DELERIUM POEM LTD ED DOUBLE ALBUM (NORTH AMERICAN EDITION) NETTWERK RELEASE: NOVEMBER 24, 2000, JUNE 18, 2001 (GERMANY, EUROPEAN EDITION) REVIEW: JANUARY 22, 2001

After a three-year wait, the new album by Delerium is here. And mighty good it is too! This is, of course, if you can tolerate an even more commercial sound than on the last album "Karma".
Almost all the tracks now features vocals by different artists, like Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer, Kirsty Hawkshaw and Matthew Sweet. The track with Sweet, "Daylight", is a masterpiece with an excellent, extremely catchy chorus. Actually a lot of the tracks could be released as singles, and would probably do quite well in the charts. The sound is more mature, and some songs, like "Fallen Icons" and "Underwater" sound a bit like Sarah McLachlan's work, but always with an electronic backdrop. The record trails off a bit in the middle, but comes back stronger. The biggest surprise is the last track, "Among the Ruins". It is a return to the Delerium of old, consisting of mostly ambient soundscapes and bleeps, eventually building a rhythm towards the end.
The overall production is very impressive, as to be expected from Bill Leeb, Chris Peterson and the actual producer, Greg Reely. He has produced almost every Leeb-related record since Front Line Assembly's "Caustic Grip". They now use acoustic guitar on most tracks, as well as real drums and string sections. It seems like a conscious effort to make it big this time, and while "Poem" sounds fresh, you will recognize the style and certain sounds from other Leeb-releases as well.
The original edition also exists as a limited edition with a four-track bonus-CD, which contains two remixes and two unreleased tracks. The new tracks continue in the same vein as the album, and indeed, "Nature's Kingdom II" is a kind of twin to the album track "Nature's Kingdom", but with another singer and different lyrics, whilst musically the same. The remixes are of old tracks, namely "Flowers Become Screens" and the hit "Silence". Both do a good job of updating the tracks for the dancefloor, although I'm a bit biased toward the "Deepsky Remix" of "Flowers Become Screens", as it is somewhat harder.

JOHAN CARLSSON