Listen up Deadites! Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.
Well, with all the conventions and festivals going on, I’m getting green with gangrene… I mean, envy… watching all you haunters have all kinds of spooky fun without me. But, we’re only a couple weeks away from one of my favorite conventions, and one I never miss, the Midwest Haunters Convention. Now, Midwest Haunters has always been my favorite for a number of reasons, but I really like the camaraderie I feel there as well as the opportunity to get to talk with several of my favorite Halloween people. And given that it takes place smack dab in the heart of Ohio, we’re right in the stomping ground of the one and only Midnight Syndicate.
Now, folks familiar with the haunt industry are no doubt very familiar with the work of Midnight Syndicate, but if you’re new to the industry or are still looking around for some stellar music to use in your haunted attraction, yard haunt, or your music collection in general, Midnight Syndicate has a host of superb CD’s available for you. And in honor of my coming road trip to the strange state of Ohio, I thought it would be very appropriate to bring to you a review this week of one of my favorite Midnight Syndicate albums; The 13th Hour.
The 13th Hour is a unique album in that there is quite a serious focus put on the ambient qualities of the production that really tie all the musical elements together into a coherent storyline. The entire album listens like an audio journey through an old Victorian mansion wrought with ghosts, ghouls, and other horrible entities that really culminates in an epic audio adventure through a superbly crafted gothic atmosphere. This is the type of album you can listen to from beginning to end and will always be on your toes for what is coming next.
The blend of ambient noise and sound effects are mixed perfectly with Midnight Syndicate’s orchestration, and the tracks are cut together in a way which makes both the music and sound effect tracks easily accessible if you’re looking for a particular moment in the soundtrack. Something like this, in my opinion, is very useful because if you’re using the album in your haunted attraction or yard haunt, it makes it very easy to quickly pull up the exact track you’re looking for. There are several ambient or sound effect only tracks that range from breathing, footsteps, ambient noise, etc.—so the chances of finding a suitable track for your application is very high.
In addition to how the album was actually cut and produced, the musical qualities of the tracks vary greatly and offer a very diverse range of soundscapes, which keep the ear quite busy. So let me take you along to some of my favorite tracks, both ambient and musical, to highlight the atmospheric qualities and superb compositions The 13th Hour offers.
(“Mansion In the Mist” clip)
The first several tracks of the album introduce you to the mansion and set the mood for the entire work. Solitary and gothic, with just the right amount of sadness and despair, they really get the album off to a tremendous start. Once you’re “inside the mansion” the musical tracks really take off and immerse you in the dark history of the house. The first two big musical pieces are “Time Outside of Time” and “Fallen Grandeur.” “Time Outside of Time” really helps take you back through time to the days in which the mansion was at its peak, while the track “Fallen Grandeur” is an explosion of organ arpeggios and accompanying orchestration that again furthers your perspective of the house.
(“Fallen Grandeur” clip)
The next several tracks are ambient sound effect mixes that escort us along through the corridors of the mansion, past an old clock and into “The Drawing Room.” It is at this point in the album where the mood turns incredibly creepy and the horror elements of the mixes start to take hold. Through the use of unsettling sound effects and very dissonant chords, Midnight Syndicate is able to completely hurl you into the dark and foreboding “Mausoleum d’Haverghast”…
(“Mausoleum d’Haverghast” clip)
We’re then brought to a piece called “Family Secrets” that was, for me, very reminiscent of old school horror movies, featuring piano arpeggios, heavy strings, and a great mix of very dark vocal elements.
(“Family Secrets” clip)
The creep factor is then brought back heavily with the ambient breath track “Last Breaths” and we’re then launched into the heavily foreboding track “Vertigo.” This track uses strings very well to create a very tense feeling, all the while using superbly mixed stereo vocal sweeps that create an all-encompassing, disturbing feeling. This is one of my favorite tracks on the entire album because it is just so effective.
