1

HERE COME THE VULTURES

I once had an understanding that everything would go my way / But now weve come too far along for me to hold on to my own beliefs / Im not in it for the fun of it but for the pain / Im not at all interested in your temporary fame I just want to see you stare / As I lay my soul bare for you to crush upon with heavy feet / Im in it for the beat // Stranger the faces / Stranger the places / Theyre becoming us / Here come the vultures / Here come the vultures / Heading over us // Its just a black murder of crows / Across the sky / The moon announces that it will soon be night / The light dies down / The spot goes on / As loveless lips / Break into song // I once had an understanding that everything would go my way / But now weve come too far along for me to hold on to my own beliefs / Im not in it for the fun of it but for the pain / Im not at all interested in your temporary fame / And the same old song we sing // Heres to the ghost / We still seem to host / How hes becoming us / Here come the vultures / Here come the vultures / Screaming down at us // They said you can not sing the blues / When youre pretty and young / Let me show you a face that ts to neither one / This heart is black / like blood that has dried / This song is blue / Like bruises bright //

I once had an understanding that everything would go my way / But now weve come too far along for me to hold on to my own beliefs / Im not in it for the fun of it but for the pain / Im not at all interested in your temporary fame / And the same old song we sing // Murder of crows across the sky / The moon announces that it will soon be night / Fog closes in / And all I see All empty eyes / Through silent screams // I once had an understanding that everything would go my way / But now weve come to far along for me to hold on to my own beliefs / Im in it for the beat //

STaRDUST
Dreamscape in a blanket silver-gray / Homesick for a memory washed away / All light in our hollow eyes is stardust, stardust / Once you learn there is no return to lies Heaven cried as we left the earth to die / Homesick for a memory / In silent sleep / Eternally // Bring me to life / Bring me the starlight / Bring me the sun and moon / Release the stars tonight // Far away in a distant memory / There is lush, there is green theres you and me / Now all blood in our hollow hearts is stardust, stardust / Washed away like a face drawn in the sand / At the edge of the sea is how we end / Painful is the memory / We did it to ourselves // Awaken me / Bring back my heartbeat / Bring back the warmth of skin / The world we were living in // Bring me to life [Dreamscape, in silver-gray] / Bring me the starlight [Homesick, all washed away] / Bring me the sun and moon / Release the stars tonight //

YOUR bODY iS a baTTLEGROUnD

Any infection [Imperfection!] / Any aiction [Imperfection!] / Each imperfection [Dont you settle!] / Spread the addiction! [Take some action!] / Any disorder [Imperfection] / Bi-or tri-polar [Imperfection!] / For your protection [Dont you settle!] / Just an injection! [Take some action!] // One bitter pill / Hard to take / And one more each day just to feel the same / And kill the pain Any disorder? / No concentration? / Too hard to handle? No hesitation! / For your protection / Just an injection Well write you a letter / The younger the better! // One for your heart / For your head / One for the monsters under your bed // Your body is a battleground / And chemicals are scattered around / Your body is a battleground / But dont think you can do without / Your body is an industry / Your pain nothing but gain to me / Your body is an industry You cant break free //

MY MaSQUERaDE
Your face, my face / You breathe, I breathe / You fail, I fake / I pray, I pray... / You lose, I lose, / You bruise, I bruise / I hunt, you stay / My prey, My prey // My Masquerade / If youre not afraid / To take a step into my world // A ball, tonight / Cover your eyes / By touch and taste / Well nd our way / Your secrets deep / Yes I will keep / I hunt, you stay / My prey, my prey // My Masquerade / If youre not afraid / To take a step into my world // Take of your mask / And you will see / The freak in you / The freak in me / Tonight we hide / From judging eyes / Well dance until the sunrise //

TELL ME, MECHaniST

Tell me, Mechanist, is it true? / Does none of it bother you? // Once upon a time / Upon a time behind us / The mechanist inclined / Clockworks of time dene us / Who you are, who you are; / Merely springs that tick / The time of things away // The cry from the beast is just the noise / Of a spring that you have touched / Not a human: not a voice // If only we could go back to the start [Tell me, mechanist, is it true?] / We would see were not that far apart [Does none of it bother you?] / Realize the likeness of our hearts / If we could go back to the start // One and the same / Likely to one another / But the mechanist inclined / Merely our kind can suer / Who you are, who you are / Does it justify / Pleasing your palate / With the others blood? // Tell me why, have the writings on the wall / Nor the dawn of DNA, / Changed a single thing at all? // If only we could go back to the start [Tell me, mechanist, is it true?] / We would see were not that far apart [Does none of it bother you?] / Realize the likeness of our hearts / If we could go back to the start // Closing Collision: / The end of our divide / Savor the avor Of our ancestry rites / Closing Collision: / Well realize in time / No opposition / Were genetically entwined //

