Joseph Vargo and his partner William Piotrowski for Nox Arcana bring back the sounds that made Midnight Syndicate famous. Fans of Midnight Syndicate may remember albums like 'Born of the Night' and 'Realm of Shadows', both of which feature Joseph Vargo. Nox Arcana's debut is no less enthusiastic and resurrects these dark orchestral sounds. Darklore Manor continues the legacy initially begun while Midnight Syndicate has not carried on to venture into other territory such as a Dungeons & Dragons soundtrack. Nox Arcana, on the other hand, give fans of Midnight Syndicate what they've been craving most. Enter Darklore Manor, where creatures of the night lurk in shadows and ghostly sounds echo through unhallowed halls. Haunted organs, ghostly voices, and much much more fill this release while maintaining the strong musical compositions instead of becoming overdone with sound-effects like most seasonal releases. I say seasonal because as many of you know Midnight Syndicate has become very popular in the Haunted Attraction industry at Halloween and Nox Arcana should reside along with them by the other releases Vargo helped create. Joseph Vargo is not only a talented and creative musician with a taste for dark music but also a well established artist who has created quite a stir with his own company Monolith Graphics. Monolith Graphics has been in business several years producing postcards, posters, stickers, t-shirts, journals, calendars, tarot decks, and their own Dark Realms magazine. Dark Realms has also run several issues featuring reviews of all things dark and wonderful in entertainment including books, games, movies, music, and much more. Dark Realms is THE premiere magazine for darkling entertainment. Also check out Monolith's Graphic's "Tales from the Dark Tower", an original collection of 13 sinister stories, lavishly illustrated by Joseph Vargo. Based upon characters depicted in Vargo's classic gothic paintings, each story in this unique anthology is woven together to create a new and compelling saga of vampire lore. Nox Arcana is a healthy addition to the Monolith family of releases and an exciting one this year for Halloween fans worldwide. Abandon hope all ye who enter here... Look for the follow-up called "Necronomicon", a dark symphony based upon H.P. Lovecraft's forbidden tome of unspeakable horrors.

Compressed Infinity is a Sydney Australian one man project which began in 1998. 'Phase Formation' is the sophomore release featuring 14 tracks of electronica, electro-industrial, darkwave and EBM. Utilizing mostly harsh electro and trance elements, this project is dark with an introverted sense of melancholic inquisition. Musically the compositions are smooth and easy to listen to. Softer than some electro but harsher than any Sythnpop. An interesting and unique project that could use at least a bit more variance and some vocal modifications, as some tracks the vocal textures stand out a bit too much. However, this shows all the hallmarks of a likely future contender in the electro music industry. Musically it's much cleaner and produced than many of the self-starters one usually finds and has a wide array of variance in styles and techniques. The album varies from instrospective to a confusing array of off-kilter rhythmic techniques that are sometimes danceable and oftentime dreary and bleak. However, some of the tracks, or just parts of them, might come off rather amatuerish. This release does not have the professional polish it needs to get true recognition and stands out in my mind as yet another example of the overpopulation of would-be musicians in the current associated music scene.

'Strange As Angels' is a compilation tribute to The Cure produced by Sheriff Scabs featuring a host of eclectic rock bands I'm mostly personally unfamiliar with. There is one exception however and that is the opening track "Lovesong" by Darkwave humoris Voltaire. Each song on this compilation however is a unique interpretation by each artist. That in itself makes it interesting in my book. My favorite by far, though it's also my Cure favorite as well, is "A Forest" restructured here by Jupiter Blue. It's much more upbeat and rock oriented with sort of a Smashing Pumpkins feel. The song structures on the overall compilation are more rock oriented than the originals, some even sort of 80's punk, like "Plastic Passion" by Sheriff Scabs himself. The only one that really gets on my nerves and seems to not belong here is Nerve Exhibit's cover of "A Strange Day". Their drum machine is off-beat and the vocals off-key. It's almost as if they were making fun of the original trying to be bleak and dreary and show no musical talent. However, that rant ended, Egostatic shows a bit of dreampop with synth textures that are very suitable for their cover of "To The Sky". Who'd have thought "Fascination Street" could begin with a choral? That is exactly what Purple Car does but then pushes it up to a bizarre fuzzbox vocal and guitar thump. Hearts Fail doing "A Night Like This" sounds like what I'd imagine it to sound like if David E. Williams did it. Unfortunately, Venus in Furs does not compare with Robert's original "Burn" from The Crow soundtrack, sorry guys! "Pornography" by Emulsion is a completely restructured version using similar techniques as the original, minus most of the actual music, with new samples to create an unusual spoken word track with sampled and abmient textures. Overall, this project is a very interesting compilation with a few gems and a bunch left up to individual taste. I definitely give it points for uniqueness as most of the bands did not just rehash or duplicate what's already been done with about 3 exceptions not mentioned. I feel it has about 13 solid tracks out of 17, not bad at all!

This Boston based electronic project is run by Gabriel Shaw. Shaw, who is known as a prolific keyboardist, has collaborated with such well known projects as Fear Factory and Killing Joke. He has toured live with Chemlab on their 2005 tour and has been hired by Apple Macintosh to perform at thier computer shows as well as touring as the drummer for MonoChrome. When he tours live he takes fellow keyboardists Regan Miller and Stacia Tucker. Heavily influenced by early 80's bands as well as projects like Orbital Gabriel combines the emotionally driven sounds of the early Wave bands with well structured loops and bass lines to create a sound all his own. Singularity was recorded entirely at home on his PC, a mode many modern electronic independent musicians are taking these days as the album ends up in MP3 format eventually anyway. Singularity tends to be dark and melodic, music that is good for lounging or the dancefloor. Evidently mindFIELD has seen some earlier success when MP3.com was alive and hopefully this release will help to revive Shaw's recognition to the public audiences. There are many nearly ambient backing elements to support the dance rhythms and smooth vocals which comprise this release which I find a welcome compliment as I prefer music that is versatile to different moods and environments, something this definitely fulfills in a skillful and artful manner at that. Gabriel's eclectic tastes and love of music definitely show through fluently within this release. The album follows a rather consistent trend until you come to track six titled "1:1.618" which was initially released as free download from the band's website which features a bit more of a drum-n-bass beel to it with heavily vocoded vocals. This and track nine "An Antiphon Cure" are the most obvious standouts on the disc but not because they are better, just much faster. It's rather difficult to choose any tracks on this release as 'better' than others as they are all unique in their own ways and all beautiful in others.

Integrating orchestral elements with EBM/Darkwave this Argentinian duo hits Metropolis Records and the ears of thier listeners full force. Vocally much like Hocico but musically unmatched stylistically, Punto Omega, also have very strong esoteric interests. This self-titled release seems to document the band's perspectives on the legends of the fallen angels and the human quest for enlightenment. Lots of heavy guitar-driven EBM, this release even features bagpipes and other celtic instrumentation. Versatility and artistic creation show through strongly with this project with tracks like "La Caida" being piano and choir based and electronic rhythms following up. However, the title track is a dancefloor pounder. "La Fusion" even sounds a bit reminiscient of Kurt Weill. An excellent release for anyone who likes agressive EBM and for those with mystical interests. Punto Omega describe themselves as "We are heading a final borderline, in which there will be no extintion, but the step into a new reality: Past and Future get merged, that is the Omega Point."