Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This is a French solo-project driven by Nicolas Albin. Four years after the debut album “Eigengrau” (2018) the French artist released its second full length album. 

Content: “Ravage” sounds as a travelling machine getting us back somewhere in the 80s. The sound is dark and sometimes becoming obscure. The tracks are rather slow, reminding me a bit of the soft side from The Danse Society. The vocals are sung in English but there’s also a dark poetic track with French vocals.

+ + + : This is a dark and wafting composition which sounds like reflecting solitude and desolation. You feel like awakening from a bad trip which is perfectly symbolized by the poignant sound atmosphere of the work. I prefer the somewhat harder cuts like “Everything’s Gone Black” and “Shining Darker”.

– – – : I’m missing a few harder passages through this album. There definitely is more potential hiding inside this project.

Conclusion: A dark and emotional testimony of how modern Dark-Wave can sound.

Best songs: “Everything’s Gone Black”, “Shining Darker”, “Shock Doctrine”, “Hipparque”. 

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/thencametherain

Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords

Listen to “Ravage”:

About Then Came The Rain

Then Came The Rain is the solo project of French artist Nicolas Albin, active in the darkwave and coldwave scene. The project debuted with the album “Eigengrau” on Icy Cold Records on 1 November 2018, written, performed, and produced entirely by Albin. “Ravage”, recorded between 2019 and 2021, followed as the project’s second full-length album on the same label in 2022.

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

About Chemical Waves

Chemical Waves is the darkwave and post-punk solo project of Marco Cattani from Rome, Italy, who is also a member of Halo Effect and The Mark. Discogs lists self-released digital material between 2012 and 2015, including the album “The Garden Of Forking Paths” and the singles “The Origin” and “Murders TV” (afmusic, 2012). The project works with a rotating cast of guest vocalists on every album.

Two albums appeared in 2020: Even When We Fall Apart on the French label Unknown Pleasures Records, reviewed on Side-Line in May 2020, and Lasting Forever on the Russian label ScentAir Records, reviewed in November 2020.

“Stories From The World Before” was released by Wave Records in 2021 as a download and on CD; the Bandcamp page dates the release to 7 April 2021, while the Side-Line news item Italian post-punk act Chemical Waves returns with an all new album of May 2021 reported a 30 April release and a CD ecopack limited to 200 copies. The twelve tracks are “Kiss The Ring” (feat. Bedless Bones), “Obsession And Cure” (feat. Gerd Van Geel of The Arch), “Demon In Me” (feat. The Purge), the instrumental “Eternally”, “A Dark Prayer” (feat. Death Loves Veronica), “Alibi” (feat. Sara Stuttgart), “Sixty” (feat. Then Came The Rain), “Rangers On The Road” (feat. Su Eko of Velvet Kills), “On Another’s Sorrow” (feat. Iris Capricorn, with lyrics by William Blake), “Your Voice” (feat. XTR Human), “Field Of Static” (feat. Social Station) and the instrumental “Cruel”. Chemical Waves wrote, arranged and produced all songs and the lyrics of “Obsession And Cure”; the other guests wrote and sang their own lyrics. A video for “Kiss The Ring” accompanied the release.

The self-released digital album “I – When We Were Full Of Hope” followed in 2022, and Our Love In A Dying World appeared at the end of 2025, with a cassette edition on Violet Hour Transmissions, and was reviewed on Side-Line in January 2026. The Bandcamp page for “Stories From The World Before” announces a remastered vinyl and CD edition for 2026 through ElasticStage. The album reviewed here is the project’s third Side-Line review.

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.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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