Midnight Syndicate Heads to Plankett's Grove

After creating an atmospheric Parisian cabaret in The Brimstone Club, Midnight Syndicate returns with a new concept album, Planket's Grove, that delves into a more rural, Gothic horror and fantasy tale set in the town of Illswich. The release is available digitally.

The concept album incorporates sounds effects and other dramatic elements to help set the stage in a rainy “Welcome to Illswich” as plaintive tones waft into the texture.  Later, these stormy elements are used to set the stage in “The Woods Are Watching”.  A darker march then follows in “Echoes of the Past” which has plenty of implied menace.  It gets combined a bit with a more twisty melody in “Lenore’s Curiosities”.  “Bleak Provenance” has a more insistent piano accompaniment pattern that plays against a Gothic melodic line.  The melodic idea in “Hidden Grotto” is rather interesting in the way that it shifts against the sound effects and other sounds.  As the track begins, these become interesting rhythmic ideas that play off the melodic idea.  The atmospheric approaches are then layered in here as the rain continues.  Things pick up a bit with the ethnic instrumentations of the “Gypsy Encampment”.  Bells and chimes provide a different aura of mystery with dark lower hovering sounds to highlight a “Seeress” with equally haunting, recessed chanting.  The reveal of Plankett’s curse has now begun to be revealed and the slight forward motion of “Call of the Moon” begins to add some energetic motion against the effects and atmosphere that precedes it.    A beautiful melodic line now provides a moment to pause in its melancholic style in “Sylvan Respite”.  The central contrasting sections adds a bit more heartache making for one of the highlights of the release.  “Primal Instinct” is a good example of the way Midnight Syndicate creates a dramatic scene blending musical threads, atmosphere, and effects with the following “Tainted Soil” adding creepier vocalizations to the mix.  The pace picks up in the action-like “The Choking Brambles” with the final “What the Dark Retains” returning to the Gothic, melancholic thematic statements to wrap things up.

Plankett’s Grove is a somewhat solemn affair that tends to move rather slowly through its different scenarios here.  There is not as much variety here in tempo and the primary thematic material runs its course well against a bit more restraint in atmospheric effects.  It provides an interesting backdrop for a rainy, dark day where the listener can determine their own storyline. 

Listen to or purchase Plankett’s Grove:https://www.midnightsyndicate.com/product/planketts-grove/

Join the Midnight Syndicate Legions of the Night Fan Community:https://legions.midnightsyndicate.com/join-legions-of-the-night

Midnight Syndicate official website: www.MidnightSyndicate.com