Charismatic Dutch singer/songwriter Charlotte Wessels has set 20 September as the release date for her new album, which will come out through Napalm Records. A striking first single, "The Exorcism", will be released on 16 May.

Wessels' album promises a cohesive exploration of fear and liberation, spellbinding melancholia and dark, catchy elements meeting progressive and heavier soundscapes. Wessels and her band will bring this story to the stage on 4 October at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg.

The former Delain vocalist's earlier solo endeavours, Tales From Six Feet Under (2021) and Tales From Six Feet Under Vol II (2022), have already gained Wessels a remarkable number of devotees, but, for the upcoming release, Wessels is raising the bar significantly. While still writing and producing the songs in her Six Feet Under basement home studio and sharing their first incarnations with her patrons, now she's taking the songs to the next level with a band of her fellow ex-Delain cohorts Timo Somers (guitars, additional arrangements), Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (bass) and Joey Marin de Boer (drums) as well as Sophia Vernikov (piano/Hammond organ), contributing to the new heavier sound. The album, which also features arrangements by Vikram Shankar (Silent Skies, Pain Of Salvation) and cello by Elianne Anemaat, was mixed by Guido Aalbers (Muse, Coldplay, The Gathering) and mastered by Andy VanDette (Porcupine Tree, VOLA, Dream Theater).

Charlotte Wessels states: "This album is significant, for on the one hand, telling such a deeply personal journey - through its unintended theme of fear and obsessive thoughts - and at the same time, representing the joy of finding the song's true forms with everyone involved in the making of this record. There were moments in the studio with the band that truly reminded me of why I love making music in the first place, and I don't think I've ever been as excited about music going out into the world. This is the album I want to re-introduce myself with, and I'm so glad to do it with this amazing team". Link