SinG TO ME
Happy tears fade fast / Sad tears tend to last / Youve got your blood-stained heart / In your nicotine-stained hands / And your twenty-nine years / Did not help you pass / Oh, the roadkill, cheap thrill / Obstacle lled path // White lies, black dress / Brightest of darkness / You close your tearstained eyes / To your silver lined madness / After twenty-nine years / You might want to confess / That we have made / A fucked-up place / That I can not erase // Sing to me // White lies, black heart / tearing us apart / You breathe the frost-lled air / From my lungs to your lungs / After twenty-nine years / How much more to come? / Now, we have made / A fucked-up place / That I can not erase // Sing to me // Happy tears fade fast / sad tears tend to last / Youve got a sad, sad song / And its stuck in your aching head / And your twenty-nine years / Did not teach you that / Changing melodies / will change your destiny at last / Now, we have made / A fucked-up place / Were trying to erase / Erase //

aRMY Of DOLLS
How do you look into the mirror / When youre too tired to fake a smile / Your misery wont make you look thinner / Reality is bitter / Its your hand and yours alone that has opened / the door to let their voices in / Into your head, under your skin / Fix your face or you will never t in // Do you want me, do you want me / To burst your bubble now? / Do you want me, I will break it / Make it loud / Do you want me, do you want me / To break the paradigm / These rules were made by us / They break you up inside // Army of dolls stole your reection / Army of dolls stole all your perfect imperfections / Just shut them out, dont let them in / Into our head / Do you really think / Misery tastes so much sweeter / Served with a perfect smile // Do you want me, do you want me / To burst your bubble now? / Do you want me, I will break it / Make it loud / Do you want me, do you want me / To break the paradigm / These rules were made by us / They break you up inside // Dont you look into the mirror / Army of dolls made you so bitter / Make-up magpul follow the leader / Never have seen a face much sweeter //

10

11

LULLabY
We are sinking this ship now / By midnight hour / How long can you hold your breath? / To the sirens who sing to / the broken hearts / We are humming the same tune // Goodbye my lullaby // Under water reected / ashes of life / Floating up from your lungs, your lips / When you decided to sail to / The other side / You decided to sink too // Goodbye my lullaby // I will miss you //

We are one, and one is all / Through self-destruction we fall / Close your eyes, to darkened skies / Our ignorant demise // To another obsession / Over another possession / Another deal well made / Well I raise my glass / And to the blissful ignoring / That the unclaimable objects / Decide our pitfall or prospect // I know at least I thought, at least I ght / At least I know at least I tried / I know I thought, I know Ill ght / Tonight I kiss the world goodbye // We are one, as one we fall / Our self-destruction of all / Close your eyes, to darkened skies / Our ignorance in demise // This will lead to personal gain / But I wont feel any personal pain / All the global implications in vain / Yes the price is high but so are the stakes / This belongs to all of us so / really this belongs to no one at all / When it comes to owning up to our fall / Better brace yourself for the end of it all //

THE TRaGEDY Of THE COMMOnS

To another commotion / To another disruption / To another explosion / I raise my glass / To another investment / Into the future of wasteland / Well heres to pulling the waistband // But I know at least I thought, at least I ght / At least I know at least I tried / I know I thought, I know Ill ght / Tonight I kiss the world goodbye //

12

GUESTS: ALiSSa WHiTE-GLUZ / MaRCO HiETaLa / GEORGE OOSTHOEK

13

CREDiTS
Vocals: Charlotte Wessels Guitars: Timo Somers Bass Guitars: Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije Keys: Martijn Westerholt Drums: Sander Zoer Marco Hietala: Vocals on Your Body Is A Battleground and Sing To Me Alissa White-Gluz: Grunts and backing vocals on The Tragedy Of The Commons George Oosthoek: Grunts on Tell Me, Mechanist Choirs on The Tragedy Of The Commons by Charlotte Wessels, Georg Neuhauser, Oliver Philipps, Shouts on Here Come The Vultures by pop choir Peppersweet, Male vocals on My Masquerade by Oliver Philipps Additional Guitars: Guus Eikens, Oliver Philipps Additional Drums: Mike Coolen, Ruben Israel // Produced by Martijn Westerholt / Mixed at Studio Fredman by Fredrik Nordstrm and Henrik Udd / Mastered at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen / Drums recorded at Wisseloord Studios and Graveland Studio by Arno Krabman / Rhythm guitars recorded by Ad Sluijter, Christian Moos at Spacelab, Guus Eikens Headquarters / Vocal recordings by Oliver Philipps / Key arrangements by Martijn Westerholt and Oliver Philipps / Orchestra by Mikko P. Mustonen // All music written by Guus Eikens, Charlotte Wessels and Martijn Westerholt / All lyrics written by Charlotte Wessels //

