Genre/Influences: Gothic, horror-electro.

Background/Info: Veikchild is a French music project, which claims to be inspired by bands like Blutengel and Depeche Mode, but also by horror movies, vampires and other creatures from the night. This is the debut work of Veikchild.

Content: Veikchild clearly sounds inspired by dark themes and you more than once get the impression to hear a sonic interpretation of classical horror themes. The use of organ and harpsichord sounds only accentuates the ‘horror’ style. I don’t really see any possible comparison with Blutengel (except some vampire themes) and Depeche Mode when it comes to the composition.

Veikchild clearly strives to compose a dark universe reminding to the good-old and legendary black & white horror movies. Electronics and guitar riffs join hands while there are not a lot of vocals running through the production.

+ + + : I like this somewhat old-fashioned horror style and especially the typical atmosphere created by the organ playing. It creates a great and haunting ambiance, which is the right work to play on Halloween. “Dark Hellectro Monument” brings nothing innovative, but it’s a pleasant work.

– – – : We’re facing a debut work and that’s an element that rapidly comes through. The sound formula is somewhat repetitive and starts to get monotonous after a while. Veikchild also has to inject more vocals into their work except if they want to become a cinematographic formation in the vein of Midnight Syndicate.

Conclusion: I can’t say that this is a fully successful debut although Veikchild deals with musical ideas I really like and, which now have to be elaborated in the writing process.

Best songs: “Wolf Inside Me”, “Lascivious Vampire”.

Rate: (6).

Band: www.facebook.com/veikchildofficial

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Gothic-soundtrack.

Background/Info: Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka became recognized composers in a music genre we can easily define as gothic-soundtrack and horror-cabaret. Midnight Syndicate is active since the 90s and has released an impressive number of records. This new album is a soundtrack that was written for the “Zombies Board Game” revealing 18 cuts.

Content: The theme of the album totally fits to the sound universe of both musicians and is an opportunity to discover new haunted compositions revealing heavy, orchestrations and the usual bombast of this band. The haunted atmospheres are joined by a few epic chants, which work great on the first cut.

The composition sounds like pure drama, which has been reinforced with the impressive arrangements and freaky sound passages. This album was clearly conceived as a soundtrack revealing many short cuts. I sometimes get the impression to hear an influence from the legendary “Psycho” movie from Alfred Hitchcock, which is appealing for some extra fantasies this music is appealing to.

+ + +: Midnight Syndicate once more confirms their great writing skills in horror music and especially the soundtrack concept. The heavy bombast and epic arrangements both accentuate this unique sensation. The dark horror strings and other typical piano arrangements are there to achieve this freaky sonic trip.

– – – : This is not my favorite Midnight Syndicate release. I get the impression they mainly reinforced the heavy orchestral part instead of the haunted atmospheres and cabaret approach, which I was used to hearing.

Conclusion: I guess composing a soundtrack for a ‘zombie’ theme must be one of the ultimate dreams of Midnight Syndicate. They did it and once more reveal their dark horror music.

Best songs: “Zombie Master”, “Adrenaline Rush”, “It Begins”.

(7).

Band & Label: www.midnightsyndicate.com / www.facebook.com/MidnightConfiguration

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Gothic, gothic-cabaret, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka started with Midnight Syndicate during the late 90s. They’ve released an impressive number of records, which all have this typical ‘haunted house’ atmosphere as the common element. It’s not really a coincidence that their sound has been often linked to Halloween’.

Content: This new opus is based on a haunting Christmas concept, but it quickly becomes clear that the album is not exactly into the typical songs that we are used to hearing during this period. Except a few elements like jingle bells and fragmented Christmas tunes Midnight Syndicate invites us to join their familiar cinematographic universe of gothic and haunted houses music.

The work is once more conceived as an imaginary soundtrack that has been accomplished with bombastic, orchestral and sometimes epic arrangements, which are refined by neo-classic passages. This is gothic music reminding me of images of old black & white movies featuring vampires and other scary creatures. It also sounds a bit cabaret-like, but here again you have to imagine freaky creatures and fantastic stories.

↑↑↑: Midnight Syndicate remains a truly revelation when it comes to speaking about gothic music. This is an impressive and mature production with a strong orchestral approach.

↓↓↓ : I sometimes get the impression that the themes are moving from album to album while the sound formula remains pretty similar.

Conclusion: This album is a radical antidote to Bing Crosby while I more imagine Bela Lugosi as the new Santa Claus.

Best songs: “Carol Of The Bells”, “The Parade Of The Soldiers”.

Rate: (DP:7½)DP.

Band & Label: www.midnightsyndicate.com / www.facebook.com/MidnightConfiguration

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com