Delain have announced that Diana Leah has left the band, and that no replacement will be hired.
"Rather than looking for a direct replacement for Diana, we have chosen to embrace collaboration on a much broader scale," the band said in a statement. "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 next album is to be sung by a changing cast of guests, and many of them are to appear on stage as well.
That is a structural decision rather than a casting one. Delain have had three lead singers and the band's identity has been bound to that voice each time, so turning the position into a rotating one changes what the band is, not just who is in it. Martijn Westerholt, the founder and songwriter, stays at the centre, with Ludovico Cioffi, Ronald Landa and Sander Zoer as the core.
The statement puts the timing against the twentieth anniversary of Lucidity, the debut, which was itself made by a rotating list of guest singers before the band had a settled line-up. The band say the door stays open for Diana Leah.