Midnight Syndicate is an American musical duo that has been working primarily in the genre of neoclassical dark wave music since 1997 and is based in Chardon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
The band refers to their CDs as "soundtracks for the imagination" or "soundtracks to imaginary films". Their songs are characterized by a blend of instrumental music and sound effects and are commonly used to provide atmosphere during the Halloween season, in haunted attractions, amusement parks, and in the role-playing game industry.
History
Formation and early years (1996–1998) Composer/filmmaker Edward Douglas formed Midnight Syndicate in 1996 shortly after releasing a micro-budget, direct-to-video horror film called The Dead Matter (1996) which he directed and scored and would later remake in 2010.Michael Gingold, "The Dead Matter: From Midnight music to a movie", Fangoria Magazine (New York, NY), August, 2010, Pg.6. Midnight Syndicate's self-titled debut album was released the following year. A majority of music on the album was written, arranged, and performed by Edward Douglas. Contributors included Scott Angus, Mark Rakocy, Dennis Carleton, Jamie Barbour, Ray Portler, the rap act Dark Side, and Christopher Robichaud. Douglas coined the term cine-fusion to describe the album. Cine-fusion is described in the album's liner notes as "a blending of movie soundtrack music and pop music ... a compilation of soundtracks to movies that do not exist. The goal of the music is to stimulate the imaginations of listeners so that they are able to transport themselves to worlds or movies of their own creation." Musically, the album contained an eclectic blend of styles including everything from dark instrumental music (of which three tracks appeared on future releases), rock, rock-a-billy, techno, rap, new-age, comedy music, jazz, and space. Movie-style sound effects were employed in some tracks. In March 1998, a multimedia show was produced by Douglas and his company, Entity Productions, to support the album. The show included a blending of original short films, live music, animation, and stage performers.Charles Cassady, "On Fright Night and Beyond the Spookiest Sounds", West Life News, October 25, 2006, Pg.11B.Jackie Antonacci, "Production Company Entertains All Ages", Geauga Courier, January 15, 1998, Pg.1
Breakout (1998–2000) In 1998, Douglas teamed up with gothic fantasy artist Joseph Vargo, and the two decided to create an exclusively dark-themed instrumental Midnight Syndicate album, the result of Joseph Vargo's desire to produce an album that people could play in the background of their Halloween parties. Vargo developed the storyline and concept of a musical journey through a haunted castle, with the music reflecting his gothic artwork, in addition to being integral to many of the creative decisions on the album.Radio Interview with Joseph Vargo, Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka Station WERE 1300, (Cleveland, OH.), October 1998.
Composer Gavin Goszka, formerly a solo artist in a project called Lore, also joined Douglas and Vargo in the new Midnight Syndicate line-up. Together, they created Born of the Night, a groundbreaking album that appealed to fans of gothic music, the horror genre, and haunted attractions. Douglas and Goszka wrote and performed the music on the album while Vargo served as executive producer and creative director of the project, as well as writing and performing the vocals and narrations, and designing the cover art and packaging. The album and songs were also titled after several of Vargo's most popular paintings. Born of the Night was independently released in September 1998 through Vargo's Monolith Graphics and Douglas' Entity Productions, hitting the horror market just in time for the Halloween season. It was Midnight Syndicate's first critically acclaimed gothic-horror soundtrack and proved to be an instant success,John Soeder, "Gothic Horror Rock Featured This Weekend", The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), March 2, 2000, Pg. 21. establishing Midnight Syndicate's trademark sound.
In March 2000, Realm of Shadows followed suit with the same flavor of dark instrumental music and another gothic setting illustrated by Joseph Vargo. Douglas and Goszka wrote all of the music for this album while Vargo wrote and performed the opening narration and theme story. Again, the songs were titled after Vargo's artworks. Both albums were featured as official soundtracks for Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, and used in several other major theme parks during Halloween, such as Busch Gardens, Cedar Point, Kennywood Park, and Thorpe Park's Fright Nights event.Jeff Niesel, "Soundbites", Scene Magazine (Cleveland, OH), October 14, 1999. The heavy metal band King Diamond also featured tracks from Born of the Night and Realm of Shadows as opening music for their 2000 US tour. Afterwards, Vargo and Midnight Syndicate chose to work separately of one another on future projects.Interview with Midnight Syndicate Peter Iorillo, "Something Wicked This Way Comes", Dark Realms Magazine (Cleveland, OH.), Issue 1, January 2001, Pg. 20-23. Rise (2001–2006) Midnight Syndicate's third gothic horror soundtrack, Gates of Delirium, was released in 2001. This time Douglas and Goszka teamed up with two members who worked on the first Midnight Syndicate CD, Mark Rakocy (graphic design) and Christopher Robichaud (vocals). Set in a Victorian haunted mental institution called Haverghast Asylum, Gates of Delirium was the first Midnight Syndicate disc to feature the fictitious Haverghast family, a theme the band would revisit on future discs such as The 13th Hour and Bloodlines. Gavin Goszka has since called Gates of Delirium "a personal favorite" from the Midnight Syndicate library.
