When exploring a new Midnight album, there are three undeniable truths you’ll be faced with: It’s gonna be fast, it’s gonna be filthy, and it’s gonna raise unfathomable hell. This is what Midnight, the one man band that is the twisted brainchild of the enigmatic Athenar, has done best for nearly 20 years. What started out as a blitz of EPs and splits gave way to some of the finest full lengths of the 2010s (i.e. 2011’s Satanic Royalty and 2014’s No Mercy for Mayhem) and an infamous live show that helped win a devoted legion of fans. It was only a matter of time before a heavy hitter like Metal Blade took the band under their wing.
In my recent interview with Athenar, he made no bones about his excitement over being signed to this legendary label. After all, this is the label who introduced the world to Nasty Savage, Destruction, Voivod, and fuckin’ Slayer, just to name a few. And whereas their Metal Blade debut, 2020’s Rebirth by Blasphemy, came off as an extension of the more NWOBHM/traditional metal leaning sound of 2017’s Sweet Death and Ecstasy, their latest album, Let There Be Witchery, sounds like a musical salute to these earliest days of extreme metal, whether it be intentional or not.
The album opens with the one-two first wave black metal punch of “Telepathic Nightmare” and “Frothing Foulness”. Even by Midnight standards, these come off as heavier than usual, boasting grim atmosphere and dense riffs characteristic of Hellhammer. I would’ve had no problem if this set the tone for the remainder of the album, but by the time we get to the punk n’ roll sleaze of “In Sinful Secrecy”, Midnight reminds us that the band who dropped such classics as “Lust Filth and Sleaze” and “You Can’t Stop Steel” hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, they’ve only gotten louder and snottier, to paraphrase the classic Dead Boys album. Whether it be the Stiff era Motörhead worship of “Nocturnal Molestation”, or the street ready Dictators-esque attack of “Villainy Wretched Villainy”, punk remains as crucial to Midnight as ever.
On the metal side of things, Midnight manages to keep things high speed, evil, and guided by the spiked fist of the d-beat, per usual. “Let There Be Sodomy” and “Snake Obsession” hit harder than a bottle of whiskey after a stressful work week, while “Szex Witchery” is the best track off Venom’s Black Metal that never was. Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon should be proud. Actually, they should just reunite finally and take Midnight out as an opener, but I digress. “Devil Virgin” is the only cut that puts traditional metal at the forefront, sounding like a cross between Mercyful Fate and *insert obscure NWOBHM act here*, which leaves us with Let There Be Witchery‘s white pony, “More Torment”. The only way I can describe this four minute rocker is if Danzig’s backing band recorded a song with Cronos on vocals while their Napoleonic frontman wasn’t looking. The lead riff is just too erotically groovy for its own good, and it works like a charm.
Yet again, Midnight have blurred the lines between black metal, speed metal, traditional metal, and punk to create a truly top-notch album. They’re one of the few bands today who take me back to the era when Tipper Gore was preaching against the evils of W.A.S.P. and Mentors without coming off as a cheap gimmick. Granted, I wasn’t alive during this said era, but you get the comparison I’m trying to make. If you did live through this era and somehow haven’t heard Midnight yet, check out this album, crank it up, and reminisce to the days when you used to draw Twisted Sister logos in your textbook.
9 out of 10
Label: Metal Blade Records
Genre: Black/Speed Metal
For fans of: Motörhead, Venom, Hellhammer