Bonus tracks: Vocals: Charlotte Wessels Guitars: Timo Somers Bass Guitars: Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije Keys: Martijn Westerholt Drums: Sander Zoer Mixed at Spacelab Studio by Christian Moos / Mastered at Eroc Mastering Ranch / Scarlet and Dont Let Go: Music by Guus Eikens, Charlotte Wessels and Martijn Westerholt. Lyrics by Charlotte Wessels. / Live recordings performed by Delain at the My Masquerade concert, 2013, recorded by Andr Zoer. / Live Intro My Masquerade by Oliver Philipps / Orchestra by Mikko P. Mustonen // Photos by Sandra Ludewig / Artwork design by Das Buro //

14

15

Delain thanks: Thomas Caser & Max Riedler at Napalm Records, Henrik & Fredrik atStudio Fredman, Oliver Philipps, Mikko Mustonen, Arno Krabman at Graveland Studio, Moschus at Spacelab studio, Ad Sluijter, Mike Coolen, Ruben Israel, Georg Neuhauser, the enitre Eikens family. Our guests on this album: Alissa White-Gluz, Marco Hietala & George Oosthoek. Leon & Dennis at DasBuro, Sandra Ludewig. Robert, Willem, Ans Korstanje & Fortarock. Octavia E. Butler, Michiel Steenhuis, Tibor Kuijs. Our entire live crew of the past two years: Rik, Laurens, Nick, Evert, Freek, Maarten, Joyce, Matthijs, Britt, Pim. Robert Westerholt, Barend Courbois & Florentijn Bruning, Aristides crew, Nico & AudioBizz Benelux, Kenny & Merchandise For Life, Elisa Flehmer, Philip & Kemper Proler, Roos & Hair Today, Pupa Milano, Wendy van den Bogert-Elberse, Dwars Producties, Eckhard Doll & Steinberg, John Finnberg and FooKing Entertainment, Thomas Kreidner at ICS. Thomas Youngblood, Andre Zoer. //

16

Charlotte thanks: Thijs, my parents and my family for their unconditional love and support. The entire Delain family for sharing these adventures. The Eikens family for welcoming the Tuesday/Thursday night writers their regular invasions. The Gender Studies department at Utrecht University for challenging and inspiring me. Oli, Sandra, all people who have contributed to The Human Contradiction, physically, or in spirit; most notably Octavia E. Butler. And nally, you, for picking up this record and making it possible for us to do what we do. // Timo thanks: Jan Somers, Karin Somers, Roos de Laat. Somers & Zwaans family. Timo, Willem & Alex. Barend Courbois & Florentijn Bruning. Pascal Langenaar, Aristides Poort & the Aristides crew. Everyone at Curt Mangan, Palmer Germany, Spectraex, Taurus, Box of Doom and Latchlake. Hennie Lathouwers. Ruben Israel, Ad Sluijter, Guus Eikens, Evert Matthijsen. Vengeance, Arrow Haze, Atma Anur, Jan van Geerenstein, Guido Aalbers. Delain family. Tonnie the bulldog. // Otto thanks: Sandra (love of my life!), my parents & family for their love and support, Mike, Koen, Matthieu & Detonation, Martijn Kalksma, Sander van de Ven, Evert, Laurens, Nick, Maasje, Ruben, George, Guus, Rik, Maarten, Ernst & Janneke and the rest of the Tub crew, S.I.T. strings, InTuneGP, Radial Eng., Annemieke & Feedback Rotterdam, and the whole Delain family! //

Martijn thanks: Everybody who supported me. My family, My sponsors/Endorsers, and last but not least my bandmates. Thnx everybody! // Sander thanks: Nathan Zoer, Danil Zoer, Linda Aarts, my family and friends, my band mates and the crew. Christian Wenzel & Paiste Cymbals, Thomas Barth & Sonor Drums, Promark Drumsticks, Papen & Bongaerts, Johan Hartman, Arie Bokkema, all my friends and all fans! // Guus thanks: Rosan, Jorg, Luuk & Merijn: for putting up with the spandex man pursuing his musical dreams. Martijn & Charlotte: for the struggle, all the hard work and the continuously rising learning curve. Delain: for the chances, ambitions and Eternal Fame & Glory. IT&S Application Management; Bouke and all my other colleagues: for the blessing of having a job that not only takes, but also gives energy. //

17

18