DELAIN

Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band formed in 2002 by former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt, and Charlotte Wessels. The name of the band comes from the Kingdom of Delain in Stephen King's novel, The Eyes of the Dragon. In 2002, Westerholt formed Delain, after he was forced to leave Within Temptation due to Pfeiffer's disease. In the same year, they independently released the demo Amenity. After the demo, Westerholt temporarily left the project behind but continued to write music.

Xandria is a German symphonic metal band, founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Xandria was started as a project band in 1994 in Bielefeld, Germany by Marco Heubaum, the band's main composer and at the time vocalist, and a friend to play drums, but disbanded in 1997 after recording one demo. The band was restarted with a different line-up in 1999. Marco stepped down from the role of vocalist and was joined by local musician Roland Krueger on bass. In 2000, they recorded one demo that was released on the internet and after its release, current drummer Gerit Lamm joined the band.