Track By Tracks: GNASH - Shared Nightmare (2022)

1. The Darker Half:

This song being the first track off the record which in itself is a concept record is about the acknowledgment of a darker side of yourself. In this case, it’s the conjoined twin. It’s not necessarily a good and evil situation as much as it is the understand that there is a dark side to everyone/everything. This is the introduction to the idea of emotional baggage being represented by a conjoined twin.

2. Broken Mirror Image:

Broken Mirror Image is a direct continuation of track one. After acknowledging The Darker Half, the one twin sees the other as a broken version of himself but in reality, since they are conjoined they are one and the same. This is where I introduce the death of The Darker Half. The death of one is the severed bond between the two and the realization that the living twin has to carry the burden of the attached twin with him for the rest of his life.

3. The Amniotic Lake:

This song is about the thought process of blaming everyone else for your misfortune. In this track, it tells a story of the living twin resentfully expressing how much better it was before they were born. “I’ve been spoiled by the warmth that’s all around me” is him saying he felt the love and warmth of the world while in the womb then as soon as they were born the cold realization of real life ruined all the happiness and love they had once felt. “You should have drowned me in the amniotic lake for the sake of unconditional love” is the twin blaming the mother for not ending their lives in utero.

4. Sacrificial Bastard:

The fourth and final track of the record Sacrificial Bastard is the “what now?” moment of the story. The living twin feels as if he is only there to be tormented for the pleasure of others. He has been carrying this baggage his whole life and after expressing his pain and anger he accepts the things he can’t change and thinks, “where will I go from here?”

I really wanted to find closure in this story with this particular song. I’ve never written a concept record before so I wanted to do my best to express how It feels inside dealing with clinical depression and anxiety your entire life. Even though I take pride in my sense of humor and my willingness to find laughter in even the heaviest of times, I still go to bed every night with that darker half attached to me.