Dead End Dreaming

There’s a curious niche within the broader umbrella of goth metal that I can only describe as: upbeat, nearly radio-friendly, songs about love and suicide sung by men with deep voices. This applies to bands like Sentenced, Moonspell at times, Lacrimas Profundere and to End of Green as well. Like their fellow countrymen of Lacrimas Profundere, End of Green also started out with some proper doom in Infinity, then gothed up. As a sub-subgenre, this is a guilty pleasure of mine, as it’s a bit ridiculous and easily falls into self-parody (the very promise of a happy-sounding song about suicide is inevitably ironic). However, I find this hidden gem to be one of the finest offerings within the niche, being quite heavy and emotional, while also fun and not too silly.

From the get-go, you’re instantly greeted by the memorable main riff of “No Coming Home,” backed by the groovy drums. The guitars then quiet down for the deep vocals to come in. As often happens in goth metal, vocals start out quite distant and restrained, but then we come to the “I cannot sleep at night” part, which feels like a painful cry of confession, as the song gets more intense (pay attention to the guitars, going from indistinct chugging in the background to an actual riff). This quiet-intense motion is then repeated, building tension to implode into the chorus. Pay attention to the drums pounding then: the tension is still not released, it is still building on and on, oppressively, like the obsessing mind of someone pondering suicide. Then the main, upbeat, almost happy riff returns. By then the song is going at full power, like someone driving a car, with a mind to crash it straight onto a wall. And with lyrics like “Scared about all the things that covered me in life, / I’m on the only way, I leave this world tonight”, coupled with the guitar’s smooth flow, it’s hard not to get that mental image. It comes together quite beautifully, though. By the time it goes through this whole cycle again, it has built enough dramatic force for its slow climax (“And I’m tired of my useless being...”) to work, again sounding like a painful, earnest confession.

I won’t go through that degree of detail with every song, but this goes to highlight the attention paid to song structure. The next song, “Dead End Hero,” comes slower, aiming at an anthemic, sing-along mood, and “Speed My Drug” then picks things up, being a very fun, fast tune about doing speed (there’s also a song about booze, so there’s a whole self-destruction through substance abuse subtheme going on too). “Cure My Pain” then slows it all down to a crawl, with a mesmerizing wall of sound, mournful Paradise Lost-like wailing guitars (there’s even a solo at the intro) and exasperated vocals. I think I hear some Katatonia here too. As you can see, there’s quite a bit of variation, despite the whole album being very cohesive stylistically, never departing from this poppier, but guitar-driven, type of gothic metal.

Dead End Dreaming has very strong suit of songs to start out, but I find the best to come later, with “Sad Song” (which starts out slow and quiet then gradually builds up into its doomy main riff and emotional lead), the rocker “Drink Myself to Sleep”, the catchy bonus track “Farewell (Song of Agony)” and the depressing closer “All about nothing” (it takes a while to lift off, but check out the moment the lead guitar comes bursting in).

Unfortunately, the four remaining songs aren’t as good. Though they might have their moments, they either fall too much into silliness or boredom. “Weakness”, for instance, is a song I find enjoyable when it plays, but can barely remember anything about later, while “Sick One” pretty much just starts annoying me as soon as the intro is over (and the lyrics are just awful). Still, these songs are not too offensive overall, if you don’t pay too much attention, though they do dilute the album’s strength.

In the end, when one compares End of Green to Sentenced, for instance—a band I do enjoy, though one can’t deny how its suicidal depression theme gets quickly run into the ground and straight into cheese territory—it’s noticeable End of Green does their whole upbeat gothic shtick with more emotional force. Dead End Dreaming probably won’t win anyone who isn’t already into the genre, but those who are would do well to go after it.