(“Vertigo” clip)
The next several tracks take us deeper into the audio storyline of the album with Midnight Syndicate’s signature epic orchestrations. “The Watcher” uses piano and vocals to create a very lightly orchestrated, but effective feeling of suspense. The ambient track “Cellar” then helps keep the suspense up by using whispers to help guide us through the dark catacombs beneath the mansion. This track would be perfect for a haunt to help boost creep factor quickly. Followed by the epic track “Cold Embrace” we’re greeted with a very dynamic, almost overpowering march. This track is produced so well, it sounds like it was taken right out of a dark fantasy movie. We then come up to another of my favorite tracks, “Hand In Hand Again,” where the use of processed vocals and sound effects make you feel like you’re listening to a very, very old record player. The creep factor is way high by this point, and this track takes it yet one notch higher.
(“Hand In Hand Again” clip)
We’re then launched into an epic waltz titled “Harvest of Deceit” that really picks up the tempo of the album. This track is about half way through the album, and it comes at a perfect time to act as almost an intermission. But by now, I’m sure you’re aware that Midnight Syndicate won’t let you rest that easily… The next track “Footsteps in the Dust” reignites the creepy ambiance with a great mix of sound effects, music box arpeggios, whispers, giggles, and more. The creep factor flies through the roof by the end of this track.
(“Footsteps in the Dust” clip)
The next track “Veiled Hunter” is again very reminiscent of the horror movies of the late 80’s, and I think it is very successful in following “Footsteps in the Dust” because it very effectively keeps the suspense high. We then come to the very gothic organ track titled “Sinister Pact.” This lovely blend of pipe organ and strings provides a disturbingly soothing dénouement to the suspense of the last several tracks. The next track “Grisly Reminder” continues this dénouement but adds piano and mixed sound effects to help start stirring the suspense again. The soothing qualities of these two tracks are quickly smashed to bits with the next track “Deadly Intentions.” With the use of synthesizers, voices, sound effects, and very jarring reversed music, they quickly bring the heightened suspense back to the forefront of the audio experience.
(“Deadly Intentions” clip)
The next track “The Lost Room” is a more up-tempo score that uses a driving bass underscoring to pick up the flow of the album. They use piano arpeggios with lofty strings on top of this bass to help give a good blend of driving tempo with the classic Midnight Syndicate orchestration powering the experience. A slower harpsichord and sound effect driven track titled “Living Walls” follows “The Lost Room” and helps bring an epic quality to the apex of the mix.
(“Living Walls” clip)
We’re then launched into the heavy string track “Gruesome Discovery” that you might have heard here on Rotting Flesh Radio… It’s a great track that helps build a strong sense of dread by using pounding strings and harp arpeggios to really build the feeling. The next track “Return of the Ancient Ones” is a very strange track that uses lots of sound effects and scoring to bring back that epic feeling to the flow of the album. We’re then brought to the final track of the album, and one of my favorites “The 13th Hour.” This track begins with similar sound effects as “Return of the Ancient Ones” but quickly takes off with very fast string arpeggios, swirling sound effect mixes, dissonant chords, piano arpeggios and more to create an incredible sense of urgency as we listeners barely escape from the bowels of the mansion…
(“The 13th Hour” clip)
So Deadites, as I’m sure you can tell by my enthusiasm, this album gets two bloody stumps way up from me. The album is billed as “the ULTIMATE haunted house CD” and I would have to agree with that statement—especially if you’re going for the Victorian/Gothic haunted house theme. Whether for use in a yard haunt, pro haunt, or even a party, this album provides a very wide soundscape of both ambient sound effect tracks and musical tracks that could be used in a wide array of scenes pretty seamlessly. The production quality of these recordings is phenomenal and every track could stand-alone easily. Let me put it this way—this is one of the few haunt albums I’m able to listen through from start to finish that keeps me thoroughly entertained and excited.
If you’re interested in purchasing The 13th Hour just head over to www.MidnightSyndicate.com and check out their online store. It’s just $14, plus they let you use the album for your attraction royalty free. As a haunter myself, it just doesn’t get any better than that!
Also be sure to check out Midnight Syndicates latest release—their first official music video. It’s the track “Dark Legacy” from the album The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates. I’ve already posted the video on my website at www.GruesomeJoe.com or if you’re already buying the album on Midnight Syndicate’s website—it’s there too!
Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune is next time—I’m sure I’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection. Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to check out the written version of my review, as well as all the links to buy the album and to check out Midnight Syndicate’s first official music video. I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the Morgue, waiting for you… until next time…
Listen up Deadites! Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue, right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.
