Delany – Blaze And Ashes (2009)
Soundtracks are pretty standard fare with movies, but a soundtrack to a book…that is a new one on me. Delany’s “Blaze & Ashes” is pretty much that, a concept album based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s continuation of his successful fantasy novels “Chronicle of the Immortal”. Unfortunately, as I was trying to do my research about this series I couldn’t find anything at all about it online, although: I eventually learned that only a few of Wolfgang Hohlbein’s books have been translated into English at all. But even without knowing anything about the characters being portrayed on this album it is still a very interesting listen. There are three primary vocalists on this album each singing for a different character David Readman (Pink Cream 69, Voodoo Circle), Davy Vain (Vain), and Lana Lane (Roswell Six). They are assisted by a cast of well known and respected musicians such as Volker Leson (Wizard), Tortsi Spoof (Leverage), Jamie Scott (Vain), keyboardist Erik Norlander, and drummer Tommy Rickard along with producer extraordinaire Dennis Ward behind the controls. In spite of having such a huge cast of players “Blaze & Ashes” comes across as the work of a well seasoned band with years of playing together behind them.
Judging from the song list David Readman seems to be singing as the main character in the story and the majority his songs are easily the best on the album. Starting out with the opener “Blood & Ashes”, which is a heavy but melodic and haunting song with some superb keyboards by Norlander. Shocked would be an understatement to my reaction of Davy Vain’s “Here Comes Lonely” as I was expecting his work to sound more like they do on his own band’s releases’ and while his voice is very distinctive it the music and the way the song is sang that shocked me the most slow brooding rocker, but the end results are an extremely good song. Lana Lane is a singer I was not familiar with at all, but after hearing her work on this album, especially on her first track “Love Tears” I am now a fan, imagine Ann Wilson singing to some orchestrated goth influenced rock and hopefully you can get the picture. David Readman is back for “Incarnation” and while I wasn’t as impressed with this song as his first one it is still a decent song and he more than makes up for it on the next track “Web Over London” catchy sing along, but with heavy chugging bass and more melodic keyboards from Erik Norlander. Davy Vain’s “Distance of Love” reminds me a lot of Gene Loves Jezebel, not the greatest song on the album but not the worst either
Other noteworthy tracks include Vain’s “Planets Turning”, Lana Lane’s “Shadow on Your Heart” and the phenomenal “Dead Undead” with David Readman back on vocals. If I had been more familiar with the novels of “Chronicle of the Immortal” I think I would have enjoyed “Blaze & Ashes” even more, but even as a stand alone it is still a very worthy album.
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Blood And Ashes (Vocals By: David Readman)
2. Here Comes Lonely (Vocals By: Davy Vain)
3. Love Tears (Vocals By: Lana Lane)
4. Incarnation (Vocals By: David Readman)
5. Web Over London (Vocals By: David Readman)
6. Eternity Is Yours (Vocals By: Lana Lane)
7. Planets Turning (Vocals By: Davy Vain)
8. Shadow On Your Heart (Vocals By: Lana Lane)
9. Distance Of Love (Vocals By: Davy Vain)
10. Dead Undead (Vocals By: David Readman)
11. London Bridge (Vocals By: David Readman)
Delany is:
Davy Vain(vocals)
David Readman (vocals)
Lana Lane (vocals)
Volker Leson (bass)
Jamie Scott (guitar)
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Is this a recomendation?
There is also Sixx A.M.’s CD – The Heroin Diaries.
Oh yeah – forgot to mention… there’s at least one further ‘soundtrack to a book’ of which I’m aware. Actually, it’s for the 10-volume series of books by L. Ron Hubbard: http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Earth-Edgar-Winter/dp/B000008MDZ/. People with visions of “Frankenstein” should avoid it however. Even though there are a couple of decent songs, overall this album (Mission Earth) is not Edgar Winter’s finest work.
You should check out some of Lana Lane’s solo work; she is quite the amazing vocalist. Her cover albums are pretty awesome too.