Delain have released "We Are Fire", the first song since the band decided not to replace Diana Leah at all, and it has three singers on it: Fabienne Erni of Eluveitie, Noa Gruman and Paolo Ribaldini.
The wider cast named for this chapter includes Marko Hietala, Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation and Anneke van Giersbergen, with more to come, and the band say several of them will appear on stage as well as on the record.
"We Are Fire is about the inner fire that keeps us moving forward, even when the path ahead is uncertain," Martijn Westerholt said. "To me, it captures the spirit of what Delain is becoming. A place where different voices and personalities can come together, each bringing something unique, while sharing the same fire."
Westerholt founded the band, writes it and plays keyboards, and the core around him is Ludovico Cioffi, Ronald Landa and Sander Zoer. Putting three voices on the first song rather than one is the clearest possible way of saying the vacancy is not a vacancy, and whether an audience that followed a band for its singer will follow a band for its guest list is the question the next album has to answer.