During the 2001 Halloween weekend, six of the band's mp3 singles were in the Top 20 for all of MP3.com (#1, No. 2, No. 7, No. 10, No. 12, and No. 19) registering over 100,000 listens in three days. The title track from Born of the Night remained at No. 1 for over a week with two tracks from Gates of Delirium maintaining their positions in the Top 40 as well.
In August 2002, the band released their fifth studio album Vampyre. The vampire-themed disc was the first Midnight Syndicate disc to feature a cover designed by fantasy artist Keith Parkinson.
By this time, the band's popularity with role-playing gamers who used their discs as background for their sessions had grown to where they were exhibiting at gaming conventions. It was at one of these conventions that the band was approached by designers from Wizards of the Coast. The result was the 2003 release Dungeons & Dragons: Official Role-playing Soundtrack, the first officially licensed soundtrack to the classic roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. The album (whose fantasy themes were a departure from previous releases) was generally well received by music critics and the gaming community and helped the band build their following in Europe.Bernard Van Isacker, "Midnight Syndicate: Success Comes From Within Yourself", Side-Line (Bruxelles, Belgium, July, 2005). Some of the tracks were later used in computer games Baldur's Gate - Dark Alliance II and Shadowbane expansions Rise of Chaos and Throne of Oblivion.
In August 2005, the band released The 13th Hour. Featuring vocal effects by Lily Lane of the horror-rock band Lazy Lane and cover art by Keith Parkinson the disc is set in a haunted Victorian mansion. The album would become one of their most popular titles, winning awards in the gaming industry, and eventually inspiring Bloodlines in 2021.
In March 2006, Midnight Syndicate announced that Born of the Night and Realm of Shadows were out of print. In July of that same year Out of the Darkness (Retrospective: 1994–1999) was released featuring re-recorded versions of tracks from the Midnight Syndicate (1997), Born of the Night (1998), and Realm of Shadows (2000) albums and tracks from Edward Douglas' early scores for his films Journey into Dementia (1994) and The Dead Matter (1996) and a previously unreleased track by Gavin entitled, Prisoner of Time. The album artwork was created by fantasy artist, Rob Alexander, who also created a number of works for Magic: the Gathering games.Artist website of Rob Alexander (cover artist for Out of the Darkness (Retrospective: 1994–1999). The track Into The Abyss was featured as the outtro of the final track of the Misfits 2013 live album, DEA.D ALIVE! In 2015, the album was included in Rue Morgue Magazine's 50 Essential Horror Albums - Discs That Created, Evolved, or Defined Genre Music Through the Decades."50 Essential Horror Albums, Rue Morgue Magazine, October 2015 Issue 160, Pg. 28-36
Film soundtracks (2007–2010) In early 2007, the band temporarily shifted from creating "soundtracks to imaginary films" to composing music for actual projects when they completed the score to Robert Kurtzman's, The Rage and wrote music for Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 17's Carnival of Carnage. The Rage: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in February 2008.Midnight Syndicate News Archives July 30, 2007
In September 2007, Douglas returned to filmmaking as director, co-producer, and composer of an updated remake of his 1995 horror film, The Dead Matter. The remake stars Andrew Divoff, Tom Savini, and Jason Carter, and was co-produced by Kurtzman.IMDB.com listing for The Dead MatterFirst Casting for The Dead Matter Johnny Butane, Dread Central, June 17, 2007 During this time, Gavin Goszka started a solo project called Parlormuse which featured Victorian era songs re-recorded in a modern folk rock style.Carl E. Feather, "Syndicate Ready for Halloween", Star Beacon (Ashtabula, OH), October 8, 2008, Sec. B, Pg. B1.
In August 2008, the band released The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, a CD of music inspired by the themes from The Dead Matter movie. Midnight Syndicate's first two music videos were made for the songs Dark Legacy and Lost from the disc. In the finale of the music video for Dark Legacy, Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka are shown playing on stage at the historic Phantasy Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. It marked the first time they had played together live.Midnight Syndicate Video Shoot Update Gregory Burkhart, FEARnet News, March 12, 2010
On July 30, 2010 The Dead Matter movie was released on DVD along with a Midnight Syndicate compilation CD called Halloween Music Collection and an EP entitled The Dark Masquerade featuring gothic artist Destini Beard performing operatic vocals and lyrics to various Midnight Syndicate recordings. The Dead Matter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was also released on July 30. The CD featured the score by Edward Douglas, other music that appeared in the film, and several remixes of Midnight Syndicate tracks by other artists.The Dead Matter, Hot Topic stores strike lively distribution deal Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer, July 17, 2010
Studio albums, collaborations and live shows (2011–2019) In August 2011, the band released its fourteenth studio album, entitled Carnival Arcane. The theme of the CD surrounds a fictional turn of the century traveling circus called The Lancaster Rigby Carnival. The CD was inspired by research into carnivals of that time period and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. In 2012, the album won the Best CD category in the 2012 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.2012 Rondo Award Winners David Colton, April 3, 2012