Midnight is the dark offspring of one man – Athenar from Cleveland Ohio. Over the last 19 years he has been combining speed metal, D-Beat and Black Metal into a hellish hybrid that has kept many a metal head and punk happy. Let There Be Witchery is the fifth full length release and joins a lengthy discography due to the fellas penchant for E.P.s and split releases.
If you are looking for something that is way out there and breaks the mould then keep on truckin’. Let There Be Witchery is not gonna gain you any KVLT points or social media wheelie moments.
What it is gonna give you is 40 minutes of unbridled mayhem covered in phlegm and beer. It’s the best bits of Venom (I’m not a great fan – soz not soz) mixed with Motorhead, GBH, Discharge and Turbo Negro. Unlike some other black ‘n’ roll bands Midnight keep the punk energy and raw spikiness going throughout without having to drift off into LARP corner for too much “evilness”.
Opener “Telepathic Nightmare” is straight outta Stoke with its D-Beat drive whilst “Frothing Foulness” which follows is as rabid as Cujo and the drum stab chorus is like a punch to the thorax. It’s not all back alley brawling though – “In Sinful Secrecy” is a high-octane, grimy take on the sound spearheaded by Nicke Andersson and his pals with a chorus you are gonna want to scream and a guitar break that will make you wanna throw shapes. Can you ask any more?
Well more is never enough for me unfortunately but that is summat for my therapist. Luckily Midnight drop the simply orgasmic “Nocturnal Molestation” which swaggers into the room like Lemmy into the Rainbow in 92. Sure, the main riff sounds familiar but it has got that chutzpah that got us into this rawk thing in the first place. It is the sound of a frantic kiss and fumble in a dark corner of a club and the adrenaline you still feel on the night bus home!
“More Torment” sways in like the pub drunk, full of menace and tall tales. It has the cartoon elements of early Venom but drawn more as Manga than Ren and Stimpy. The simple rock beat carries the vocals through the track like the club scene in Goodfellas. This is a POV track and I can feel myself barrelling through disgusted patrons before stumbling into the light to vomit. Wow!
Then “Let There Be Sodomy” hits the hyperdrive button and it is back to the Speed Kills days. Get Motorhead, early Bathory, Razor and even a bit of Helloween bury it for 40 years so it is nice and putrid and fermented and this is the result. Pure headbanging, fist pumping mania! Let there be Sodomy, leather and skin!
Talking about legends of metal howzabout a bitta Mercyful Fate style? You know that groovy hi-hat that Mellissa et all has – well it’s here in abundance. Proper groovy dark HEAVY METAL, gloriously pantomime and over the top. The main riff is lifted straight out of “Evil” from the aforementioned album but really who cares. The fact that I sang “I love to hear you cry” along with it is a good thing no?
“Snake Obsession” is Motorhead worship plain and simple. If Athenar plays the drums like this then Mikkey Dee best look over his shoulder! Priest get a look in as well with “Villainy Wretched Villainy” which is a pounding heavy metal anthem with a stadium style chorus and gorgeous guitar solo. This is the fun and pomp of heavy metal in a three-minute slice.
How do you finish an unholy ritual like this one? With “Szex and Witchery” of course. Head down, pedal to the metal dirty black speed. This is the sort of track that would make your grandma bang hr head, even if she is dead, even if she is cremated!
Midnight reminds us why heavy metal still gets the blood and fists pumping 50 years after it erupted from the Midlands. Let there be witchery indeed.
(9/10 Matt Mason)
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