Charlotte Wessels, the former Delain vocalist, and her band, now officially called The Obsession, will release their second full-band album, Mute Swan Empire, on February 5, 2027 via Napalm Records. Physical pre-orders are open now.

The 15-track record is a character-driven concept album. Each song inhabits an archetype from the end of the Anthropocene - denial, rage, faith, withdrawal, hope and more - as people respond to climate breakdown, social injustice and the collapse of familiar futures. The title riffs on the swan song myth: what if we don't get a final act of grace? Wessels says the album moves between some of the heaviest music she has made and moments of vulnerability.

Some details: it was produced by Wessels and Joost van den Broek at Sandlane Studios, with Timo Somers contributing to arrangements and playing bass, Elianne Anemaat on cello, and orchestral and keyboard arrangements by Vikram Shankar. Lyrics draw on medieval mystics Hildegard von Bingen and Julian of Norwich, Martin Niemoller's "First They Came For The Communists," and Longfellow's "Bells Of Lynn." The earliest song on the album, "Incantations," first appeared on Wessels' Patreon in March 2024 as part of the monthly song she has released there since 2020.

Tour: The first-ever EU/UK headline run starts February 4, 2027 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium - one day before release - and ends February 27 in Utrecht. Ad Infinitum vocalist Melissa Bonny supports on all dates except Essen. Before that, the band plays Liberation Festival in Sao Paulo (12/12) and El Teatrito in Buenos Aires (12/15).

Pre-order: http://lnk.to/CharlotteWessels-MuteSwanEmpire/napalmrecords
Tickets: https://charlottewessels.nl/tour/