I will always link Italian artist Marco Cattani with Halo Effect, but he has also released a substantial body of work under his musical alter ego, Chemical Waves. He has collaborated with numerous labels, including Unknown Pleasures Records, ScentAir Records, Wave Records, among others. This new album was released at the end of last year and, as usual, features guest vocalists. This time, contributions come from the singers of General Trust, Mekong, Em_Len, The Spoiled, Perpetual Midnight, and Coloured Tears.

The album consists of eight tracks, two of which are instrumental. Chemical Waves remains true to the Dark-Wave aesthetic that has defined the project from the very beginning. The music, primarily driven by guitar, is generally melancholic and moody. Themes of vulnerability, sadness, and fragile hope—unfolding in a world on the brink of collapse—fit perfectly with the atmosphere that characterizes this record. Musically, influences reminiscent of The Cure occasionally surface.

Overall, this release contains several standout tracks and may well make “Our Love In A Dying World” the most accomplished production of Chemical Waves to date. (Rating:7½).

Listen to “The Door feat. The Spoiled”:

https://chemicalwaves.bandcamp.com/track/the-door-feat-the-spoiled

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Genre/Influences: Cold-Wave, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After having released last year albums on Unknown Pleasures Records and ScentAir Records, Italian artist Marco Cattani (Halo Effect, The Mark) strikes back with a new opus on Wave Records. Chemical Waves have again invited numerous guest singers. Vocalists from Bedless Bones, The Arch, The Purge, Death Loves Veronica, Sara Stuttgart, Then Came The Rain, Velvet Kills, Iris Capricorn, XTR Human and Social Station contributed to the work.

Content: The sound formula hasn’t really changed. Chemical Waves remains driven by the dark legacy of 80s Cold/Dark-Wave music. The singers again each inject a very personal touch to the work, which creates an interesting diversity. From sensual vocals to low, resonating vocals there’s a lot to experience while you’ll also notice two instrumental cuts.

+ + + : Chemical Waves holds on the true spirit of Dark/Cold-Wave music, which is mainly created by the magic of the guitar playing. I heard some good matches with the singers of The Arch, The Purge and especially Su Eko/Velvet Kills, reminding me a bit of Placebo.

– – – : The global approach of this project remains interesting and sometimes exciting although I’m missing ‘the’ singer of this band. I also preferred previous productions, the sound becoming a bit too predictable while the songs are less efficient. Being too prolific is sometimes undermining quality…

Conclusion: This is not the album from Chemical Waves I would recommend listening to first.

Best songs: “Rangers On The Road”, “Demon In Me”.

Rate: (6 ½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/chemicalwaves

Label: www.waverecordsmusic.com / www.facebook.com/waverecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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The Rome (IT) based post-punk act Chemical Waves returns with an all new album on April 30th via Wave Records. “Stories From The World Before” is the next chapter for the solo project of Marco Cattani (Halo Effect, The Mark) in collaborations with several international artists.

This time Cattani worked with Bedless Bones, Gerd Van Geel/The Arch, The Purge, Death Loves Veronica, Sara Stuttgart, Then Came The Rain, Su Eko/Velvet Kills, Iris Capricorn, Xtr Human and Social Station.

The result is a 12-track release for which a first video has just been released, namely one for “Kiss The Ring” featuring Bedless Bones. Note that the album will also be out as a CD ecopack limited to 200 copies.

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Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Cold-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: 2020 has been a prolific year for this Italian project driven by Marco Cattani (Halo Effect, The Mark). Next to the album “Even When we Fall Apart” released on Unknown Pleasures Records, the band also released this other album on the Russian label ScentAir. Marco Cattani composed the music while he again worked with guest singers.

Content: The vocals have been done by Ill Humans, Pedro/IAmTheShadow (2 songs), Gentle Ropes, L’Avenir, The Sea At Midnight and Kiss the Whip. The work also features 3 instrumental cuts. Sound-wise the songs are not as dark compared to the previous album. The songs sound more melancholic and sensible, but the main characteristic is the duel between guitar and electronics sometimes creating an elevating effect.

+ + + : The melancholic feeling of the work brings us back to the 80s, but Chemical Waves is much more than simply a copyist. The songs still have a ‘modern’ touch and especially the Electronic arrangements create this feeling. The melodies have something magical, which mainly comes through at “To the Deep” feat. Pedro/IAmTheShadow. This song makes me think of an Electronic edit of early The Mission. Another attention grabber is, “Statues” feat. The Sea At Midnight, which has something heavenly-like. Last, but not least, I also want to mention the slow, refined and emotive “Lasting Forever”, which is a noticeable instrumental song.

– – – : This opus is a pleasant listening, but I’ve to admit I prefer “Even When We Fall Apart”, which is darker, but still more poignant.

Conclusion: This album is not exactly the kind of stuff I’m used to hearing from the ScentAir Records roster, but it brings an interesting diversity to the label. 

Best songs: “To The Deep”, “Statues”, “Lasting Forever”, “Slit”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/chemicalwaves

Label: www.scent-air.com / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Cold-wave, dark-wave, gothic. 

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Chemical Waves is a project driven by Marco Cattani (Halo Effect, The Mark). This project has already been active for numerous years now and has self-released a lot of stuff in between 2012 and 2015. Chemical Waves is now back on track unleashing its official debut album on the French label Unknown Pleasures Records.  

Content: Marco Cattani invited several guest singers to accomplish his work. Bedless Bones, Closed Mouth, HIV+, Virgin Tears, L’Avenir, Antiflvx, Egoprisme and RjVj have been featured. It resulted in a rather diverse album, which is mainly driven by the good-old dark/cold-wave demons from the 80s. The different singers each inject a very personal touch to the work moving from sensual passages to pure cavernous vocals. The guitar playing brings the 80s spirit to life. Some songs remind me of The Virgin Prunes, but globally speaking you get a nice pastiche from the cold/dark-wave era.

+ + + : The diversity of the tracklist makes it interesting. I was mainly convinced by the perfect symbiosis between Marco Cattani and Kadri Sammel from Bedless Bones. I like this girl’s work and especially her somewhat sterile, sensual timbre of voice creates a great match with the music. Another noticeable cut is the one featuring Jason Sloan (L’Avenir), which has something mysterious, and is even a bit ritual-like. On top of the composition I especially like the cool guitar playing injecting a truly retro-spirit into the work.

– – – : One of the very few cuts that couldn’t totally convince me is the one featuring Egoprisme. I’m not convinced by the possible match between the singer and the song, which also sounds a bit more electro-driven.

Conclusion: “Even When We Fall Apart” is an interesting album; the concept of working with different vocalists is nothing new although not always successful. I think it however works for this album!

Best songs: “Denied”, “Hymn”, “The Sphinx”, “Void And Light”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/chemicalwaves

Label: www.unknown–pleasures–records.com /  www.facebook.com/Unknown–Pleasures–Records-566180440115465

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com