American Nightmare released their first album in 15 years and I am currently listening to it on repeat. I fell in love the first time I heard American Nightmare in 2001. Wesley Eisold is a brilliant lyricist and poet, able to capture despair beautifully and succinctly. Listen on Spotify or buy it from Deathwish Inc.
American Nightmare played viciously fast, stripped back traditional hardcore, that featured the elements of the genre that were instrumental in creating the sense of belonging so important to the scene: gang vocals, breakdowns, singalongs, and call and response parts. But Wesley’s stroke of genius was to dispense entirely with the thematic tropes that plagued the genre, to sing about his own fucked up, personal shit with a poetic wit and nuance inspired by the likes of Morrissey, Ian Curtis and Jarvis Cocker.
“Gloom Forever” by American Nightmare
Lyrics
All the money in the world
Can’t buy a new one
So we hang around the sun
In the corners of hell
The way flies fly
Just to find the window closed
All we feel is pane
Oh gloom I see no future
That’s why I loved you with the lights on
Oh gloom I see no past
That’s why I’m standing here in front of you
From the womb to the tomb
We’ve walked with disaster
Forging new ways to fade away
To fade away faster
Oh gloom I see no future
That’s why I loved you with the lights on
Oh gloom I see no past
That’s why I’m standing here in front of you
And on the days I want to disappear
I stay here for you
I know
I know
There is no turning back
But when you’re standing in the fire
All you see is black
True love in the burning world
True heart in the crooked world
I saw your name engraved with paint
Across these city walls
True love in the burning world
True heart in the crooked world
I saw your name engraved with pain
Across your city walls
Oh gloom
Life’s so easy for the insincere
But I’ll stay here for you
Becca Risa Luna 