A look into Midnight Syndicate’s recent CD release ‘Monsters of Legend’
By Scott Haire, Haire Raiser Radio
Another All Hallows Eve is yet upon us and with it has come to us a standard checklist of things to do during the season. Among them are the practice of trick or treat, the dressing up as ghouls and goblins to fool the spirits that are among us with the thinning of the veil, and the viewing of some of the greatest horror films the movie industry has produced. Iconic characters that, after gracing the silver screen, have stayed relevant after their introduction a generation or two ago, Lugosi’s Dracula, Cheney’s Wolfman and Karloff’s Frankenstein are only a few of the many characters that were introduced to us in what many people call the ‘Golden age of film.’
I have always wondered what it would have been like to be witness back when these staples of film were taken from paper and brought to the screen for the first time. The shock on the face of movie goers of the reanimation of Frankenstein, the chill down the spine the first time witnessing Dracula rise from his coffin and take his first victim are only the type of firsts you can get once in the life of a movie character then are gone to history. With Halloween has come another of what has become a staple of the season and with them has come a new chapter in their musical evolution. They give us the rare opportunity of living out for ourselves in our minds the first that I mentioned above and make it our own as the generation did before. They have molded the Halloween experience for many in the world with titles such as The 13th Hour, Realm of Shadows and their last release Carnival Arcane. Now the duo of Ed Douglas and Gavin Goska bring us to a new realm with icons of old in their most recent release Monsters of Legend and show again why they are the cream that rises to the top in the genre of Gothic Horror Music. So let us delve inside the newest creation brought to life by the duo known to all as Midnight Syndicate.
Monsters of Legend, released on July 19th 2013, takes the listener back to the village of Arcacia, a location that was the setting of the earlier titles Realm of Shadows and Born of the Night. Within this village these classic creatures roam the village waiting to introduce themselves to you when you hit the play button of your listening device. The 21 tracks will take you to places in your mind that will amaze and awe you with every listen bringing you face to face with the settings of some of the greatest horror movies produced by famed film companies Universal Studios and Hammer Films. It will make you feel like you have lived the movies instead of just watching them on the screen. Although some of the tracks on the CD will be easily recognizable in their inspiration, Edward Douglas told me that most of the CD is not meant to be that way.
“We have tried to keep most of the tracks ambiguous“ Douglas stated to me recently, “We like to keep it non-specific because we hear a lot of very cool interpretations from the listeners on the music, some of it completely different, even from where Gavin and myself envisioned it originally when making the CD.”Within Monsters, Midnight Syndicate has also recreated tracks from its previous releases Born of the Nightand Realm of Shadows to aid in the Journey through this revisited land. “We felt going back to Arcacia, let’s take a few of these tracks and not remaster them; but rebuild them to help enhance the CD” Douglas explained, “for example twilight, which is a song that had been pretty much forgotten, is now, for me, one of my favorite Midnight Syndicate songs.” Whether picturing the Carriage Ride of Renfield up the mountain to Dracula’s Castle, or being mesmerized at the Stone Guardians peering down at you from above sending a chill up your spine, the music is guaranteed to take you places unique to you and hopefully find your way back again.
Midnight Syndicate, for added atmosphere, also brought in voiceover artist Dick Terhune to help bring Monsters of Legend to life. Terhune is known throughout the Haunted House industry as ‘The Voice from Hell’ and is an award winning Writer, Producer and voiceover artist for many commercials and other projects around the world. “Dick has worked in the voiceover business for many years and is really good at doing these very dark, haunting, twisted voices and we thought that this would be the perfect time to work with him.” Douglas continues, “When we were looking at rebuilding the track “Requiem” we wanted to do the narration and make it cooler than it was before, so he came up with this Latin prayer that was really really cool and knocked it out of the park. He did it so well we asked him to make cameos on the tracks ‘Unwanted Visitor’ and ‘Watchhful Gathering’ because we were so impressed with his work, which at first was not in the plan.” Doulas and Goska plan on working with him again on future projects.
Another facet outside of the music of Monsters of Legend is the amazing cover to the CD as it has a story of its own to tell. The cover, arranged by Brain Storm Studios, is comprised of images from the original art from the movies Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolves of London, Dracula and a few others. The images, originally all in black and white, had to be carefully rendered in color to produce the cover. Midnight Syndicate also had to get clearance to use the images from Universal Studios, the Karloff family, and Lugosi Enterprises to use the likeness of their famous family members. “Both Universal and the Lugosi family were great people to work with.” Douglas explained, “Of course we have a working relationship with Universal with their Halloween Horror Nights event and the Lugosi family loved us and loved the concept we had for “Monsters of Legend” as well. In fact we hope to be able to work with the Lugosi family again sometime in the future.”
Going outside of Monsters for a few minutes, in the interview I asked Ed and Gavin what horror character scared them the most as a child. “My scariest film as a kid had to be Salem’s Lot and the lead Character Kurt Barlow (played by Reggie Nader) the head vampire,” Goska replied, “the scene in the bedroom where the kid is scratching down the window and the fog and the claw in the window and I was like, yeah I’m done!” For Douglas it came very easy, “By far the character ‘Lucy’ (played by Kate Nelligan from Dracula (1979)”, Douglas continues, “she by far is my absolute child nightmare personified. Not very unique, but yeah….it’s Lucy.”
It would be wrong of me not to mention another CD that actually released after Monsters dropped and began to bring their followers, known as the Legions of the Night, their horror fix. In August of 2013, Midnight Syndicate released the soundtrack to Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan. Axe Giant, a SyFy channel film release in 2013, is a dark contemporary story that tells the tale of a number of youths at a first time offender camp that have a run in with the angry long thought dead giant 100 years after his banishment from town. The score takes you from the simplicity of strummed guitar strings to the sheer rampage of brass horns. Douglas and Goska bring a sound to the movie that is, as always, second to none. It also gave Douglas and Goska the opportunity to work with some 19th century instruments that they may not have had the chance to work with if not for this project. The work is definitely something that Midnight Syndicate fans will recognize as the “Midnight Syndicate Sound,” but also it will be something completely different to them as well.
For almost two decades the duo Edward Douglas and Gavin Goska have amazed us taking us on journeys that allow us to escape to other worlds and live the movies in our mind that have never been brought to film. Monsters of Legend and Axe Giant are just the current chapters in the evolving book known to all of us as Midnight Syndicate. I asked Ed and Gavin if there is a possibility that we could see a Monsters of Legends 2 or Trilogy, as many iconic characters were not used on this particular CD. “When we did this CD, we didn’t want to make it too eclectic and just ad different songs for characters in a willie nillie fashion. We wanted to make sure that the CD told a story also and had a flow to it.” Douglas explained, “It’s not out of the realm of possibility that we may revisit one day these characters and create a new story for the ones we didn’t explore this time around. We will just have to see.”I hope personally we return to Arcacia again to visit these monster one day sooner than later, but until then I wish you all a good night……sleep tight…..and don’t let the vampires bite!
You can find Monsters of Legend, Ax Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan and all the titles mentioned above at Midnight Syndicate’s website www.midnightsyndicate.com. Their music is also available for digital download purchase at Google Play, CD Baby, Amazon MP3 and ITunes. You can also find Midnight Syndicate on the web at www.fb.com/midnightsyndicate and on twitter @MidSyndicate.
About the Author:
Scott Haire is the Director of the Central Connecticut Paranormal Society (CCPS) in Connecticut. He is the owner of Haire Raiser Radio at www.haireraiserradio.com and is a Contributor of the radio show Earth Saturday nights 10 PM to Midnight Eastern. You can listen to him live at www.earthradionetwork.com.
