Headed up by a mystery man in a skeleton suit, Neon Nightmare could be seen as a performative spectacle for the sake of marketing. While artists wearing cool makeup is nothing new, it can certainly go a long way to get people talking. It’s fun! But when the mystery man revealed himself as Spirit Adrift’s Nate Garrett in a YouTube video, his mission statement of Faded Dream became even more clear.
Growing up loving macabre horror movies and gothic music, Garrett is also diehard fan of Type O Negative. After the passing of Peter Steele, the genre hasn’t been what it once was. Instead of waiting around for someone to make new music in that style, Garrett decided to do it himself! Yet, while the mysterious marketing was fun, it actually had more to do with presenting new music free of preconceptions.
Neon Nightmare is an unabashed love letter to Type O Negative, but Faded Dream is much more than that.
“Lost Silver” (with its obvious wink to Type O’s Josh Silver) starts things off with everything missing in modern goth. It’s dreary, bleak, but strangely romantic. Behind the Steele-y vocals and chugging guitar riff rests a tragic love story. Next up, “It’s All Over (For You)” expands upon that notion further, proving that gothic music isn’t just about dying and/or being dead. In just two songs, Garrett makes it abundantly clear that Neon Nightmare isn’t a parody – it’s a living, breathing passion project.
While it continues the Type O Negative worship, Faded Dream opens up even more in its second half. I hear the bravado of early Danzig, the southern-fried metal of Corrosion Of Conformity, and of course, Black Sabbath. I also hear some shoegaze elements found in early Smashing Pumpkins records. Couple that with the atmospheric space-rock of Failure, and Faded Dream is more diverse than advertised. Garrett has impeccable taste in music, and those influences flesh out Neon Nightmare far beyond a tongue-in-cheek tribute record.
The production and mastering of Faded Dream is the perfect marriage of vintage and modern.
The crisp and deep vocals showcase Garrett’s underappreciated vocal prowess, and the guitars remain warm, thick, and larger than life. Keys and synth provide gorgeous seasonings, but the bass guitar work seals the deal for me. Nothing scratches the itch of goth rock aesthetics like a distorted bass with an accompanying chorus pedal. After all, the finest goth records use bass as the lead instrument. It’s not a requirement, but a rite of passage.
My personal favorite track on Faded Dream is “LATW2TG” (which stands for “laughing all the way to the grave”). Not only does that concept make for some nice meta-commentary on the tongue-in-cheek marketing, but it’s also a fitting depiction of Steele’s dark, self-deprecating humor. Those little touches of self-awareness make me miss Type O Negative. However, even if Faded Dream is a simple one-off album, Neon Nightmare is enough to fill that incomprehensible void.
Neon Nightmare’s Faded Dream is currently available at 20 Buck Spin.