Prints of Darkness

Last updated
Prints of Darkness
Dead Artist Syndrome - Prints of Darkness.jpeg
Studio album by Dead Artist Syndrome
Released 1990
Recorded 1990
Genre Gothic rock, indie rock, darkwave
Length37:49
Label Originally released on Public Records and rereleased on Blonde Vinyl
Producer Brian Healy, Thom Roy
Dead Artist Syndrome chronology
Prints of Darkness
(1990)
Devils, Angels & Saints
(1992)

Prints of Darkness is the 1990 debut album by Dead Artist Syndrome. Originally released independently on Public Records and later by Blonde Vinyl Records, It was the first mainstream albums to introduce gothic rock to the Christian music industry Forever gaining the projects mastermind Brian Healy the title "The Father Of Christian Goth". CCM Magazine categorically stated " The best example of what Christian Alternative Music is".

Dead Artist Syndrome mainstream Christian gothic rock

Dead Artist Syndrome is a Christian gothic rock band formed in 1989 in Orange County, California. The group consists of singer-songwriter Brian Healy and a rotating cast of side men. Healy was dubbed the "father of Christian goth" by Rozz Williams, and is an ordained minister. The name of D.A.S. according to Healy is "Dead Artist Syndrome means greater in death than in life, be it James Dean, Van Gogh or Jesus Christ". His debut album Prints of Darkness was a notable, groundbreaking release. The band has been sporadically active due to health issues, releasing two albums in the 2000s, and another in 2015. In 2006, Dead Artist Syndrome was named "Outstanding Orange County Band" by the editors and readers of Rock City News, a Los Angeles local music paper. For several years Healy was privately in poor health his gallbladder exploded while recording vocals resulting in emergency surgery, and a neurological disorder his wife Marie Tullai Healy described as "a combination of Michael J. Fox and the late Foster Brooks everybody thought he was drunk, Brian was falling down he broke his arm, slurring his speech trying to complete his record, next thing we know he's in a wheelchair, finally in 2012 they discovered the cause and he had brain surgery and is 100% back to his old self and had no idea any of this was going on, inside his head everything was fine". Healy himself has said on his Facebook page 'He's back" and is actively recording, producing others and hosting Frontline Records Rewind Broadcast and podcast

Gothic rock is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted towards dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure.

The Christian music industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, and alternative Christian music. It is sometimes called the gospel music industry, although this designation is not a limitation on the musical styles represented.

Contents

Recording

The album was recorded at Neverland Studios and Whitefield Studios. In 1990, Brian Healy independently released Prints of Darkness as a one-man band. The album is characterized by post-punk influenced guitars, dark synthesizers and Healy's deep, gothic baritone vocals. Musicians Gym Nicholson and Ojo Taylor of Christian alternative rock group Undercover, Mike Sauerbrey of Christian alternative rock band The Choir and Lifesavers Underground frontman and Blonde Vinyl Records president Mike Knott each made guest appearances. [1]

Post-punk is a broad type of rock music that emerged from the punk movement of the 1970s, in which artists departed from the simplicity and traditionalism of punk rock to adopt a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and diverse influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with sources including electronic music and black styles like dub, funk, free jazz, and disco; novel recording and production techniques; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. Communities that produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines developed around these pioneering musical scenes, which coalesced in cities such as London, New York, Manchester, Melbourne, Sydney, and San Francisco.

Synthesizer electronic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds

A synthesizer or synthesiser is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that may be converted to sound. Synthesizers may imitate traditional musical instruments such as piano, flute, vocals, or natural sounds such as ocean waves; or generate novel electronic timbres. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, fingerboards, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, and electronic drums. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are often called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device, often a MIDI keyboard or other controller.

The Choir (alternative rock band)

The Choir is an atmospheric Christian alternative rock band currently comprised of Derri Daugherty on guitar and vocals, Steve Hindalong on drums, and Dan Michaels on saxophone and lyricon. Long-time bassist Tim Chandler passed away in 2018, and guitarist Marc Byrd was the fifth member of the band between 2005 - 2014, although he is not officially inactive. As of 2018, the band has released 15 studio albums, three EPs, five live albums, one single-disc compilation, one retrospective box set, and is still active and touring.

At the time the album was released, most Christian music enthusiasts who weren't familiar with gothic music didn't know how to classify Prints of Darkness. It was most often compared to one of the best known gothic rock groups, The Sisters of Mercy. The album displayed satirical lyrics, a theme Healy would later become known for. Both Dead Artist Syndrome and its gothic rock style achieved more notice after Blonde Vinyl Records reissued Prints of Darkness in late 1991. The album begins with the song "Christmas", which is not a Christmas carol, but a rather sarcastic rock song that was said be a denouncement of the secularization and commercialization of what has become known as the "winter holiday season". "Amy" is a haunting, romantic ballad, while "Red" is a gloomy piece about a man who is mourning the loss of his wife, who may have either cheated on him, divorced him or died. The lyrics are said to symbolically to describe the apostasy of many churches, and relate to the Bible's description of the Church as the "Bride of Christ". The album ends with "Reach" which is a synthesizer-driven worship song. [1]

The Sisters of Mercy English rock band

The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company WEA. Currently, the band are a touring outfit only.

The album was re-issued in 2003 as a 13th Anniversary Edition with three bonus songs ("Surrender", "Rich Girl" and "Christmas [live with 77's]" on the label BCM Music. "Rich Girl" was originally recorded for Prints of Darkness, but left off because it was thought to be too sarcastic at the time.

Track listing

  1. "Christmas" (3:36)
  2. "Amy" (3:40)
  3. "Dancing Without Touching" (3:25)
  4. "Vision" (3:35)
  5. "Hope" (4:34)
  6. "Dance With Me" (4:03)
  7. "Think of Me" (3:15)
  8. "Red" (3:39)
  9. "Reach" (3:30)

Credits

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References

  1. 1 2 "Dead Artist Syndrome". Automata Zine. October 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-24.