Symphonic metallers DELAIN will release their new album, The Human Contradiction, in April. In a new interview with Sonic Cathedral webzine, vocalist Charlotte Wessels dives into the importance of regaining artistic control, the fine balance between the personal and the political, choosing awesomeness over the element of surprise, and much more. An excerpt is available below:

Q: The Human Contradiction has three guest vocalists, and all of them are growlers or screamers, although I understand that Alissa White-Gluz (THE AGONIST) will also be doing clean vocals. Was there a conscious decision to go in a heavier direction, or is that just how the record evolved?

A: "It is just how it evolved. I have been think about this because I know We Are The Others… well, I regard it actually as a very heavy record, but maybe that is more in the production than in the songs themselves. I have been thinking that maybe it has to do with the fact that, when we were at Warner, they were kind of pushing us to have a commercial mainstream single and stuff. Our solution was: 'Okay, we’ll make a single version out of one song. We will make sure we like the single version, but we’ll keep the album untouched as it is.' So I did not have a feeling that we were NOT trying to be heavy on our previous album.

But yeah, like you mentioned, there are a lot of things in there which are heavy. It also just has to do with the situations that we find ourselves in. The fact that we have toured for a month with Alissa contributes greatly to the fact that we asked her to sing on this record. People often ask me: 'Would you do something different if you would make that album again?' But I think that an album is also significant for the time and place that you are, as a band, at that moment. A lot of the choices were given by this time and this place that we found ourselves in when making this record, although we always want to have the fattest riffs and the heaviest sounds. Why it is here more heavily than on previous records? Yeah, it could have something to do with the way we went about having all these things back in our own hands, but I also think that a lot of it is just inspiration coming as it comes. Some things don’t even let themselves be steered in a way like that."

Read the full interview at this location.

The Human Contradiction will be released on the following dates:

Germany/Austria/Switzerland - April 4th

UK, Rest of Europe - April 7th

North America - April 8th

The Human Contradiction tracklisting:

'Here Come The Vultures'

'Your Body Is A Battleground'

'Stardust'

'My Masquerade'

'Tell Me, Mechanist'

'Sing To Me'

'Army Of Dolls'

'Lullaby'

'The Tragedy Of The Commons'

Album samples:

'Your Body Is A Battleground' lyric video: