After her departure from Delain in 2021, Charlotte Wessels embarked on a solo journey that revealed her talent as a multifaceted artist. Two pandemic-spanning records nodding to her progressive influences saw her finding her footing not just as a vocalist but as a musician and composer, divorcing the mainstream symphonic siren from her legacy with the Dutch headliners. Where the Tales From Six Feet Under albums featured Charlotte in experimentation mode, The Obsession is probably what Delain fans were hoping for – an auspicious and metallicised spin on her dark fairytale aesthetic.
Performing alongside ex-Delain bandmates Timo Somers, Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije and Joey Marin de Boer, the singer feels at home. At their most potent, Chasing Sunsets and The Exorcism bring big djenty guitars and huge progressive sweeps, reminding us of Vola and Persefone. Likewise, Serpentine sees Charlotte reaching for the stratosphere, starting off with a dark and hypnotic delivery and building up to some mighty soloing by Timo.
Capturing themes of fear, obsession, escapism and depression, The Obsession is as introspective as it is audacious. On the Simone Simons-guesting Dopamine the duo sing about the numbness brought on by SSRI antidepressants, while Praise – a huge gospel banger à la Devin Townsend’s Grace – expresses the need for external validation to feel something.
There’s bittersweet lightness, too. A reimagining of Soft Revolution embeds twinkling electro-beeps and strings in one of Charlotte’s biggest vocal performances. But her songwriting is strongest when it manifests the sweet spot between wistful pop and symphonic shade, and on the climactic, Muse-indebted All You Are she excels. Mystic spin Ode To The West Wind, featuring Alissa White-Gluz, and the hyper-epic, Guilt Machine-esque The Crying Room also deserve praise for their saliency on an album that is certainly not short of exceptional moments.
The Obsession is out September 20 via Napalm.
