Midnightmares – Shadow People

Midnightmares is a dark and symphonic gothic metal band, formed in the winter of 2023 by the Belgian-Mexican duo; Gio Smet & Mariel Gimeno. Meanwhile, Midnightmares is not just a woman/man project, as other musicians have been found so it completes a fully-fledged band. Apart from the aforementioned Mariel Gimeno (vocals) and Gio Smet (guitars & backing vocals), in the time of the recording of this album, the line-up consisted of Jan Bruggeman (keyboards & backing vocals), David Hugelier (bass) and Tom Skidmore (drums).

Shadow People is Midnightmares’ debut album, containing thirteen tracks. All of the thirteen songs tell a short different story, creating this overwhelming and masmerizing narrative. The lyrical content on Shadow People is equally interesting telling the stories of the supernatural, occult and profoundly existential themes.

Epic choruses introduce “Sanctuarium” (watch the official video clip below), the opening track from Shadow People. Later in the song keyboard tapestries, accentuated drumming, some occassional growling vocals, hard riffs and double bass are added to create this powerful and bombastic sound. After this grand opener, the title track “Shadow People” kicks in with synth strings, paired with some hard guitar riffs, rhythmical drumming, epic and bombastic choruses and very varied vocals, esp. clear sopranos. Despite of the lengthy nature of most of the songs, it never really get boring or repetitive as the overall tempo and musical arrangements varies. Next song called “Leave Me With My Demons” is a bit faster and with an orchestral touch and complementing dual vocal performances. On the following “Wichasha Wakan” one can also hear some ritual battle chanting with fantastic mid-range vocals of Mariel. Despite of its title, “Kill The Beast” is the closest we can come to a ballad here. It’s a very contemplative song featuring once again outstanding vocal leads and and some ‘discreet’ male vocals and harmonic choruses. “Séance“ is a mid-tempo song with nice double bass work. Sacred choirs and organ playing introduce the next song, “I Love It When You’re Evil”. Later on the powerful rhythm section strikes comes in, driven by the drums and guitars, and paired once again with some excellent vocals, which are result of another fantastic interplay of some symphonic and powerful growls and some clean male vocals. I guess “Everlasting” can be classified as the next ‘ballad’. It’s a song that is dominated by piano and strings, both creating this beautiful melody and immersive soundscapes. “Jim ‘Reaper’ Blake” has this odd opening with various gimmicks, but soon the sound gets more aggressive and mostly dominated by heavy riffs, drums and mezzo-soprano vocals of Mariel, once again complemented by some strong male vocals. The next song is called “In My Hands”, one that starts with a string introduction before the drums take over. “End Of Days” takes more or less same path, paves the way for the last ballad, “Requiem”. The whole thing actually ends with the two-and-a-half-minute outro ballad “War Bard”, but this bonus track is only available on physical album. Once again, the Mexican elegance and Belgian intensity perfectly complement each other.

The production of Shadow People is fantastic and with a clear and powerful sound, while the cover artwork is beautiful, dark and haunting, as their sound happens to be.

To sum up; Midnightmares is symphonic gothic metal band of profound darkness and haunting beauty, and their first opus Shadow People is a potent, effective, consistent and pleasantly bombastic piece of symphonic and dark metal. For those who dare to journey through the realm of darkness, they should give Midnightmares and their thirteen-tracker debut, Shadow People a fair chance. I have no doubt that this very strong album will completely delight every fan of the genre.

For additional info go to https://midnightmaresmetal.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-people