''Live Shadows'' is the first live album by

Midnight Syndicate Midnight Syndicate is an American musical duo that has been working primarily in the genre of Neoclassicism (music), neoclassical dark ambient music since 1997 in music, 1997 and is based in Chardon, Ohio, Chardon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Oh ...

. Released on June 11, 2021, it features performances from the band's multimedia ''Midnight Syndicate Live!'' shows recorded from 2014 through 2019 at

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. It opened in 1870 and is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the US behind Lake Compounc ...

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). At the 2020 United Stat ...

during their annual HalloWeekends event.

Background and album information

In September 2014, seventeen years into their career,Midnight Syndicate Brings New Fear to Cedar Point

WKYC WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lo ...

, Ryan Haidet, October 3, 2014. Midnight Syndicate began producing their first live concerts. These first shows were performed at

's HalloWeekends event under the moniker, ''Midnight Syndicate Live!'' and featured a mix of film, special effects using fog and lasers,Review: Midnight Syndicate Live! Legacy of Shadows, at Cedar Point
Theme Park Insider, James Koehl, October 20, 2014 and live renditions of music from Midnight Syndicate's albums. At the time, Craig Webb of the

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Jo ...

described it as "Part concert, part movie, part theater, part just plain creepy," going on to call it "top-notch and ambitious." The band would return to

's HalloWeekends with new productions of their ''Midnight Syndicate Live!'' show in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In a May 2021 interview with Rue Morgue Magazine, the band said that the idea for ''Live Shadows'', came from a desire to share their live performance experience with fans who could not attend the shows in person. They added that the timing of the release had a lot to do with the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

cancelling of their live show plans for 2020 and the fact that many people were currently unable to experience live music in person.William J. Wright, "Shadows Come to Life", '' Rue Morgue Magazine'' (Toronto, ON), Issue #200, June 2021, Pg. 59. The songs on the album come from recordings of ''Midnight Syndicate Live!'' shows from 2014 through 2019. Many of the selections are new arrangements of songs from Midnight Syndicate albums although some of the selections are new, previously unreleased songs that were written specifically for particular ''Midnight Syndicate Live!'' shows.So Much Going On It's Scary
News Herald, Mark Meszoros, September 19, 2021, Pg. D6-D7

Release

On June 11, 2021, ''Live Shadows'' was digitally released on CD with an accompanying limited-edition purple vinyl. The band produced four music videos in support of the album: ''Creatures of Darkness'', ''Alchemist's Chamber'', ''Nightstalker'', and ''Into the Valley of Shadows''. Each music video represents one of the four shows featured on the album.Midnight Syndicate Releases First-Ever Live Album

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 pu ...

, Jeff Niesel, June 14, 2021Midnight Syndicate returns to HalloWeekends with plenty of new music in store

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

, Anne Nickoloff, September 28, 2021

Reception

William J. Wright of Rue Morgue Magazine called the album an "aural onslaught of their concert performances with surprises for even the most dedicated fans." While calling the album's content "compelling", Games Gazette writer Chris Baylis lamented the fact that the music video offerings did not feature a complete Midnight Syndicate concert. Writer Lino Endorphino commented that the lack of audience noise in between every track made it different from a typical rock music live album. He asked the band if it was intentional in an interview with them for the German-based horror magazine, Virus. Album co-producer Edward Douglas replied that they "wanted the same loss of reality to occur while listening (to ''Live Shadows'') that happens (while listening to) their studio albums."Lino Endorphino, "America's Most Successful Mental Cinema Soundtrack Band is Back!", ''Virus Magazin'' (Frankfurt, Germany), Issue #104, Pg.46-47.

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 def ...

*Gavin Goszka –

Production

*Producer – Edward Douglas *Producer – Gavin Goszka *Mastering – Gavin Goszka *Sound – Cedar Point Live Entertainment *Graphic design – Brainstorm Design Group *Lighting – Matt Weber *Photography – Rex B. Hamilton, Steven Franczek, Rebecca Nowak, Jordan Sternberg, Joe Kleon, Shawn Marie Stitak, Martin Smoley, Rick Davis, Kristen Lindsey *Videography – Andrew Smoley, Martin Smoley, Mark Rakocy, Gary Jones- ''Live Shadows'' (2021, CD) on Discogs
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References

{{Authority control Midnight Syndicate albums