The LoveCrave
The Angel And The Rain

The Lovecrave, a name unknown to most and to those who live only on MTV, but something will immediately come to mind by mentioning the name of the group's singer, Francesca Chiara Casellati, who participated in Sanremo '99 in the "new proposals" section. A singer with a whispering and sharp voice, she founded the heavy metal band The Lovecrave alongside guitarist Tank Palamara, with whom she produced the first album, "The Angel and The Rain."

The work is an original concept album based on a story written by Casellati herself: Scarlett Rain, an imaginary rock singer, dies throwing her devoted fan into despair. The songs, therefore, all have the same thread, in this very original rock opera.

The style: very heavy and sharp guitars and a sound halfway between gothic, dark, pop, and cyberpunk, commercial but very enjoyable.

The album starts with the aggressive "Vampires (the light that we are)", almost a manifesto of Lovecrave's music, where the overwhelming chorus 'I wanna live like vampires' makes you ardently wish for a music video of this song. It moves to "Nobody", again entirely based on the chorus, "Little Suicide", which opens with the announcement of Scarlett Rain's death and the lament of the poor fan Thank you God, thank you for the darkness. Wow. We arrive at what is perhaps the best track of the album, "Can you hear me?", still based on the chorus, but here the band's work is masterful and gives the piece a unique energy that gives chills. The fifth track "Fading Roses" is a ballad that showcases Francesca Chiara's vocal qualities (truly not bad). "My Soul Runaway" starts with a repetitive effect then grows, departing from the pop formula for a more complex structure, "The Angel and The Rain", track number eight, almost mimics the Depeche, only to be enhanced as usual by the heavy guitar riffs. It concludes with "The Chauffeur", a small gem with a chorus that gets inside you, and "Dark City", initially sung without accompaniment over a rain effect reminiscent of My Dying Bride, only to end on an arpeggio. At the end of the album, a ghost message as a ghost track.

A really very original work that has good ideas behind it, provided that one does not commit the sin of hasty judgments. A band that, with more publicity, could be very successful. If you don't like dark wave and think current gothic metal is horrendous, forget about it. One more point for courage and originality.