I have a solution for all fans of The Gathering who miss the days of Mandylion and Nightime Birds-buy this new CD from Poland's Delight. Combining heavy riffs, tons of atmospheric keyboards, and the angelic vocals of Paulina Maslanka, Delight more than serve up some great sounds on their third CD Eternity.
Songs like the crushing "The Hand", or the metal/techno of "Spring Day" will appeal to all fans of gothic metal who like a progressive edge to their music. The guitars of Jaroslaw Barab and Sebastian Wojtowicz are thick and heavy, the rhythm section of bassist Piotr Szymanski and drummer Tomasz Barab is tight and precise, and the symphonic keyboards of the lovely Barbara Lasek adds the right amount of proggy touch to these heavy rock numbers. The real highlight is the soaring vocals of the equally gorgeous Paulina Maslanka. She can really belt it out when needed, or lay down some lush and soothing vocal passages on the mellower songs, like "Requiem" or "The Sun." There is a nice amount of variety here, as the band goes from goth to prog, to all out power/thrash like on the brutal "I Promise" (complete with killer guitar and drum barrages.)
This is a solid and enjoyable release from one of Poland's premier gothic metal bands. With top-notch musicianship, dark but intelligent lyrics, and band members that really sport "the look", Delight should be on the radar screen of every fan of the genre.