German-born, Ireland-based musician DAMIEN CAIN returns this winter with “Standarte,” an atmospheric, emotionally charged alt-rock album available from today December 12th on the main digital streaming services. Now living in Co. Laois, the artist describes the record as “the most honest and personal work I’ve ever made,” a project shaped as much by his three decades in music as by the new creative grounding he found in Ireland.
In order to celebrate his new effort, DAMIEN CAIN released the music videos for the songs “Fascinating Face” and the title-track. A dark, emotional fusion of nu-metal and emo rock, “Fascinating Face” the song explores the feeling of being trapped between denial and desire, telling yourself you’re 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… 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. “Fascinating Face” is about the intimacy we try to forget, the seconds we sealed inside us, the scent, the skin, the breath – the pieces of someone we carry even when we insist we’ve moved on.
The title-track goes back to “Wallenstein,” a song from the early ’90s. DAMIEN CAIN explained that “the original “Wallenstein” was inspired by Salvador Dalí’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross. It was my protest song against war, power, and blind faith – written when I was twenty and full of rage and questions. The new song continues that thread, but from a different angle. It’s still a protest, but now it’s also a reflection. I’m angry about the same things, but I’ve learned to turn that anger into poetry instead of noise.”
Watch the videos below:
Stream/download the album here: https://push.fm/fl/standarte
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 “a place where the noise finally faded, and the ideas came back.” That renewed focus became the foundation of “Standarte,” a sweeping blend of modern alt-rock, melodic metal, gothic textures, and cinematic melancholy.
A significant part of the album was mixed at Dublin’s renowned Hellfire Studios by Ivan Jackman, whose credits include Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” Sinéad O’Connor and The Dubliners. Cain credits Jackman with helping shape the album’s dynamic emotional spectrum: “Ivan understood immediately what I was aiming for: something modern, heavy at times, but rooted in storytelling and atmosphere.”
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.
Cain’s musical story stretches back more than 30 years. He first gained attention with his project CAIN, whose gothic-industrial single “Age of Darkness” 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 “demanded to be made,” as he puts it.
“Standarte” tracklist:
1. Fascinating Face
2. Standarte
3. Clapham
4. Northern Line
5. Caleb
6. The Power
7. Innovation One
8. New Age
9. (Desire) A Deadly Temptation
10. The Room
11. Mountaineers
12. Sins of our Sons
13. Soul on Fire
14. The White Line
15. Close Your Eyes
16. Raise! 2025
17. Age of Darkness 2025
Mixed & Mastered by Ivan Jackman at Hellfire Studios, IE-Dublin (Hozier, Sinéad O’Connor, The Dubliners, Nirvana’s Chad Channing). Artwork by Christin Wilhelm. Logo by Audio-To-Go Publishing. Photo by Peter Smallwood.
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