Former Delain vocalist Charlotte Wessels and her band The Obsession announce Mute Swan Empire, a fifteen-track concept album out February 5, 2027 via Napalm Records, plus a European headline tour with Melissa Bonny of Ad Infinitum in support. Details below.
Pre-order HERE
Get tickets HERE
Mute Swan Empire grew into a character-driven concept album almost by accident. Wessels says: “I didn’t set out to write a concept record from the start.” She also kept it away from tidy messaging: “I didn’t want an album that simply points fingers or offers easy answers.”
The record captures the band at their tightest. Wessels adds: “Despite how varied the record is, I think we’ve never sounded more together like a band.”
Wessels co-produced the album with Joost Van Den Broek, who recorded and mixed it at Sandlane Recording Facilities. Elianne Anemaat adds cello on several tracks, and Vikram Shankar contributes orchestral and additional keyboard arrangements. Timo Somers also covers bass on the recording.
The European headline tour runs through early 2027 with Melissa Bonny of Ad Infinitum in support, including a hometown show in Utrecht on February 27. Dates in Brazil and Argentina are planned for December.
TRACKLIST
- “Incubus”
- “In Leta Via”
- “Tempest”
- “After Us the Flood”
- “Good Girl (If You’re Ready to Die)”
- “The Hermit Song”
- “Emergency Kit”
- “One Day They Will Come for You”
- “Weeping Madonna”
- “This Is Not an Opinion”
- “The Villain”
- “Let the Music Decide”
- “Incantations”
- “Starling”
- “Bells of Lynn”
LINE-UP
Charlotte Wessels, vocals, keys (ex-Delain)
Timo Somers, guitars, backing vocals (ex-Delain)
Joey Marin De Boer, drums
Otto Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oije, bass (live)
Nina Van Beelen, keys, backing vocals
TOUR DATES
European Headline Tour 2027
w/ Melissa Bonny
02/04 – Sint-Niklaas, BE
02/05 – London, UK
02/06 – Glasgow, UK
02/07 – Manchester, UK
02/09 – Paris, FR
02/10 – Zurich, CH
02/12 – Milan, IT
02/13 – Munich, DE
02/14 – Zlin, CZ
02/15 – Vienna, AT
02/17 – Budapest, HU
02/18 – Krakow, PL
02/19 – Leipzig, DE
02/20 – Hamburg, DE
02/21 – Copenhagen, DK
02/23 – Berlin, DE
02/25 – Aschaffenburg, DE
02/26 – Essen, DE (no Melissa Bonny)
02/27 – Utrecht, NL