celebration,
SiriusXM's Halloween Channel, or even a Halloween themed-cruise, Midnight
Syndicate's music has become synonymous
with the many people's celebration of the holiday. In September of 2009, AOL
released a list of the Top 10
Best Halloween Music CDs
of all time as ranked by AOL/CBS
Radio listeners. Three of the ten
CDs were Midnight Syndicate discs
(#8, #4, and #3) ranking only behind
Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before
Christmas and John Carpenter's
classic Halloween
soundtrack.
From
1997 through 2005, Midnight Syndicate
built their following through the
release of Midnight Syndicate,
Born of the Night, Realm of Shadows,
Gates of Delirium, Vampyre: Symphonies
from the Crypt, and The 13th Hour.
 In 2003,
Midnight Syndicate made an impact
in the gaming industry when it
teamed up with Hasbro and Wizards
of the Coast to produce the first
official soundtrack to the classic
role-playing game, Dungeons &
Dragons. Midnight Syndicate's
2005 release, The 13th Hour, was
the first music CD to ever receive
the industry's top two awards:
The Origins Award and the ENnie
Award for Best Gaming Accessory.
2007 saw the band take on three
new projects as they composed
music for Universal Studios'
Halloween Horror Nights XVIII,
scored Robert Kurtzman's drive-in
thriller, The Rage, and began
work on their biggest production
to date, The Dead Matter movie.
 An updated remake of a film
that Edward Douglas produced
and directed in 1995 for $2000,
The Dead Matter
is a supernatural thriller
co-produced by Midnight
Syndicate Films, Robert
Kurtzman (Producer of From
Dusk Till Dawn, co-founder
of KNB FX),
and Gary Jones (Xena,
Boogeyman 3). The
movie stars Andrew Divoff
(Lost, CSI: Miami, Wishmaster),
Jason Carter (Babylon 5, Angel),
FX-legend Tom Savini
(Friday the 13th, Dawn of
the Dead), and legendary
horror hosts Dick Count
Gore de Vol Dyszel
and Big Chuck Schodowski.
The movie tells the story
of a girl named Gretchen,
whose desire to reconnect
with her dead brother draws
her into the supernatural
world of vampirism and the
living dead. Drenched in the
dark and shadowy music of
Midnight Syndicate and inspired
by EC Comics, Creepshow,
and Hammer Films, this mix of classic horror, modern twists, and 80's camp proved to be a winning formula for fans and
critics alike.
In 2008,
the band released it's tenth
studio album, The Dead
Matter: Cemetery Gates.
One of their most critically
acclaimed releases to date
and inspired by the themes
from the upcoming movie, the
disc draws listeners into
the supernaturally-charged
world of The Dead Matter,
taking them on a musical journey
into a realm of forbidden
relics, druids, vampires,
and the living dead.
 In April of 2010, Midnight Syndicate released their
first music video. It was to the song Dark Legacy from
The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD. It featured Ed and Gavin performing live together for the first time, as
well as scenes from The Dead Matter movie. Produced with the help of Robert Kurtzman's Creature Crew and
Screamline Studios, the video was shot in the historic and haunted Phantasy Theatre in Lakewood, Ohio. In June,
Midnight Syndicate teamed up with Cleveland-based 529 Films (Hellementary) to release a second music
video, this time for the song Lost which appeared on both The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates and
The Dead Matter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. |
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In early July 2010, the band teamed up with vocalist Destini Beard to release The Dark
Masquerade. This six-song EP features existing Midnight Syndicate songs blended with operatic vocals and haunting
lyrics written performed by Destini. Production on a full-length followup CD entitled, A Time Forgotten, is
almost complete. Later that July, the band
released The Dead Matter DVD, The Dead Matter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and their
Halloween Music Collection CD, which is a compilation of some of the band's favorite tracks from their first
thirteen years.
 In August of 2011, the band
released their fourteenth studio album, Carnival Arcane.
The narrative of the disc surrounds the Lancaster-Rigby Carnival, a turn-of-the-century traveling circus with more than a few
skeletons in its closet. Inspired by historical research into carnivals of that time period and the writings of Ray Bradbury,
the disc features the band's most intense sound design to date. "We wanted to push the boundaries on this disc. For a
band that's made a career of making "soundtracks to imaginary" films, I think this one feels more like a movie than anything
we've done to date," said Edward Douglas. "Definitely the most complete and intricate soundscape we've ever produced.
You can practically smell the popcorn and Fairy Floss (cotton candy)," said Gavin Goszka. "There's also a tremendous amount of
variety. There are moments where I think the listner will find themselves caught up in this strange sense of wonder and
macabre fascination, and others that will leave them shaking in their boots. We were able to expand our instrument roster on
that disc in ways that we'd only touched on before." Within months, Carnival Arcane became the band's
most critically-acclaimed disc to date.
As Midnight Syndicate enters it's fifteenth year, they show no signs of slowing down. In January, the band announced that
they will be scoring the upcoming grindhouse thriller,
Bunyan (starring Joe Estevez and
Grizzly Adams' Dan Haggerty). In late-April they will be releasing A Time Forgotten, Destini
Beard's full-length followup CD to The Dark Masquerade. Plans for
the next Midnight Syndicate disc are also underway, with production expected to begin in mid-2012.
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