Walter the Dead rewrote the darkwave canon with cinematic shadows of panache in his eponymous debut single –

Walter the Dead has made his eponymous debut, leading listeners down a dark corridor of post-punk, where portraits of Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Joy Division hang alongside his greatest influences: She Past Away, Depeche Mode, and The Cure. Walter the Dead conjures the past with dark reverence and cinematic weight, delivering a release that doesn’t breathe nostalgia but exhales necromantic devotion.

The analogue synths, moody oscillations of reverb, and solid pulsive percussion leave no timestamps, no illusions that Walter the Dead belongs to any single era. Instead, it swarms with the seduction of the spectral energy, echoing the artists who gave us vessels to pour our ennui and lament into in the 80s. There’s something intensely sacred in the way this track was delivered—not as a revival, but as a dark offering on an altar built from decades of post-punk heartbreak.

Put together by Eric Smith, who has spent over 20 years shaping sound, the project captures the essence of his favourite 80s icons without slipping into imitation. It’s not always easy to draw a line between pastiche and panache, but Walter the Dead did it with razor-sharp precision. This debut will leave you restless in your wait for what might come next.

Walter the Dead is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast