Martijn Westerholt

Martijn Westerholt — Dutch keyboardist and composer — is the founder of Delain and the principal author of its work. His path has a concrete turning point. Westerholt was Within Temptation's keyboardist in the band's early phase, including the album Mother Earth (2000), which carried the group internationally. He had to step away for health reasons — chronic mononucleosis — and on recovering, rather than resuming his former position, he put together a project of his own. Delain was born in 2002 in that context, and the difference from Within Temptation is clear: less orchestration, more guitar weight and more direct song structures, with choruses built to work immediately. It is symphonic metal with rock logic, not orchestral logic. Westerholt writes, arranges and steers the band's direction, which has gone through line-up changes — including singer Charlotte Wessels's departure in 2021 — while keeping authorial continuity. It is a case in which a group's identity rests on the composer rather than on the performer who appears on the cover.