Midnight Syndicate

For the past fourteen years, dark music pioneers Midnight Syndicate have been creating Halloween music and gothic, horror, fantasy soundtracks for the imagination. Formed by composer/director Edward Douglas in 1995, their music has become a staple of the Halloween, gothic music, haunted attraction, and role-playing game industries. With a catalog of CDs that blend dark, orchestral horror and fantasy movie score-style music with sound effects, the band consisting of Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka has had its soundtracks to imaginary films featured in everything from Hugh Hefner's infamous Halloween parties, Barbara Walters specials and Monday Night Football to X-Box games, tracks by the Academy-Award winning rap act, Three Six Mafia, as well as concerts by dark music pioneers The Misfits and King Diamond. The music has also been featured on countless television shows and documentaries relating to horror films and the supernatural.
Often referred to as the first Halloween band or Haunted House band, Midnight Syndicate is the industry standard for the world's top haunted attractions and amusement parks. From Siberia and Hong Kong to Europe and the United States, whether it's a store, neighborhood celebration, or even a themed-cruise, Midnight Syndicate's music has become synonymous with the celebration of the Halloween season. 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 and modern twists promises to deliver for fans of the genre.
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".



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. Plans for a full-length followup CD are currently underway. 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 February of 2011, the band announced their plans to release a dark carnival-themed CD entitled "Carnival Arcane" in August of this year.