Artist: Love Crave 
   Title: The Angel And The Rain
   Label: Repro Records

Hailing from the metropolises of both Milan and Venice, The Love Crave brings their darkly progressive gothic vibe to the masses with their debut release ‘The Angel And The Rain’.

Fronted by Francesca Chiara whose razor sharp vocals bring that whole dark gothic sound to the forefront of the bands sound.  The album itself tells the factious tale of Scarlet Rain (Chiara’s alter ego) which is also told in the 24-page booklet that will accompany the album.

The album itself opens up in true gothic style with ‘Vampires (The Light That We Are)’.  A true gothic masterpiece with its rain swept intro and its electro keys, to the soul piercing vocals of Chiara, this track has it all.

The dark feel of the album continues with ‘Nobody’, a track very much in the Sisters Of Mercy/Siouxsie and the Banshees vein complete with its twin vocal chorus and tuned down guitars, but given that modern day twist. 

'Little Suicide' is another haunting melody and tells the story of the fall of Scarlet Rain the main character in the story of 'The Angel And The Rain'. 

The immensely emotional vocal content of ‘Can You Hear Me’ is just superb and caries on the whole gothic atmosphere of the release, and is a track where the vocals of Chiara just shine through the darkened mist.

Another poignant track is the soul wrenching ‘Fading Rose’ which comes complete with orchestral strings to really add another dimension to the song.

The album picks up the tempo a little more with ‘My Soul’ before dwelling into the electro Goth world with one of my favourite tracks off the album ‘Runaway’, although THE track of the album for me has to be the title track ‘The Angel And The Rain’.  This track just oozes class as it twists and turns between the traditional gothic sound and the progressive with some huge keyboards and some even heavier bass lines, quite an eclectic mix that works really well.

Chiara acid etching vocals are at their max on the spellbinding ‘The Chauffeur’, another mood infested track has that familiar by now familiar Love Crave build up character to it.

The album closes with ‘Dark City’ which is more of an outro than a specific musical track.  The album ends as it started, with the rain pouring down.  But this time the solemn vocals of Chiara and a single acoustic guitar bring the album and the tale of Scarlet Rain to an atmospheric close. 

The Love Crave have so much to offer the world of vamps and creatures of the night, this album is sumptuous, mysterious and absolutely gorgeous from the very first song to the very last.  A fine debut release from a band that are going to make their mark on the world after this album is on general release you mark my words. I look forward to hearing a lot more from this particular band in future.

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