Every rock album that I'm familiar with has a ballad or two in there, and "On the Other Side" is a rock ballad on Delain's sophomore album, April Rain. It's more on the "rock" end than "ballad" end, though.
Anyone familiar with Delain's first album (Lucidity) probably knows that Delain isn't a band, strictly speaking; it's a music project.
That is, it was a music project. It did well enough that it's become a band. The singer Charlotte Wessels remains, as does the guy who started the entire project (former Within Temptation member Martijn Westerholt). They're even working on their 3rd album.
But back to the 2nd album, April Rain. Charlotte Wessel's Dutch accent doesn't show up in this song, really. She's more articulate than some native English singers. (Granted, some native English singers are intentionally inarticulate.) Her voice is pretty and soft-ish without being delicate—and I doubt a delicate voice would've worked with this song's music.
As befits the gothic half of Delain's symphonic/gothic metal style, "On the Other Side" seems to talk about dying. ("You've said your last goodbyes / And left your daughters mourning") My interpretation is that the song narrator is someone who's dying and hopes she'll find a certain dead loved one when she crosses over.
It isn't quite that simple, though, because the song does say "But God, I'm proud". I choose to interpret that as the song's narrator actually talking to God (which therefore might imply that the person the narrator wants to see is God), but I don't think that's how the song was intended. Though I could be wrong.
Even so, the song has a lovely little background of some quick vibrato-ish strings (I don't know the proper name for that, sorry), melted with smoother longer strings and other things. Add a mellower drum beat and electric guitar, and the result's kinda compelling.
The resulting music isn't all-out jaw-dropping fantastic, but it flows with the song in a way that you can tell is intentional. It also melds with the singer's voice to the point that I'm not sure you could sing the song in a different style and not sound terrible.
Overall, if you don't mind the necessary reinterpretation (if you have a problem with "Thou shalt not take My name in vain"), and you like rock ballads, you probably want to give it a listen. Otherwise, nah.
Lyrics: *2/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: *7/10
*This song likely misuses "God".
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