This episode marks a very special milestone in the history of Rotting Flesh Radio—the 200th episode! You heard me right Deadites! 200 episodes ago, on October 7 2005, Jonathan Johnson kicked off Rotting Flesh Radio featuring an interview with Leonard Pickel of Haunted Attraction Magazine and a slew of rockin’ tracks that would lay down the foundation for many, many more episodes to come.
(clip from RFR original episode)
And starting the entire swath of musical madness was the very appropriate track “Rot For Me” by Wednesday 13 from the album Transylvania 90210.
(“Rot For Me” clip)
It almost seems like a beckoning, doesn’t it? Sit back, relax, and rot away…
(“Rot For Me” clip)
Haha… Well, at any rate, I thought it would be fun to go through this album and highlight a few of my favorite tracks and take us all back to 2005.
The album starts off with a nice, predominantly ambient track, quickly setting the mood as if in an old horror movie.
(“Post Mortem Boredom” clip)
However, this calming eerie track is soon blown out of the water by the very driving track “Look What the Bats Dragged In.” This song sets the real mood of the album almost instantaneously—we know we’re in for a loud, high-tempo album full of gore and metal.
(“Look What the Bats Dragged In” clip)
The third track of the album is actually my favorite, entitled “I Walked With A Zombie.” This track in particular exemplifies the thrashing, pop-metal vibe that Wednesday 13 really nailed in their follow-up album Fang Bang with the songs “American Werewolves in London” and “Till Death Do Us Party.” This is one of those songs that you can’t help but rock along with, no matter how hard you try not to.
(“I Walked With A Zombie” clip)
The next track “Bad Things” is a rather hilarious song about wanting terrible things to happen to someone. I found this track nice to listen to while I was at work dealing with some frustrating clients. The next track “House By The Cemetery” features some really driving guitar work with a very prominent synthesizer accompaniment and is followed by the multi-elemental track “Haunt Me.” This track runs hot and cold, soft and quiet, and uses the music as a nice accentuation to his actual lyrics.
(“Haunt Me” clip)
Next is the title track of the album “Transylvania 90210,” which starts off soft with a fairly mellow electric guitar and later incorporates a synthesizer line that carries the entire length of the song. This song is actually very different from all previous tracks, because it is fairly quiet and doesn’t use any drums or distorted guitars. This naturally doesn’t last very long, because then we’re thrashed into the next track “I Want You…DEAD.”
(“I Want You…DEAD” clip)
The next track is a pretty funny Christmas tune actually, well—you could consider it to be a Christmas tune anyway. It’s called “Buried By Christmas.” Chances are you won’t hear this one on the radio, but it is pretty good in my opinion. The following track “Elect Death For President” keeps things a bit tongue-in-cheek by using very strange saxophone accents with a heavy metal underbelly.
(“Elect Death For President” clip)
This next track is a Rotting Flesh Radio favorite, “Rot For Me.” This driving metal track was reminiscent of an anthem for me, especially during their chorus and drum solo. This song would undoubtedly rock seriously hard in a live environment! The following track is very similar in that it would get a crowd going crazy. The song, entitled “The Ghost of Vincent Price” is a nice tribute to the legendary Vincent Price and makes note of several of his best known films. I think it could have been pretty cool to add some sort of ambient audio content that featured some of his famous lines… But hey, maybe they just couldn’t get the rights.
(“The Ghost of Vincent Price” clip)
So overall, I give this album one bloody stump as a great high-octane metal album that will more than likely make you chuckle, and will also get your feet tapping. It didn’t have the song style that I enjoy as much, like on Fang Bang, but the album is definitely solid and is worth checking out. You can get it at mega retailers like Amazon and the like, and you can check out their official “gravesite” at www.Wednesday13.com.
And speaking of my bloody stump ratings, I figured now would be a good time to officially decree that Rotting Flesh Radio gets two bloody stumps way, way up for being the best source of news and information within the haunted attraction and horror industry. A big thank you goes out to everyone listening, everyone supporting, and everyone producing Rotting Flesh Radio week after bloody week. And a special thank you goes out to Jonathan for creating the best horror podcast out there, and congratulations on your 200th episode!
Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune is next time—I’m sure I’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection. Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to check out the written version of my review, as well as all the links you need to find the bands and music you hear on the show. I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the morgue, waiting for you… until next time…
Greetings Deadites! Be sure to tune in and check back tomorrow evening to hear my latest Musical Morgue review. This week is special, as it is RFR’s 200th episode spectacular! I’m taking us all back with some glorious metal from 2005. So be sure to tune it, sit back, relax, and rot away…
Listen up Deadites! Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.
With the Morbidly Merry Christmas celebration well underway, and only two weeks until Christmas day, I think it’s time to take the music up a notch and infuse you with some serious tongue-in-cheek heavy metal holiday cheer. To do this, we have to look no further than the 80’s glam-metal icon Twisted Sister and their appropriately titled album A Twisted Christmas.
Fans of Twisted Sister’s old school sound are going to love this album, and newcomers won’t be able to keep from cracking a smile while spinning this disc. A Twisted Christmas is chock full of tongue-in-cheek takes on traditional Christmas carols, all the while keeping a great driving, heavy metal backbone. Many of the tracks on the album are Twisted versions of well known Christmas carols, but some even go as far as to introduce their own Twisted lyrics, and even an audio sketch into the mix to keep the album lighthearted and full of holiday cheer. With the signature Twisted Sister sound prevailing in each track, one can’t help but chuckle at how ridiculously appropriate this album is.
It all starts off with their hilarious take on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” This track really sets the mood of the album with some good comedy and a good Twisted Sister brand of metal rendition of the original song. The track begins with a great audio sketch and acoustic version of the song but quickly takes a turn to make things nice and … TWISTED!
(“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” clip)
We’re then launched into some Twisted Sister nostalgia with “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.” I say nostalgia because this track reeks of “We’re Not Gonna’ Take It” complete with the same drum line, bass solos, and caps it off with an arrangement of “Hava Nagila.” This is by far my favorite track on the album because it is not only really funny, but it’s very good musically and incorporates humor into both the traditional song as well as into the arrangement of the music.
(“Oh Come All Ye Faithful” clip)
The next track “White Christmas” is a driving metal rendition of the classic. It is followed by a strong duet between Dee Snider and Lita Ford in “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” This track is a nice break from the metal styling of the album with its resonating guitars in a grand, power ballad style. It also features one of the better guitar solos on the album.
(“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” clip)
The next several tracks are all fast tempo, rockin’ heavy metal renditions of traditional Christmas fare. “Silver Bells,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Let It Snow,” and “Deck The Halls” all utilize a really driving beat and guitar work, all the while keeping the signature Twisted Sister sound quite prevalent. Each track does a great job at keeping true to the originals, but definitely incorporates their own musical flair to the songs.
(“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” clip)
The album then takes the tempo down a notch, but keeps the clever riffs hot with “The Christmas Song.” This Twisted take on a classic is very nice musically—incorporating a great bass line and stellar guitar solo. I actually like this song a lot more after hearing this version of it. I really don’t like the original. So kudos to the band on finally making this song enjoyable!
(“The Christmas Song” clip)
The last track on the album is nothing short of brilliantly ridiculous. “Heavy Metal Christmas (12 Days of Christmas)” is a hilarious, heavy metal twist on an old Christmas classic. With tattoos of Ozzy, pentagrams, spandex pants, skull earrings, black mascara, and more… you can’t help but have a heavy metal Christmas! Plus, at the end of each countdown is either a bass or guitar solo—so the more you listen, the better it gets!
(“Heavy Metal Christmas (12 Days of Christmas)” clip)
So Deadites, I give this album two enthusiastic stumps up! It’s a festive heavy metal romp through scores of classics and is both musically and comedically well done. I really liked the musical twists on these classics because they seemed to breathe a whole new life into the songs without becoming overtly cheesy. Now granted, there are several instances on the album that are a cheese-fest—but that is all part of the show and adds a nice levity to the album as a whole. All the songs are quite musically sound and incorporate the style and feel of Twisted Sister with the use of intricate bass runs and Dee Snider’s signature vocal work. I also think incorporating the comedy into the album was a brilliant idea. After all, the glam-rock hair metal groups of the 80’s were far from “serious” in their approach to theme. However—they put on a great show, and A Twisted Christmas in every way delivers this 100%. And to add to this showmanship, the band made two music videos for the album that are just as ludicrous as you would imagine them to be. I’ll be sure to put up links to the videos at GruesomeJoe.com so you can check them out!
