Terry's Reviews
Page
|
||
| Movies | Music | Books |
Music Reviews: |
||
 |
Midnight Syndicate – Vampyre
Linfaldia Records – 2002 |
|
| The dark creeping terror of the legendary
bloodsucking creature is brought to life via Midnight Syndicate’s latest CD. Running
just over fifty minutes, Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka have created another audio
display that horror fans worldwide should treasure. "Awakening" kicks off the CD and is centered around one haunting throbbing keyboard note that is surrounded by other gothic symphonic touches (clanging bell, choir like voices). Piano and light string orchestration ushers us into the "Graveyard." You’d damn near swear the Phantom of the Opera was back to playing the creepy organ in "Unhallowed Ground." The crawling deep keyboard lines of "Crypt of the Forsaken" will grab you and pull you down into the ground. I could visualize a whole sky full of bats scurrying about in "Winged Fury." You get a bit of a breather in "Blackest Rose" before submerging into the "Ravages of Time." I liked the simplicity of the piano in "Catacombs" which almost felt like something out of THE FOG. Douglas and Goszka turn the intensity up in "Unseen Eyes" which has some wicked compositional elements. "Undead Hunters" packs an action punch. The gates of hell seem to open up when "Ancient Comes." "Dusk" maybe one of the subtlest cuts off the entire CD, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s more ambient then most of the other of the cues, which gives it more power. The beginning of "Spectral Masquerade" will immediately make you think of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN. "Vampyre" wraps up the album with Midnight Syndicate’s signature symphonic sound of marching keyboard dread, haunting voices and stomping percussion. I consider VAMPYRE another successful chapter in the ever-growing Midnight Syndicate catalog. I urge you to check these guys out if you haven’t already. |
||