"Zombies!!!" Soundtrack - Midnight Syndicate

Midnight Syndicate is back!  With their amazing holiday album - "Christmas:  A Ghostly Gathering" - being released late last year, I wasn't expecting another album so soon.  However, with the group's reputation of churning out quality horror-themed works on a regular basis, it really shouldn't have been so surprising.

The new album is actually a soundtrack for the "Zombies!!!" board game produced by Twilight Creations.  The game apparently has quite a following, being first introduced back in 2001 it has went on to have 13 expansions released since then.  While I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I've never sat down and played the game, I have came across it countless times at comic stores and conventions.  I have always appreciated the artwork that accompanies the game and almost purchased it on several occasions based on the artwork alone!

Therefore when I heard that this series was going to basis of the latest Midnight Syndicate project, I was very excited!  However I will admit that I also had some reservations...  Since I became familiar with the group, I have associated Midnight Syndicate with the Gothic pieces they have produced.  The albums I'm most familiar with seemed to have a classical vibe in keeping with the classic, archetypal subject matter of haunted houses, vampires, and Victorian era ghosts.  Their music feels in many ways like it's from another time, while "Zombies!!!" series seems to have more of a modern vibe, paying homage to Romero's "Living Dead" films.  I worried, I just wasn't sure that Midnight Syndicate's music would be a good fit.

I should have known better.

While the music has a distinctly different texture, the fingerprints of Midnight Syndicate are all over the album.  In keeping with "Zombies!!!" general aesthetic, the music wouldn't be out of place in a B-movie zombie film.  That sounds like an insult, but that's actually a great compliment.  As is often the case with Midnight Syndicate, they find a way to bring something fresh to the table and manage to reinvigorate even the most tired of horror tropes.

Some of the pieces are generally creepy.  Through the combination of sound effects and sparse atmospheric cues, I had to look over my shoulder more than a few times to make sure I wasn't actually being stalked by the undead.  For eample, check out "They're Coming for You..."

Like on "Monsters of Legend", Midnight Syndicate continues the tradition reworking some of their older pieces into new albums.  For example, "I Don't Think They're Dead" is another version of "The Witching Hour" and "Veiled Hunter" - possibly the most catchy track - was originally released on 2005's "The 13th Hour", but it works great within the context of "Zombies!!!"

One of the things that I have always felt that sets Midnight Syndicate apart from other artists within the genre is their ability to incorporate actual hum-able melody into their pieces.  While most would opt for percussion-heavy music with haphazardly piercing violin shrieks or something of that sort, Midnight Syndicate recognizes that melody matters, and even on "Zombies!!!" this comes to the fore and defines many songs.

With this being an album meant to serve as a soundtrack to the "Zombies!!!" board game I think that this collection is a success.  I may have to finally get around to purchasing the game!  However, even for anyone with little interest in the board game, I can honestly say that like all Midnight Syndicate's work this is a great album for getting into a spooky mood and with Halloween approaching this would be a great accompaniment to your home-haunting activities.

Overall, I recommend "Zombies!!!" as highly as I do the other Midnight Syndicate albums I have reviewed up to this point.  The quality of their output is consistently amazing and I can't wait to hear what to hear what they conjure up next!

"Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering" - Midnight Syndicate

As December 25th draws nearer, too many of us find ourselves already out of the spirit of the season due to the onslaught of sugar-coated, nerve-grating music that is all but inescapable this time of year.  Thankfully, Midnight Syndicate's latest release presents a wonderfully welcome alternative...  A Gothic-inspired Christmas album that provides a slightly darker - but far more enjoyable - approach to holiday music.

It seems to me that the majority of Christmas albums typically tend to be either saturated with overtly put-on cheerfulness or completely devoid of any substantial musical value.  The very notion of a Christmas album is usually associated with the ho-hum of yet another cash-grab for flavor-of-the-month pop performers who are happy to phone-in unimaginative, haphazard covers of songs we've heard already lazily covered a million times over.  

But just as Midnight Syndicate isn't your typical group of musicians, Christmas:  A Ghostly Gathering isn't your typical Christmas album... 

For this offering, the group alternates between original compositions and reworkings of classic Christmas songs.  As long-time fans would expect, the majority of the original pieces are unmistakably the work of Midnight Syndicate.  On these tracks the group does what they do best:  generate adventurously dark instrumentals thick with mood and a Gothic atmosphere.  "Winter Storm" is a particularly epic symphonic track that could easily have been a part of the group's previous release, Monsters of Legend.  Other notable original pieces include the gleefully devious "Little Helpers", the truly haunting "Into the Stillness", and the surprisingly heart-warming "Christmas at Midnight". "Night of the Krampus", an homage to the legendary Christmas devil of eastern European folklore, is of course one of my personal favorites.

However, the re-imaginings of the classic carols deserve attention as well!  One could easily imagine a self-described "Gothic Christmas Album" merely consisting of organs simply playing covers of well-known songs at a slower tempo to fit the label, but it is abundantly apparent that Midnight Syndicate was not going to be content with churning out a creatively lazy effort.  Instead, each of these reworkings offer something different and refreshing and are true re-imaginings of the Christmas songs you've heard so many times before.  

