I wrote a review a week or so ago which took me back to listening to Speed Kills as a teen. Well here I am again back in the audio time machine thanks to the one-man maniac project that is Midnight.

Athenar has been recording and releasing his brand of blackened speed metal since 2003 and in recent years Midnight have garnered a lot of attention and praise within the metal online world. I was aware of them but never really paid much attention beyond the odd single until “Let There Be Witchery” in 2022. This is probably more to do with my sometimes quest to be too cool for school but is likely that I was down some sludge, doom rabbit hole at the time that did not allow me to fully appreciate the sheer adrenaline shot that Midnight provide.

Going back to those heady teenage days where Metal was not just a music genre but a code and a way of life “Hellish Expectations” is the album my 14 year old self was searching for. I am finding it hard to describe how much I love this album without turning into a gibbering wreck. I got it on Tuesday evening to review, first blasted it Wednesday morning and here I am lunchtime on Thursday having listened to it ten times already. It’s about 25 minutes long so I have found myself immediately hitting play again once it gets to the end.  I can get through it twice in one gym session – a word of warning it helps with the exercise but the grimaces, air-guitaring and mad hand shapes it causes may invite strange looks. Fuck em!

Going back to those halcyon days of reading Metal Forces one of the most read acronyms I read both in reviews and the letters page was FOAD or FOADS (for those that wanted folks to reach their demise over an elongated period. I can remember FOADS being often fired off by readers at El Duce’s hooded beasts The Mentors. How poetic that another hooded individual should release the single and final track here F.O.A.L. (Fuck Off And Live).  If you are clueless about Midnight go check out the video online – it is representative of all the tracks on Hellish Expectations – tight and hectic speed metal that makes you wanna bang your head til someone from the Daily Mail rings your mum.

According to the interwebs Midnight play Black/Speed metal. I kinda get that but feel there is both more and less nuance to it.

The Black Metal label is a little lazy – sure it is a one man studio project with session musicians live and ol blokey is anonymous but I don’t get anything grim or trve from this band. Midnight takes the music and stylings of Agent Steel, Possessed, Kreator and early Helloween , add in some Venom and a hefty dose of Twisted Sister attitude to create a shit eating grin wearing denim and leather metal monster. Slave of the Blade is Rose Tattoo meets Dee and the boys in the van of one of the dudes in Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

Each track is filled with killer riffs, pantomime evil lyrics, catchy as Covid choruses and razor sharp hooks.

You’ll be shouting “Dungeon Lust” along with Athenar by the time the second chorus rolls around and grinning like a loon at “Doom Death Desire “ . It’s fun but not comedy. It is fantastical without being a parody. This is no Steel Panther but more it allows the listener to unleash that inner beast that Rock and Metal appealed to as we were in puberty and just enjoy the music for what it is. A much needed escape and a reason to fucking get up in the morning.

No soul searching, no politics or soapbox standing (this is aimed at myself as a lyricist) – just foot on the monitor, fist in the air fast loud and rude metal baby.

Rattle your goddamn head as Megadave once shouted.

(9/10 Matt Mason) 

https://www.facebook.com/midnightviolators

https://midnight-ohio.bandcamp.com/album/hellish-expectations