Irish Melancholic Rock artist Damien Cain has unveiled the official music video for the title-track from his new album “Standarte,” released on December 12, 2025 via Audio-To-Go Publishing Ltd.
Watch the music video for “Standarte” via the YouTube player below:
“Standarte” continues the story Damien Cain first began in the early 1990s with the song “Wallenstein” — blending Gothic Rock, Cinematic Alt-Rock and modern Post-Wave melancholy.
A Dark, Atmospheric anthem shaped by soaring melodies, poetic tension and the emotional depth that defines Cain’s musical universe. Caught inside an AI-crafted music video that echoes the surreal dreamscapes of Salvador Dalí.
For fans of Editors, IAMX, Then Comes Silence, Drab Majesty, White Lies, She Wants Revenge, Twin Tribes, Clan of Xymox, The Mission, and all who love brooding, Cinematic, Epic and Melancholic Rock.
“Standarte” is one of the key tracks of Damien Cain’s new era: a song about rebellion, identity and carrying a personal banner across decades of life and sound.
It merges organic guitars with gothic shadows, spacious synth atmospheres and a spiritual, almost ritualistic intensity.
The result: a piece that feels both nostalgically 80s and distinctly modern, bridging the past and the future in one haunting moment.
Listen to the album: https://push.fm/fl/standarte
Damien Cain (*1970) is an Ireland-based independent artist whose music blends melancholic Alt-Rock, Gothic undertones, and a Cinematic sense of storytelling. Active since the late 1980s, he first gained underground recognition with his Progressive Art Rock project Celtic Crypt and later with Cain — whose 2000 single “Age of Darkness” sold over 250,000 copies and earned the Impala Diamond Award. Over the years, Cain has collaborated with artists ranging from Sir Christopher Lee to Wayne Hussey (The Mission), and developed a signature sound rooted in emotion, atmosphere and poetic darkness. Now living in Co. Laois, Ireland, Cain returns with his new album “Standarte,” his most personal work to date. Mixed and mastered at Hellfire Studios in Dublin, the record brings together international musicians and explores the line between Alt-Rock, Soft Rock, Darkwave, and Melodic Hard Rock. Cain, an openly gay artist, often weaves subtle queer perspectives into his lyrics, while maintaining the emotional depth and melodic intensity that define his music. “Standarte” marks both a continuation and a rebirth: three decades of stories carried forward into a new era.
— “Standarte” – Album Info —
(Co. Laois, IRL) With “Standarte,” Damien Cain raises his banner between darkness and light. The album is his most personal and honest work to date — a journey through decades of sound and soul, carried on a cloud of melancholy. It unites his gothic roots with modern Alt-Rock sensibilities, blending vulnerability and defiance into something unmistakably his own. The heart of the record lies in its title track, “Standarte” — a continuation of the story first told more than three decades ago in “Wallenstein.” Inspired by Salvador Dalí’s painting “Christ of Saint John of the
Cross,” the original 1990 version became an underground anthem of protest and reflection. Cain, then in his early twenties, questioned power, faith, and obedience with poetic audacity: “And Jesus he did very good, nailéd to the cross, ‘coz for the very first time, He saw His world from high above.” The new song revisits these themes — but through older, wiser eyes.
“It’s still a protest song,” Cain says, “but now it’s also a mirror. Against war, against blind faith, against following the crowd without thought.”
Musically, “Standarte” is a tapestry woven from decades of sound: from Gothic shadows and Post-Punk edges to Cinematic Alt-Rock and fragile ballads that could sit on any ‘Classic Rock Emotions’ compilation. It’s organic, warm, and unapologetically diverse — yet held together by one voice, one mood, one signature thread of melancholy. “Who still listens to full albums anymore?” Cain muses. “If someone does, it should at least be a ride worth taking.”
Among those who helped shape “Standarte” is an international collective of musicians and producers from the UK, US, Finland, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and Ireland – where the album was mixed and mastered by Ivan Jackman at Dublin’s legendary Hellfire Studios (Hozier, Sinéad O’Connor, The Dubliners, Chad Channing of Nirvana). Contributors include Jamie Wiltshire (UK), Mauricio Mirapalheta (FIN), Joaquin Maturana and Agustin Guerci (ARG), Ronald Villabona (USA), Stefan Hammermeister (DE), Irineu Frade (BRA) and Kirstin New (DE) — the powerful voice
known from Cain’s earlier releases.
To mark the 25th anniversary of “Age of Darkness” (originally released October 30, 2000, and awarded the Impala Diamond for over 250,000 units sold), Cain also resurrects Cain — the project that once defined his darker side. The album includes three brand-new Cain tracks plus remastered versions of “Raise!” and “Age of Darkness 2000,” connecting 35 years of music and mythology into one closing circle.
“Maybe it’s my last album,” Cain admits. “If I keep up my rhythm, the next one would come out when I’m 68. So Standarte could be the end of a story – but also the beginning of another.” In songs like “White Line,” the lyrics even foreshadow that closure: “Kingdom’s falling, Nod is calling… Time to say farewell.” Whether it’s the fall of Cain or the rise of Damien, “Standarte” stands as both epitaph and rebirth — the sound of a man who has lived, lost, and learned to turn silence into song.
Purchase “Standarte” here: https://elasticstage.com/damiencain/releases/damien-cain-standarte-album
Tracklist:
01. Fascinating Face (02:32)
02. Standarte (03:53)
03. Clapham (03:29)
04. Northern Line (03:51)
05. Caleb (03:44)
06. The Power (03:07)
07. Innovation One (03:22)
08. New Age (03:35)
09. (Desire) A Deadly Temptation (03:18)
10. The Room (03:33)
11. Mountaineers (03:30)
12. Sins of our Sons (05:32)
13. Soul on Fire (03:17)
14. The White Line (03:41)
15. Close Your Eyes (03:37)
16. Raise! 2025 (03:55)
17. Age of Darkness 2025 (04:30)