Older, more traditional songs that have been around for over a century (or longer) such as "Coventry Carol", "Greensleeves", and "Carol of the Bells" almost naturally lend themselves to a dark reworking.  But Midnight Syndicate also take on cheerier tunes such as "Up on the Housetop" and twist them into something you might expect to hear on the soundtrack for a horror film.

While the group does indeed take a darker approach, that isn't to say that the album isn't to say that the album is a completely grim in tone or lacking of any kind cheer associated with the Christmas season.  Quite the contrary, there are more than a few moments of what I can only be describe as genuine Christmas joy and wonder!  "Sing We Now of Christmas" is simply majestic sounding (I imagine climbing some moonlit snow-covered peak while listening to this piece). The group's rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" caught me totally off guard...  For a moment I forgot that I was listening to a Midnight Syndicate record and got swept up in the majestic awe captured on the track.  

The final verdict:  Midnight Syndicate's Christmas:  A Ghostly Gathering is a Christmas album that defies the conventions of holiday music flooding the airwaves this time of year.  Bursting with creativity and imagination, this collection of original pieces and dark re-imaginings of classic carols are a perfect alternative for anyone looking for a truly unique listening experience this holiday season.  Who would have guessed that a group known for creating Halloween music would be so successful in breathing new life into Christmas songs?

You can find out more about Midnight Syndicate and purchase albums such as Christmas:  A Ghostly Gathering on their website.

"Monsters of Legend" - Midnight Syndicate

In describing their music, Midnight Syndicate have characterized their dark, moody work as "soundtracks for the imagination".  Monsters of Legend, one of the groups' most recent releases, certainly lives up to this lofty aspiration, while refining their craft and managing to break new ground!

I was actually introduced to the music of these amazing artists a long time ago, but I didn't even realize it at the time.  It wasn't until I began honing my monster-making skills to create my own Halloween display and was looking for something to set the mood that I stumbled upon their work and "rediscovered" their music.

The group's albums have been a mainstay in Halloween attractions for years with most major professional haunts around the world using their albums in their shows.  In fact, according to Midnight Syndicate's website, it is estimated by an industry expert that "75-90% of the attractions in the haunted house industry owned at least one Midnight Syndicate CD".  I guess that would explain why I felt a such great sense of déjà vu when I listened to their music!

Midnight Syndicate has been creating Gothic music since 1997.  The award-winning group consists of composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka.  Through the years, Midnight Syndicate has developed 18 albums, including soundtracks for three films and an album meant to accompany the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. 

The majority of these collections, however, exemplify what Midnight Syndicate is best known for:  Mood-establishing music that tells a story.  Described as "scores for imaginary films", each album has a different foreboding theme and locale with albums set in a haunted mansion, abandoned asylum, and supernatural circus.  

With Monsters of Legend, Midnight Syndicate sought to pay homage to the classic horror films of Universal Studios and Hammer Films.  As always, Midnight Syndicate's subtle melodies establish an eerie mood from the outset.  This time around, however, their sound is punctuated by symphonic embellishments and a deeper resonance, giving each piece an appropriately cinematic tone.  The understated melodies provide some great goose bump-inducing moments while the epic orchestral flourishes make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  As they have in previous albums, the group utilizes sound effects throughout their pieces, method that could easily derail a piece in less-talented hands, but the group somehow manages to use these effects at the most effective moments, further enhancing their story-telling by generating imagery in the listener's mind.

Midnight Syndicate prove once again that they definitely know what they are doing.  Through the music, one can easily envision classic scene's from classic horror films...  Carriage rides to ancient castles where vampires reside, victims evading bloodthirsty werewolves in foggy moonlit forests, mad scientists working feverishly to give life to monsters cobbled together from corpses.  Indeed, the music creates a great atmosphere for concocting monsters of one's own... I'll admit, I find myself listening to this album on repeat as I work on Cryptic Corridor posts, regardless of the time of year!

It should be noted that Monsters of Legend was met with much well-deserved accolades and critical acclaim upon its release.  The album was named one of FEARnet's Top 10 Horror CD's of 2013 and earned the group a second Rondo Classic Horror Award for Best CD.

After rediscovering Midnight Syndicate through this amazing album, I have had the pleasure of meeting Edward Douglas on several occasions at various Horror conventions such as Scare-Fest and Mask-Fest.  Each time, Douglas was cordial and overflowing with enthusiasm, eager to talk about the group's music and upcoming projects.  

One such project was Kickstarter campaign Midnight Syndicate created around the time Monster of Legend was released.  The goal of the fundraiser was for the group to go on tour and share their music with live audiences.  I was disappointed to find that that particular project fell through, but was later delighted to find out that the group was invited to create a live show for Cedar Point amusement park, called Midnight Syndicate Live:  Legacy of Shadows.  The show features a live music concert with elements of horror theatre.  I hope to one day be able to attend this show!

Another exciting project is the follow-up to Monsters of Legend, a Christmas/Winter Solstice-themed album -  Christmas:  A Ghostly Gathering - released earlier last month (which I'll make a special post on as we near the holiday season).  I'll admit to this:  I'm not a big fan of Christmas music, especially not in season, but I've had to force myself to stop listening to it while I work on my Halloween projects to save it for the winter months!

You can find out more about Midnight Syndicate and purchase music on their website.