Influences are a pretty funny thing because people don’t wanna be defined by them usually and I get that, but sometimes they’re so blatantly obvious and done remarkably well (or not) that it’s violently unavoidable. I sit down my goth* friends, play them this, and they scream out as if it were a Pavlovian response – ‘this sounds like Type O Negative!‘ Yes, good job… here’s your treat, thank you for playing. What gave it away, besides everything up to and including the design of the great album cover?
Out of respect for what Neon Nightmare has accomplished with Faded Dream, that’s the only time I’ll be mentioning that band’s name though, and really I didn’t even mention it technically, it was my very really real goth friend, remember? Instead I’ll say that Faded Dream sounds like someone from a Black Sabbath cover band who dresses like Jerry Only and listens to hella HIM made the best band he possibly could. He may have also been in Playgirl, but I digress.
I’m led to believe that this is a one-man project and the man behind it is, as of this writing, a mystery. Many are getting their guesses out there, the most prominent of them being Nate Garrett of Spirit Adrift, but it really doesn’t matter. Whoever it is has a good sense of humor about it all and honestly the music speaks for itself regardless. This is grade-A dark meat of the moody alt metal world with some staunch devotion to melody and great writing. All I had to do was peep the single “She’s Drowning” to be sold on Neon Nightmare‘s atmosphere. Chorus effects walk hand-in-hand with veiled, glittery synths to make the perfect autumn night anthem, and it’s not even the best song on the album.
Really, you could throw a fucking dart to pick the best – they’re all pretty equally scaled high in quality – but there’s a variety here. “Lost Silver”, the other single, is more eerie and attuned to be a horror movie theme with prodding synths and spectral lyrics that really pick up in intensity with the hook. It’s highly singable, endlessly replayable, and I love the damn chuggy riff on the verses that has such a throwback feel. It’s very spirited even as the song deals with dark topics of loss and the torment of mourning. I must admit I love the lyrics, ‘You disappeared and left me here to die/Will I ever know why?/My blood is burning and I’m yearning for you/Suicide just to feel something new‘, and I feel the absolute despair in the refrain toward the end of ‘I can’t believe I’ll never feel you again‘. Tragic, but the theatrics of it all are done so well.
“LATW2TG”, which stands for ‘Laughing All The Way 2 The Grave’, is probably my favorite track personally. It’s bold and momentous, really taking influence from that classic rock and proto-doom school of thought, to the point where if you told me this was a Tony Iommi riff excavated from the ’60s, I’d believe you. The song summons chills as it expertly plays with melody and space, the guitar tones are on point, and again the lyrics really pound on the macabre, this time reveling in our demise like a madman perched on high to watch it all happen, middle finger down at us and death alike. It’s a numbing resignation that may be based in nihilistic tendencies, but is otherwise kind of admirable – ‘I’m laughing ’cause I’m free/No power over me!‘
The similarly situated “They Look Like Shadows” is probably the most consistently upbeat on Faded Dream with driving guitars, a solid tempo throughout, and a heavy metal soul that never quits. Mystery man’s vocals are resolute, exactly what they wanna be with empowered enunciation, but with enough effects and post-production to give them extra character. This is a killer track. “It’s All Over (For You)” is more standout gothed-up mopecore with a glimmer in its eye and pick scrapes aplenty, but the real scorcher here that sums up the whole album is closer, “Promethean Gift”. This dials up the atmo and mood even more than the rest of the album, a feat in and of itself. It moves slower and can afford to with a nearly ten-minute runtime, but it’s so well-earned. The way the vocals interact with the instrumentation feels like a higher (ha) concept stoner metal band, seeking transcendence among the muck of the world. The bass rattles hard in the mix as the whole track lurches along its path of destitution, the soaring vocals striking you alert here and there with impassioned yells and collected screams before skating into these masterful boomer riffs that aged like wine. The whole track is a dream… a faded dream.
So yes, Neon Nightmare didn’t just wear its influences on its sleeve, more so made a denim battle vest out of them to wear proudly and unshaken, but when it’s done this well, who cares? I’m so glad I was able to put at least two random people on Twitter I didn’t know onto the band, and I hope I put you on as well. Faded Dream knows exactly what it is and what it’s trying to be, so why not just be it? This is powerful, arcane stuff, definitely channeling the past in an almost forbidden way, and yet there’s never been a better time than now to evoke this kind of dread and alluring sorrow – after all, next week is election day in the US. If the ship is to go down, I may not handle it as well as Neon Nightmare, but I’m sure goddamn glad for the banger soundtrack for it.
Artist photo by David Brendan Hall
*I don’t mean to stereotype all goths of course, but… come on now
