – Rhythm and Lead Guitars
VOLKER LESON – Songwriter, Bass
DANO BOLAND – Rhythm Guitar
Track listing:
01. Blood And Ashes (voices by: David Readman)
02. Here Comes Lonely (voices by: Davy Vain)
03. Love’s Tears (voices by: Lana Lane)
04. Incarnation (voices by: David Readman)
05. Web Over London (voices by: David Readman)
06. Eternity Is Yours (voices by: Lana Lane)
07. Planets Turning (voices by: Davy Vain)
08. Shadow On Your Heart (voices by: Lana Lane)
09. Distance Of Love (voices by: Davy Vain)
10. Dead Undead (voices by: David Readman)
11. London Bridge (voices by: David Readman)
HRH Rating: 8.1/10