30 Days until Halloween!

Kicking off this year's Halloween Countdown is a review of Midnight Syndicate's new cd, "Carnival Arcane"!

Midnight Syndicate's new cd, "Carnival Arcane" is so infectious that I simply cannot stop listening to it!  From the moment I popped it in the cd player on the ride to school I simply knew that the Midnight Syndicate had struck gold!  Carnival even left my wife sitting in the car saying, "What is this, it is totally creepy?".
Starting with the first track, "Mesonoxian Visitors", the cd actually feels like it is guiding you through this dark and twisted carnival that has just come to your town.  I love the use of the track "Midway" as an actual introduction by way of a carnival barker to the macabre realm we have just entered.  Midnight Syndicate's use of sound effects mixed with their trademark orchestral sound is cranked up to maximum effect here, as I actually felt as if I was experiencing all the thrills and chills of a creepy carnival.  The tracks range from downright spooky to over the top carny style thrills such as, "Under the Big Top".  Some highlights I'd like to point out from the cd are the tracks, "Carousel Ride", "Kiddieland" (I guarantee this track will send chills down your spine), "Krellsig's Kastle of Fun" (in which I actually felt like I was on one of those decrepit old haunted carnival dark rides), and "Lights Out".  My favorite track of "Carnival Arcane" was "Welcome to the Carnival" with its thumping background beat and it's haunting melody! One of the most amazing things about "Carnival Arcane" is the apparent use of  "Binaural Recording"  I'm not sure if Midnight Syndicate actually recorded some of the parts this way or if it was just my brain, but I swore on some parts of the cd I felt as though I was actually walking right down the midway or sitting in on one of the shows in the carnival.  (For those that don't know what binaural recording is, it is the use of  two microphones to record sounds so that a stereo 3d surround effect is  achieved)
Since this is an official review I am going to score it with the old "Jolly Jack-O-Lantern" rating scale, which I haven't used in quite a while.  I officially give "Carnival Arcane" from the Midnight Syndicate 5 out of 5 "Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns" and can officially say it is tied for first as my favorite Midnight Syndicate cd!

Yes, 5 "Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns" is a must own for those don't know the rating scale, so please do yourself favor and click the Midnight Syndicate logo at the end of the post and purchase the cd from them.  We really need to support artists such as this who go out of their way to make sure that our Halloween (and every other day for that matter) are as creepy and macabre as we all love them to be!

Don't forget to check out all of the other amazing cds and other treats that are in the Midnight Syndicate store as well!