Gates of Delirium B00005B503

Gates of Delirium - 4.3 out of 5 stars from 29 customer reviews


Classical soundtrack stylings
Classical music was murdered by academics in the 20th century. But when it died, it became necessary to re-invent it.

This is a nice, largely instrumental collection arranged around the theme of a stint in a Hammer horror madhouse. Messrs. Douglas and Goszka compose some nice themes in an atmospheric style that sounds, at times, like a movie soundtrack composer's take on Chopin, Mussorgsky, or a sinister Debussy. Some of the melodies are nice enough to make you wish that, instead of giving you twenty one tracks of pop song length, they had lingered on the best of them to develop and combine them.

This record would be great to play in the background during a roleplaying session.

Journey into to the Halls of Madness
Of the Midnight Syndicate discs I own, this is one of my favorites. There's a lot of musical variety and some really creepy soundscape moments. The setting for this masterpiece is a haunted turn-of-the-century asylum. As is with all the Midnight Syndicate discs, the atmosphere is created through a blending of orchestral, instrumental, movie-soundtrack type music and occasional sound effects.

Although predominantly very dark and tenebrous, there are some tracks that have more of a reflective, haunting feel to them. Tracks like the title track, "Unrest in the East Wing," "Halls of Insurrection," "Welcome," and my favorite, "Alternative Therapy" are the up-tempo, sometimes frantic, on-the-edge tracks that most would associate with an operating house of madness. However, pieces like "Haverghast Asylum," "Residents Past" (also a favorite), "Ebony Shroud," and "Cage of Solitude" are slower, sometimes...

Absolutely Incredible Musical Tour Through A 19th Century Asylum!!
Listening to this muscial masterpiece as I type this, I'm astounded to find that I have never placed my review of this Incredible CD on this page and I've owned it for years.

Allow me to correct that mistake right now.

Everyone...this is one FUN FUN FUN CD!

Just listening to this music now, there is so much more freedom and artistic openness to the arrangements from the previous two CDs.

Both Born of the Night and Realm of Shadows are Awesome CDs in thier own right and ANY Midnight Syndicate fan should have them in thier collection (if they can still obtain a copy seeing that both recordings have been discontinued) but there is an *oppression* present that I can't put my finger on.

I can't explain it.

But in THIS recording...Midnight Syndicate Band Mates Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka BUST LOOSE and become the Artists that they are destined to be. This musical tour relies VERY LITTLE on sound effects and those that are...

> Click to See Editorial Reviews