Soprano Dianne van Giersbergen presented new solo project DIANNE & shared first single

‘After the Storm‘ is the long-awaited first solo single from Dianne van Giersbergen (ex-Xandria; frontwoman of Ex Libris), released under her own name DIANNE. Produced and co-written by sound magician/musician Joost van den Broek (Powerwolf, Epica, Ayreon) as keyboardist. The rest of the musicians are also purely internationally celebrated veterans: Isaac Delahaye (Epica) on guitars, Johan van Stratum (Blind Guardian, Stream of Passion) as bassist, and Koen Herfst (Van den Berg, Armin van Buuren) on drums. DIANNE is symphonic epic metal, it’s power metal and comes with a serving of Dianne‘s characteristic, dramatic opera voice.

‘After the Storm‘ was released on February 14, 2023 – on Valentine’s Day. Dianne:

“I chose this date very conciously to stress that the circle is completed with the last single I released with Xandria in 2017: ‘Queen of Hearts Reborn‘. DIANNE’s debut single is about standing up for yourself and giving up your position as a pawn in someone else’s war. The lyrics are autobiographical and talk about my emotional rollercoaster of anger, betrayal, remorse – but also my foresight of a new dawn and the goal to emerge from this even stronger. A sincere story, captured in a cinematic video (by the Dutch symphonic gothic rock band Blackbriar) that accompanied the release of the single.“

On September 13, 2022, exactly five years after leaving Xandria, Dianne announced her return to symphonic metal with her own solo album ‘Soulward Bound’ – with ‘After The Storm’ as a first single. The album title embodies the drive and dedication that guided her travel to find herself again. To let the album reflect her travel, ‘Soulward Bound’ will be released in a new and unconventional way: spread over 5 years, with 2 singles each year.

Fans of Dianne‘s singing in Xandria – but also fans of bands like Nightwish, Epica and Powerwolf – can get their epic/power/symphonic metal fix with DIANNE.

Dianne van Giersbergen (1985) is a Dutch dramatic soprano, mostly known as the former frontwoman of the German symphonic metal band Xandria with who she toured around the world and released 2 full-lengths and an EP through Napalm Records, ‘Sacrificium‘ (2014), ‘Fire & Ashes‘ (2015) en ‘Theater of Dimensions‘ (2017). Right now, Dianne is the frontwoman of progressive metal band Ex Libris, that she founded in 2004 and has released 3 albums at this point with ‘Amygdala‘ (2008), ‘Medea‘ (2014) ant the most recent third album ‘ANN‘ in 2019.

Dianne also shared a stage with Ayreon during the ‘Into the Electric Castle‘ shows (2019) and can also be heard on Powerwolf‘s ‘The Sacrament of Sin‘ (2018), Ayreon‘s ‘Transitus‘ (2020) and Amorphis‘ ‘Halo‘ (2022).

Dianne had her first singing class at the age of four and started her bachelor Classical Music & Opera at the ArtEZ Conservatorium in 2005. She graduated in 2009 (bachelor) and in 2012 (master) both cum laude.