CHARLOTTE WESSELS

With all due respect to former colleagues, going solo was the smartest move Charlotte Wessels ever made. The gulf between her earlier life as one of symphonic metal's female figureheads, and her current status as one of the most fascinating singer/songwriters in heavy (and not so heavy) music, now seems enormous. Wessels has moved on, she has diversified, and she has blossomed into an artist of great distinction.

Her first two albums ("Tales From Six Feet Under" Volumes 1 and 2) were purposefully and necessarily diverse affairs, culled from the initial rush of ideas that consumed the Dutch singer's creative brain post-departure from DELAIN. From wild pop/metal hybrids to futuristic R'n'B, she nailed everything she attempted, and it became abundantly clear that predicting her next step would be an act of abject foolishness.

The need for predictions is over. "The Obsession" is arguably the first definitive statement that Wessels has made about her music. There are a few links, both stylistically and in terms of production, that tether the new material to everything that has gone before, but it is also very plain that this is where the singer's identity really comes into sharp focus. That is not to say that "The Obsession" lacks its predecessors' diverse remit. In many ways, the sheer amount of ground covered by these 12 songs is equally impressive, but there are red lines of texture and tone running through the whole kaleidoscopic enterprise, gluing it all together and providing Wessels with a vivid and characterful canvas to paint on.

Conjured from a virile blend of modern progressive rock, gothic and symphonic pop-metal and any number of futuristic, art rock conceits, these are songs that deliver their huge hooks with a flourish, while simultaneously ticking a slew of cerebral, left-field boxes. A few moments elegantly embrace the smart, sophisticated side of Charlotte Wessels's symphonic metal heritage, dragging those cherished tropes kicking and screaming into an unknowable future. In particular, "Dopamine" is a magnificent duet with EPICA's Simone Simons, and a potential benchmark for the ongoing modernization of the symphonic scene. When a sweet, melodic verse mutates into a thunderous, twisted riff for the oncoming chorus, it is a genuinely thrilling revelation. Likewise, "Ode To The West Wind" pairs Wessels with ARCH ENEMY's Alissa White-Gluz, and delivers exactly the cutting edge pop-metal punch that fans of both women will be hoping for, but within an ornate maze of sepia-tinted electro-pop and skeletal tech-metal.

When "The Obsession" really hits the bullseye, it does so in ways that nobody saw coming. "The Exorcism" is an extraordinary song: wild, dramatic, and mercilessly heavy, with an esoteric arrangement and an outrageously skillful vocal from Wessels. "The Crying Room" is gently gothic art rock with spine-tingling switches from muted beauty to raging walls of guitars. Best of all, "Praise" is a purely uplifting and immersive as Devin Townsend at his melodious best, but hard-edged and swaggering like all the best shiny arena rock.

Still up to her eyeballs in ideas, but steadily piecing them together for maximum impact, Charlotte Wessels has already outstripped expectations. "The Obsession" makes her greatness a matter of public record.