Gothic Soundscapes In Time For Halloween
August 27th 2008
For those who follow Nox Arcana and Midnight Syndicate’s work it will thrill you to know both bands will have fresh new material on the shelves in time for the 2008 Halloween season.
NOX ARCANA’S PHANTOMS OF THE HIGH SEAS
In July, Nox Arcana announced the release of their TENTH major production entitled Phantoms of the High Seas which centers around dark legends of ghost ships that haunt the misty night and promises to be drenched in pirate lore.
Vargo’s work with Piotrowski has been nothing short of outstanding since their debut and just gets better and better with each release. While I’ll be the first to admit (as much as I love them) this whole pirate thing has gotten a bit old hat, cliche, and a tad over commercialized (gee, thanks Disney). But none-the-less I’m also a sucker for Nox Arcana’s work. So when they dropped an overture of samples from each track online this week (as they do with all thier releases) I had to check it out. If you’re a fan of thier prior releases Transylvania, Carnival of Lost Souls, and Blood of the Dragon, then you’ll love this new masterpiece as much as I have so far.
Phantoms will hit the shelves sometime this October just in time for Halloween.
MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE’S THE DEAD MATTER: CEMETERY GATES
The last year or so these guys have been tied up with a couple movie soundtracks (Sin-Jin Smyth which kinda fell off the radar; and The Rage to which the soundtrack left a little to be desired) as well as a full movie production (The Dead Matter, for which this CD is loosely based). So when these guys announced they had a new album coming out I’m sure their was a collective sigh of “FINALLY”.
While I still listen to thier work I’ll have to admit that their stuff has been on a downward spiral since Vargo split off from the bad during the production of Realm of Shadows. I’m not gonna get into the specifics here (a google search will turn up enough sufficient material) nor am I gonna take sides - bands split all the time for various reasons, it’s the nature of industry. I judge artists for their material not by whats going with them politically or personally.
That said the last decent release from them was Vampyre. Dungeons and Dragons was OK but nothing to write home about. The 13th Hour felt like a rehash of themes and medleys from their older works set against new sound effects. Don’t even get me started on Out of the Darkness (the one CD I refuse to buy). So when they announced Cemetery Gates I was a little cautious about my support for this album. The sample tracks released weren’t too bad nor were they masterpieces. To say I was only slightly excited to hear this week that the album was released is putting it mildy. I’ll probably pick it up at Spirit Halloween over the weekend if it’s on their shelves.
Before the first settlers arrived on the coasts of America… In a place now known as Windsor, the Pequot Indians tell of a legend of an ancient evil trapped beyond a mystical portal that leads to a realm of shadow and darkness. Some say that the very essence of the Pequot War was fought over rights to this dark gateway. Others say that the gateway was opened and that the evil which was released tore appart any existing peace between the tribes and the American settlers.