CD Review

Midnight Syndicate – “Out of the Darkness”

By Marcus Pan

When I first spun this at work today, I immediately thought “Wow, these guys haven’t changed at all.” But as it turns out, Out of the Darkness is like a greatest hits compilation for Midnight Syndicate, covering the earlier dark ambient from Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka. Going as far back as 1997’s Midnight Syndicate debut with such tracks as Haunted Nursery and Druids, Out of the Darkness is a collection of what the duo has done in their earliest incarnation.

Tracks here can be found on the three past releases by Midnight Syndicate, Born of the Night[1], Midnight Syndicate and Realm of Shadows[2] with a half dozen or so of the 24 tracks being exceptions from that rule. Unreleased until now are the theme to The Dead Matter movie and Vampire’s Kiss from this movie as well, and four new tracks we haven’t heard yet such as Return of the Apparition, a continuing storyline from Born of the Night. The inclusion of the previously unreleased material along with the four new songs doesn’t do much to make Out of the Darkness a worthy buy for me.

None of the better, in my opinion, and more recent Midnight Syndicate releases are here – no Gates of Delerium[3], Vampyre[4], The 13th Hour[5] or, my favorite, Dungeons & Dragons[6]. I’m noticing the sheer similarity from one track to the next – all similar orchestration, bells, etc. from Midnight Syndicate’s earlier work. Even their new tracks here have similar styles and the same movements.

The music doesn’t differentiate too much, and it doesn’t have too much of a cohesive order that Born of the Night or Realm of Shadows did, but Out of the Darkness is a nice idea if you’re a big fan of theirs and want to hear what they have done in the past to position themselves as one of the foremost authorities on Halloween ambient soundtracks. Unfortunately since we’ve already reviewed Realm of Shadows and Born of Night I’m not quite sure what I can add that I haven’t already said.

Contact Information:
Midnight Syndicate
Post: 11510 Boxwood Circle, Chardon, OH, 44024, USA
Phone: (440) 286-1494
Phone: (440) 285-2449
E-Mail: info@midnightsyndicate.com
Web: www.midnightsyndicate.com

[1] Reviewed in Legends #102.
[2] Reviewed in Legends #102.
[3] Reviewed in Legends #108.
[4] Reviewed in Legends #128.
[5] Reviewed in Legends #152.
[6] Reviewed in Legends #140.

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