''Gates of Delirium'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Midnight Syndicate Midnight Syndicate is an American musical duo that has been working primarily in the genre of neoclassical dark ambient music since 1997 and is based in Chardon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The band refers to their CDs as "soundtracks for the ...

, released March 3, 2001, by Entity Productions."Midnight Syndicate - Gates of Delirium (2001, CD) on Discogs"
/ref> The album is set in the fictitious haunted Haverghast Asylum and features the blend of

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

-inspired symphonic music and sound design the band had become known for.Daniel Hinds, "Music Review: Gates of Delirium", ''

Outburn ''Outburn'' is a print magazine and online publication focusing on alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zeala ...

Magazine'' (Thousand Oaks, CA), Issue 15, Pg.70Jeff Neisel, "Music Playback: Gates of Delirium", ''

Cleveland Scene The ''Cleveland Scene'' is an alternative weekly newspaper based in Cleveland, Ohio. The newspaper includes highlights of Cleveland-area arts, music, dining, and films, as well as classified advertising. The first edition of the newspaper was pub ...

'' (Cleveland, OH), March 8, 2001, Pg.43

Background and release

''Gates of Delirium'' was written, produced, and mixed by Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka. In a 2001 interview, Gavin Goszka said that musically, the album encompassed their most intense and involving material to date and, production-wise, was by far their most intricate. Edward Douglas said that he felt they were "truly able to realize their cinema of the mind" concept on ''Gate of Delirium'' with the mix of sound effects and music. The album artwork and photography was designed by Mark Rakocy, the same artist who handled the design and artwork for the ''

'' debut. The album was released through Entity Productions and self-distributed nationally through chains like Spencer Gifts, Hot Topic,

Border Books Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in ...

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

, as well as in amusement parks,

costume shop A costume shop is a space where costumes for theatrical or film productions are designed, built, and stored for the company or production. Costume designers, builders, seamstresses, and stitchers work in costume shops. The shops themselves can v ...

s, and

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

-merchandise retailers. To mark the release of the album, the group decorated the Tyr nightclub in Lakewood, Ohio to look like a mental institution and had a cast of actors who pretended to be its mad patients.

Reception and post-release

During the 2001 Halloween weekend, six of the band's mp3 singles, including two from ''Gates of Delirium'', were in the Top 20 for all of MP3.com. Daniel Hind of ''

Magazine'' called the album impressive with a more developed concept although less eerie than previous releases. ''

Rue Morgue Magazine ''Rue Morgue'' is a multinational magazine devoted to coverage of horror fiction. Its content comprises news, reviews, commentary, interviews, and event coverage. Its journalistic span encompasses films, books, comic books, video games, and ot ...

'' gave it a 5 out of 5, calling it "choice audio theater" and ''Haunted Attraction Magazine'' called it a "masterpiece," praising the versatility of its potential uses in the haunted attraction industry. Jeff Niesel of ''

Magazine'' praised the album's effectiveness and production values adding though that it still suffered from the fact that was "best suited as background music." ''Gates of Delirium'' was among the first Midnight Syndicate albums to receive a review from a table top game/

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

publication when, in 2001, ''

Games Unplugged ''Games Unplugged'' was an American magazine dedicated to the adventure tabletop gaming industry. The bimonthly magazine, headquartered in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, ran for 34 issues, from June 2000 until May 2004. The company also had a website, G ...

Magazine'' praised ''Gates'' and the band's previous two releases as having the "right balance of power and transparency," adding that they could "serve just about any horror adventure very well." In 2007, Midnight Syndicate teamed up with

Goodman Games Goodman Games is an American game publisher best known for the ''Dungeon Crawl Classics'' series of adventure modules and role-playing game, the ''Dragonmech'' role-playing game, and the ''Etherscope'' role-playing games. The company produced l ...

to produce ''Cage of Delirium'', a

Dungeon Crawl Classics ''Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game'' (DCC RPG or simply DCC) is a role-playing game published by Goodman Games using the Open Game License (OGL) and System Reference Document (SRD) version 3.5 to provide legal compatibility with the revis ...

adventure based on ''Gates of Delirium'' which came packaged with the CD. ''Cage of Delirium'' was nominated for ''Best Adventure in the 2007''

ENnie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

Track listing

Personnel

*Edward Douglas –

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

*Gavin Goszka –

*Christopher Robichaud - voice actor *Trishalana Kopaitich - voice actor *Dana Armstrong - voice actor *Ted Neroda - voice actor

Production

*Producers – Edward Douglas, Gavin Goszka *Mixing - Edward Douglas, Gavin Goszka *Mastering – Gavin Goszka *Artwork, Photography, Design - Mark Rakocy *Financial Consultant - Edward P. Douglas

Release History

*Entity Productions MS1004-CD (March 6, 2001): First CD issue *Entity Productions MS1004-CD (2006): CD reissue with alternate cover art by Rob AlexanderDiscogs for ''Gates of Delirium'' Alt Cover
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates Of Delirium 2001 albums Midnight Syndicate albums Instrumental albums Halloween albums Classical crossover albums