If you’d like to get a copy of this album, head over to Amazon or iTunes or whatever your favorite online music retailer is. It’s a surefire way to add some spice to your holiday music this season. Also, I do believe they will be performing the album live this season over in Las Vegas and then in New York if you’d like the ultimate Twisted Christmas experience. Check out www.TwistedSister.com for the details.
Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune in next time when I’m sure we’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection. Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to catch the written version of my review, as well as all the music videos and links to the album and the band. Until then, I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the Morgue, waiting for you, until next time…
Listen up Deadites! Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.
Well, I don’t know about you all, but my Halloween season was crazy as hell, and it has been a blessing to take a week or so and relax and refocus. But, with Turkey Day right up upon us, I thought it would be the perfect time to bring you another Musical Morgue music review you could enjoy while chowing down on your Thanksgiving day goodies.
To help ring in Rotting Flesh Radio’s Morbidly Merry Christmas celebration, we thought it would be a great idea to review an album that is full of holiday cheer, all the while keeping it as spooky as I could. So, up on the slab this week is the ridiculously appropriate album Haunted Mansion Holiday brought to us by the folks over at Disney and Buena Vista Records.
Those who are familiar with Disneyland’s holiday festivities are no strangers to the transformation that occurs at their Haunted Mansion attraction. For years the famous attraction has been taken over by Jack Skellington and his crew of merry townsfolk in preparation for Christmas day. Haunted Mansion Holiday is the official soundtrack for the attraction, released in 2003, and includes all the various carols visitors would hear out in front of the mansion, as well as a full audio tour of the house as it was for their 2003 season.
With that, let’s dive into the album.
The first eight tracks are all “scarols” that were heard in front of the attraction while waiting in line. All of them are spooky themed parodies of traditional Christmas carols performed by a cast that is over the top in their presentation, and all the while recorded in a style very similar to the old Disney Halloween specials you would see on TV. Complete with a nice narration, here are several clips of these “scarols” to help you know what I’m talking about. Included are “Up On The Housetop,” “Old Mansion Tree,” “Wreck The Halls,” and “We Wish You A Scary Christmas.”
(“Up On The Housetop” clip)
(“Old Mansion Tree” clip)
(“Wreck The Halls” clip)
(“We Wish You A Scary Christmas” clip)
The next track, I’ve been told, actually never appeared anywhere in the attraction, but was a tribute to the Jack Skellington theme and Danny Elfman’s tunes from Nightmare Before Christmas. The track is appropriately titled “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas Medley” and features a simplified medley of “Making Christmas,” “What’s This,” and “Kidnap the Sandy Claws.”
The final track on the album is by far my favorite. The track is appropriately titled “Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday Ride-Through Mix” and is a wonderful mix of all the various audio tracks, songs, and sound effects as heard as one rode through the attraction. I particularly love this track because it reminded me so much of my trips to the Haunted Mansion—with all the cacophony of all the sounds going on at once, it immediately took me back and brought a smile to my face. In addition to that, you have the very clever musical composition and intermingling of themes from Nightmare Before Christmas amongst traditional Christmas carols and the spooky original music from the Haunted Mansion. This track blends all of these elements seamlessly into one glorious production—you actually feel as if you’re riding through the attraction.
So, here is a little clip from that wonderful 16-minute track…
So, I give this album one bloody, rotten stump up as it is a great piece of Disney magic, but it leaves a little to be desired. The best track on the album is the last track, which actually makes up almost half the entire play length of the album. The other tracks on the album I’m sure were great queue-line entertainment, but as stand-alone recordings are a bit sparse and dissonant. They offer a delightfully cheesy selection of tracks that would be great as music for your Christmas party, but as stand-alone recordings, I can’t give them the two-stumps up praise. They are, however, great background tracks—which is exactly what they were designed to be. So—kudos to Disney on hitting the nail on the head, however before releasing this album they could have remastered the tracks to smooth them out a bit, or could have even added additional orchestration to help render the CD as a more stand-alone piece. However, as a historical recording, the tracks are spot on.
Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune in next time when I’m sure I’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection. Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to catch the written version of my review, as well as a host of other goodies! Until then, I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the Morgue, chowing down on some turkey, waiting for you, until next time…
