It’s hard to keep track of the days in the midst of these current times. I look forward to Fridays and its accompanying weekend as I’ll review the new releases for that week. But once I get through with that, life becomes a blur of online homework, drinking, sleeping, and reruns of The Jerry Springer Show. So you could only imagine my sheer joy as smack dab in the middle of my wait for Friday, two of my favorite local bands unexpectedly dropped a split. I’m talking about Midnight Dice and Hitter.
Midnight Dice arose from the ashes of Satan’s Hallow. All four members were previously in SH and are carrying on the traditional metal sound established on SH’s 2017 namesake album. As Midnight Dice, they released a well received demo last year which consisted of two originals and a cover of “Set Me Free” by Sweet. On the Midnight Hits split, they return with “Precious Metal”. It’s a fast, shredtastic, leather studded banger of a track which makes me wonder: When the hell is a full length coming out? I guess only time will tell. Until then, I’ll return to this song and the demo to hear what’s for sure the best Warlock worship coming out of the city, if not the entire midwest.
If you’re a regular reader of this site, Hitter needs no introduction. These metalpunk maniacs rocked my socks off a couple months ago at Empty Bottle’s Music Frozen Dancing. It isn’t until recently I realized how much I took that afternoon for granted, but I digress. In that show review, I lamented only having a demo’s worth of material to listen to from Hitter. How kind of them to throw a bone my way in the form of “29 Levi Slim”. It’s fast like Midnight Dice’s contribution, but the similarities end there. In a little over two minutes, Hanna Hazard and company pay tribute to these beloved jeans: standard issue for rockers, metalheads, and weekend warriors alike. Much like Dead Boys in their prime, Hitter are “Young, Loud and Snotty”. This song proves it. You can’t fake rock n roll, brother!
When live music becomes a reality again, I’d love to see these two bands duke it out at my beloved Reggies Rock Club, whose logo graces the backpatch of the hesher skleleton on the cover. I must applaud Lauren Gornik on this amazing art. It takes you back to the days when album art was everything. That’s how millions of kids bought those early Molly Hatchet albums, expecting to hear something along the lines of Sabbath, only to get Lynyrd Skynyrd’s boogie-woogieing cousin! However, on Midnight Hits, what you see is what you get: unadulterated heavy metal rock n’ roll, straight outta Chitown.
7 out of 10
Label: Underground Power Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Warlock, Plasmatics, Satan’s Hallow