Diana Leah has left Delain to pursue other things in life, the Dutch band have announced on social media. “While her departure naturally brings a sense of sadness, we look back with great gratitude on everything we have shared together,” the group wrote, adding that they fully respect her decision and that the singer “will always have a place in the Delain family, and the door will always be open to her”.
“We have been reflecting on our future and ultimately chose to embrace a new and exciting creative direction, bringing together a wide range of artists and musical perspectives,” the group said. The band will not be looking for a direct replacement. The core is founder, keyboard player and songwriter Martijn Westerholt, bassist Ludovico Cioffi, guitarist Ronald Landa and drummer Sander Zoer, with a range of guest artists gathering around them. “Different voices, personalities and musical perspectives can now come together around the band, allowing each song and performance to take on its own character,” the group explained. On the forthcoming album each artist will contribute their own voice and musical identity, and many will also join Delain live, in a format that can change from song to song and from gig to gig. The result, according to the band, will be a record that “remains unmistakably Delain while opening the door to an entirely new range of musical possibilities”. “Twenty years after the debut, we are carrying forward the collaborative spirit of the beginnings while taking the idea further than ever before,” they added.
Among the guests on the new record are former Nightwish bassist and vocalist Marko Hietala and Within Temptation singer Sharon den Adel, both of whom appeared on ‘Lucidity’, the band’s debut. “Delain has always been about bringing different musical worlds together. Twenty years ago, ‘Lucidity’ started with that idea. Now, twenty years later, we are taking it further than ever before,” said Westerholt.
‘Lucidity’ was released in September 2006 through Roadrunner Records and was built around collaborators: alongside Hietala and den Adel, it featured Liv Kristine, George Oosthoek, Ariën van Weesenbeek, Ad Sluijter, Guus Eikens and Jan Yrlund. Westerholt formed Delain in 2002, having left Within Temptation in 2001, and relaunched the project in 2005 with singer Charlotte Wessels, with whom he recorded six albums, from ‘Lucidity’ to ‘Apocalypse & Chill’ (2020).
That line-up split in February 2021. Original members Zoer and Landa returned the same year; Cioffi joined in May 2022, and in August the band unveiled Diana Leah with the single ‘The Quest and the Curse’. With her they recorded ‘Dark Waters’, released on 10 February 2023 through Napalm Records, which reached No. 9 in Germany and No. 10 in Switzerland, plus the ‘Dance with the Devil’ EP in November 2024. In March 2025 they toured North America with Xandria and Edge of Paradise, and after two shows in October that year they took a year off the road to write their eighth album.
The first single of this new era is out on 20 October through Napalm Records. In February 2027, Delain are booked for a European tour with Marko Hietala, with Infected Rain in support. The band summed up the change in a few lines: “A new chapter. The same core. Twenty years of Delain. Many voices. One name.”
Delain’s current core
- Martijn Westerholt — keyboards, founder and songwriter
- Ludovico Cioffi — bass
- Ronald Landa — guitar
- Sander Zoer — drums
