Reception
Wizards of the Coast were happy with the resulting album with Anthony Valterra, RPG category manager, saying that Midnight Syndicate "have succeeded at capturing the magic of D&D through music". Numerous critics picked up on the idea that new subject matter had resulted in a new feel for the music, with reviewers claiming that the fantasy influence had given the album a different sound to Midnight Syndicate's classic Gothic horror soundtracks. An unnamed writer for the now defunct Living Dead Girls ezine said that Dungeons & Dragons "brings a wider range of songs than Midnight Syndicate produces for their Gothic horror soundtracks", meaning the album "displays for the first time the diversity and musical craft Midnight Syndicate is capable". GamingReport.com claimed that the album "furthered the band’s establishment as the leading producer/supplier of music to the hobby game industry". The band became the best-selling role-playing game soundtrack ever in its first month of release, and Leonard Pickel of Haunted Attraction Magazine claimed that the album helped spread the band's popularity to Europe where "Halloween and Haunted Attractions are just beginning to take hold".
The album was criticized by Marc Shayed, of hobby gaming news site GamingReport.com, for focusing too much on combat and ambiance. He explained that there was only one track that felt triumphant and no tracks suitable for traveling or character "down time", which are standards in fantasy gaming. This, Shayed said, meant that there were gaps in the album, meaning it could not be considered a complete soundtrack for the game. He claimed, however, that the album still met and exceeded the target of being the "ultimate gaming soundtrack". The album was further criticized by Gene Vogal of the National Gamers Guild who said that it lacked a lot of the "oomph" that Vampyre had, and speculated that this may have been because of the influence that Wizards of the Coast had on the direction of the music. He did claim, however, that the fact that the music was made specifically for gaming was a good thing, meaning it was more appropriate than film soundtracks to use as backing music to gaming sessions. He also compared it to The Lord of the Rings' soundtracks, stating that, compared to Vampyre, the album lacked originality.
Read more about this topic: Dungeons & Dragons (album)
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