Dreaming Neon Black is the third studio album released by American heavy metal band Nevermore, and was released through Century Media in 1999. Unlike its predecessor, The Politics of Ecstasy, Dreaming Neon Black contains many slower, emotional songs.
Dreaming Neon Black is a concept album; according to Nevermore's lead singer, Warrel Dane, "it's a very simple story about a man who slowly goes insane after losing a woman that he was very close to. Progressive levels of insanity are expressed in the songs, he goes through phases of denial and self-blame, blaming God, then denouncing God. The ending is a little...tragic, a little depressing. Shakesperian. Everybody dies, it's all happy."
The story is based on a personal experience of Dane's. Dane became romantically involved with Patricia Candance Walsh at some point in the 1980s. By the late 80s, Patricia became involved with a religious group and cut Dane off. According to Dane, she regarded him as evil, or satanic. In 1989, Walsh married Douglas Scott Zyskowski, and the couple left Seattle, hitchhiking towards a religious event in Georgia. They never returned.
A few years later, Dane was living on Lake Washington in an end-unit condominium directly on the water. Around this time, he suddenly began having recurring dreams involving his missing former girlfriend and drowning. Those dreams and his unresolved feelings became the basis of Dreaming Neon Black. In 1999 Dane said publicly that he didn't know what happened to her, that he believed she was probably dead, and that he had no closure.
In 2003 it surfaced what happened to Walsh: in early 1990 serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades picked up Zyskowski and Walsh on the road, and then they were both murdered. Zyskowski was killed first and his unidentified body was found in Texas in January; Walsh, however, staied alive for longer, and her unidentified body was found in Utah only 9 months later. Zyskowski was identified in 1992, and Walsh only in 2003. Rhoades became formally linked to her murder in 2005 and pleaded guilty in 2012.
Warrel Dane confirmed publicly that the woman was his girlfriend and describes the strange relationship between the Lake Washington setting, his drowning dreams and the eventual discovery of her death.
The spoken word samples from the intro "Ophidian" and its 10-second reprise at the end of "Forever" are from the Clive Barker movie Lord of Illusions.
Track listing
Note: The song "Forever" has a run time of 2:35, followed by six minutes and 35 seconds of silence. This silence is followed a 10-second section from the opening track "Ophidian".
Credits Nevermore Warrel Dane – vocals Jim Sheppard – bass Jeff Loomis – guitars Tim Calvert – guitars Van Williams – drums
Additional personnel Christine Rhoades – additional vocals
Production Neil Kernon – production, mixing, mastering Justin Leeah – additional engineering Bobby Torres – additional engineering Raymon Breton – mastering Travis Smith – illustrations, design, photography Karen Mason-Blair – band photography Louis Rusconi – additional photography www.Rusconi.com Brad Gilson Jr. - additional photography
References