Charlotte Wessels and Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz Team Up for “Ode To The West Wind“

With her album coming out this Friday, Dutch singer-songwriter and former Delain vocalist Charlotte Wessels released a new single featuring none other than the vocal dynamo that is Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz. Titled “Ode To The West Wind”, the track is sultry and heavy, but it’s got a dark streak running through the entire thing as well.

With the backing band featuring some of her ex-Delain bandmates Timo Somers, Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije, and Joey Marin de Boer and buoyed by piano work by Sophia Vernikov, The Obsession has enough bite to bring any old Delain fans into the fold.

Wessels said with this being her first full-length solo effort with a full band behind her, she’s excited to have people check out “Ode To The West Wind”.

“I’m thrilled to present the fifth single from The Obsession – and my fifth collaboration with the incomparable Alissa White-Gluz. Many of our songs together are inspired by or based on classic poetry, and ‘Ode to the West Wind’, drawn from Percy Shelley’s poem of the same name, is the latest addition to this thematic journey. Shelley’s poem reflects his admiration for the untamable force of nature and his thoughts on his own legacy. For the music video, we explored humanity’s impact on the natural world (spoiler: it’s not pretty) by reimagining iconic artworks like Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’ and Raphael’s cherubs from the Sistine Madonna, only this time suffused with pollution, wings made of trash, and covered in toxic waste.

“I’m incredibly excited about how this song has evolved through my collaboration with the band and Alissa, I can’t wait to unleash this wall of sound at our upcoming shows, and of course, I can’t wait for you to experience this song in the full context of The Obsession – out in just a few days!”

Wessels’ album The Obsession will be released this Friday via Napalm Records, but you can preorder your copy today.