Ten songs, thirty-four minutes of pure, unadulterated blackened speed. Midnight return with their newest platter, Rebirth by Blasphemy, and like their lead-off track spouts, they bring “fucking speed and darkness.”
Formed in 2003 by Athenar as a proposed one-man-band, with an emphasis on splits and singles and ep’s only as releases, Midnight has grown and evolved into its own ugly, spitting, diseased entity. Around 2011 they released Satanic Royalty, their first official full-length and it was from there the ball began rolling downhill. Word spread, gigs played, and minds were slain. Their chaotic, brutal, nasty mix of black and speed became just the tonic many were looking for. Now, all these years later, they signed to Metal Blade, a “big” company, and their first release for the Big Time is this new record. If anyone thought they might sell out or change in any way, they were quite wrong. Midnight bring the same pain as from before, with maybe just a little bit of a cleaner production sound.
If Motorhead and Venom had a threesome with Girlschool, Midnight would be their unholy offspring. Blazing riffs, barreling forward, full of grit and grim and motorcycle grease, the boys blast through this new platter with the same wild, untamed abandon as their previous releases. If you’ve listened to them before, you know what you’re getting here. If you haven’t…well, welcome to the party. You won’t leave alive.
Rollicking, teetering slightly out of control, riffs that buzzsaw open skulls like the beginning of Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, enter at your own risk. This is Metal, baby, with a capital “M,” and it does not flinch or make apologies or excuses. Like some kind of hysterical satanic ceremony, there is blood and guts and wild recklessness. Every track is a killer, but personal favorites would include “Escape the Grave” with its crazed riffing, and “Rising Scum,” the only really slow song on here. “Scum” strangely reminds me of that infamous Manowar plod mixed with Venom. This one cruises, low and bruising, showing another side to the band. Things pick right back up, of course, and it’s not lost on me that “Scum” is right in the middle of the record, it’s placement a marker to catch your breath before the next unrelenting wave of blackness.
No complaints about this one. If you think all the songs sound too much alike, that’s on you. People said the same thing about Motorhead; they were wrong then and you’d be wrong now. Midnight are exactly the thing the Metal world needs heading into this new decade. It’s a reconnection to our roots, with a head held high and looking towards the horizon of the future. Dig in and get nasty, this is the album of the year so far.
Five Wands out of Five
The Wizard has Spoken!