NEON NIGHTMARE – Faded Dream

vote
7.0

• Bands:
  NEON NIGHTMARE
• Duration: 00:41:16
• Available from: 01/11/2024
• Label:

• 20 Buck Spins

On April 14, 2010, Peter Steele's heart died, and with him the existence of a more unique than rare band. Type O Negative love or hate each other, but they have certainly never had followers on their level.
This premise is necessary, because we know almost nothing about the Neon Nightmare project, except the boundless love for the Brooklyn band, which reaches the threshold of plagiarism: no name, no explicit origin, if not a vague reference to the fact of finding roots in the working-class suburbs of Birmingham or Brooklyn itself.
Moving on to the album, behind a cover that even incorporates the graphics so dear to Peter and his associates, we have seven songs that are certainly enjoyable, if not excellent, which seem sincerely written by AI, even though they incorporate stylistic features and entire riffs, solos or keyboards come on TON. Even the characteristic vocal passages between Peter and Kenny in the bridges and references to the more acidic Beatles find their place, as well as, according to the concise presentation notes and what is explicitly understood from the lyrics, a certain underlying black sarcasm, another distinctive feature of those four nihilists. In short, the hypothesis could be wrong and we are ready to change our minds, but we can't get it out of our heads. Who knows, perhaps, reflecting on the title of the most beautiful song of the lot (“Lost Silver”), one might also think of a quiet return of the beloved keyboard player Josh (Silver, precisely), who leaves us sardonic clues. The homage is concentrated on the period from “October Rust” onwards, and the only elements of clear detachment are found in a shorter duration of the songs and in a voice very similar to that of our favorite giant, but inevitably not identical .
What can I say, anyway? It is useless to examine the songs individually, everything is intertwined in a continuous and absolutely well done homage, which for any Type O Negative orphan can only make the heart jump a little with joy, hence the positive vote. However, at the same time, the suspicions and the lack of propensity towards pure imitators makes us be cautious: unfortunately for Neon Nightmare, they have chosen a musical beacon that is too identifiable to cry out for the repetition of the miracle.