In order to celebrate his new effort, DAMIEN CAIN released the music videos for the songs \u201cFascinating Face\u201d and the title-track. A dark, emotional fusion of nu-metal and emo rock, \u201cFascinating Face\u201d the song explores the feeling of being trapped between denial and desire, telling yourself you\u2019re not in love anymore, while every memory still pulls you back in. The video reflects this tension: a stream of hyper-real faces emerging from darkness, each one holding a different emotion: longing, fear, hope, desire, regret. Behind them, subtly woven into the shadows, DAMIEN CAIN appears singing the song, as if haunting their memories\u2026 or being haunted by his own. It creates an unintended, but powerful illusion: as though the story plays out inside the minds of the people on screen, and inside the places we hide our unsaid feelings. \u201cFascinating Face\u201d is about the intimacy we try to forget, the seconds we sealed inside us, the scent, the skin, the breath \u2013 the pieces of someone we carry even when we insist we\u2019ve moved on. <\/p>\n
The title-track goes back to \u201cWallenstein,\u201d a song from the early \u201990s. DAMIEN CAIN explained that \u201cthe original \u201cWallenstein\u201d was inspired by Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s Christ of Saint John of the Cross. It was my protest song against war, power, and blind faith \u2013 written when I was twenty and full of rage and questions. The new song continues that thread, but from a different angle. It\u2019s still a protest, but now it\u2019s also a reflection. I\u2019m angry about the same things, but I\u2019ve learned to turn that anger into poetry instead of noise.\u201d <\/p>\n
Watch the videos below ![\"\u2b07\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/15.0.3\/72x72\/2b07.png\")
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\u201cFascinating Face\u201d: https:\/\/youtu.be\/r94gPcQORPI<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cStandarte\u201d: https:\/\/youtu.be\/_rlSITVj4xE<\/a> <\/p>\n Stream\/download the album here: https:\/\/push.fm\/fl\/standarte<\/a> <\/p>\n DAMIEN CAIN moved to Ireland in 2020, seeking a reset after years of working across various genres and roles within the European music industry. What he found instead, he says, was \u201ca place where the noise finally faded, and the ideas came back.\u201d That renewed focus became the foundation of \u201cStandarte,\u201d a sweeping blend of modern alt-rock, melodic metal, gothic textures, and cinematic melancholy. <\/p>\n A significant part of the album was mixed at Dublin’s renowned Hellfire Studios by Ivan Jackman, whose credits include Hozier’s \u201cTake Me to Church,\u201d Sin\u00e9ad O’Connor and The Dubliners. Cain credits Jackman with helping shape the album’s dynamic emotional spectrum: \u201cIvan understood immediately what I was aiming for: something modern, heavy at times, but rooted in storytelling and atmosphere.\u201d <\/p>\n The album also features a truly international line-up of collaborators. Musicians from Ireland, the UK, Finland, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and the United States contributed guitars, synths, vocals and strings. Despite this global cast, the record feels grounded in Irish creative energy, a mixture of warmth, darkness, restraint and emotional weight that runs through the country’s rock and folk heritage. <\/p>\n Cain’s musical story stretches back more than 30 years. He first gained attention with his project CAIN, whose gothic-industrial single \u201cAge of Darkness\u201d became a cult hit in the early 2000s. The track sold more than 250,000 copies and received the Impala Diamond Award, marking one of the most significant independent European sales achievements of the era. But despite this success, Cain repeatedly stepped away from the spotlight, resurfacing only when the music \u201cdemanded to be made,\u201d as he puts it. <\/p>\n \u201cStandarte\u201d tracklist:<\/p>\n 1. Fascinating Face<\/p>\n 2. Standarte<\/p>\n 3. Clapham<\/p>\n 4. Northern Line<\/p>\n 5. Caleb<\/p>\n 6. The Power<\/p>\n 7. Innovation One<\/p>\n 8. New Age<\/p>\n 9. (Desire) A Deadly Temptation<\/p>\n 10. The Room<\/p>\n 11. Mountaineers<\/p>\n 12. Sins of our Sons<\/p>\n 13. Soul on Fire<\/p>\n 14. The White Line<\/p>\n 15. Close Your Eyes<\/p>\n 16. Raise! 2025<\/p>\n 17. Age of Darkness 2025 <\/p>\n Mixed & Mastered by Ivan Jackman at Hellfire Studios, IE-Dublin (Hozier, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor, The Dubliners, Nirvana\u2019s Chad Channing). Artwork by Christin Wilhelm. Logo by Audio-To-Go Publishing. Photo by Peter Smallwood. <\/p>\n Follow DAMIEN CAIN:<\/p>\n Website: https:\/\/www.damiencain.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/damiencainireland\/<\/a><\/p>\n Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CAIN.Germany\/<\/a><\/p>\n YouTube: https:<\/a>\/\/www.youtube.com\/@DamienMCain<\/a><\/p>\n The Metallist PR: https:\/\/www.themetallistpr.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n