ALBUM REVIEW: Midnight – Let There Be Witchery

Ohio’s rabid Black-Speed Metal sleaze-lord MIDNIGHT is back with a 5th album, hot on the heels of their “Rebirth By Blasphemy” LP (read my review here). Their new record will be unleashed by Metal Blade Records on March 5th.

Moody guitars and creepy leads come in with a brooding and simple melody. Quickly chaos ensues with a dissonant riff that has a Voivodian flare to it atop the mountainous d-beats and with Athenar’s savage vocals completing the one-man assault of pure speeding animosity. As per usual, the choruses add some anthemic, punky and memorable hooks to the vicious music while the rabid energy that has been consistent from day one is as strong as ever from the starting moments. It’s great to hear that on album 5, Midnight can still deliver those refrains that you feel in your loins while keeping volatile and unpredictable with the momentous and primal energy always at the forefront of their sound. A simple riff and drum beat can often be the most fruitful foundation of a killer song (think about the most notable songs ever) and Midnight has always had those kind of riffs a beginner could knock out and yell along with. This isn’t to say they lack quality, but Athenar steers clear from technical and pretentious playing, even the solos rely on the more sleazy blues scales than streaks of sweep-picked complexity. His bass lines and drumming add a rock-solid groove and just strengthen those biting guitars too. Everything feels as impenetrable as ever.

Noticeably, the album has a bit more of a darker, moody feeling while still retaining those upbeat and fun song structures, that emphasises the early “blackened” influences while also including just as much triumphant and classic Heavy Metal elements as the previous LP, where there was a huge influx of those more 80s refrains. “In Sinful Secrecy” is definitely one of the most Midnight songs ever made, while it’s follow up sits in a more Lemmy-worshipping bass-driven groove. The bitter vocals deliver those seductive and savage passages which Athenar has been rather candid about the influences on his lyrics being from real life and the genuine catharsis can be felt in his bestial spew. Midnight have always delivered music that can just as easily inspire headbanging, tribal dancing and sheer anarchy and that rings true for “Let There Be Witchery” which is (alongside “Sweet Death And Ecstasy”) probably Midnight’s most sonically diverse album. With the ripping and memorable nature of “Satanic Royalty”, the aforementioned volatile span of “Sweet Death…” and the more trad-Metal hooks of “Rebirth…” with “No Mercy’s…” more primitive features for good measure, this does feel like a refined blend of everything we have lived and loved from Midnight thus far.

While raw and revolting, there is a definite and purposeful sense of melody that songs like “Let There Be Sodomy” showcase beautifully that almost has an early Running Wild type of thing going on, flooding the air with 80s Heavy Metal glory while the Venom and Hellhammer debauchery comes flooding back reliably. I think it’s pretty obvious Athenar wears his influences and love of excellent music on his sleeve as a person and an artist alike, there is no pretence, just grand and obscene tunes. Earlier I remarked on the dance-ability of some moments, “Devil Virgin” is a prime example of raging but dancing music that will show Midnight’s blasphemous butchery can even be a prerequisite for some raw romance. If you don’t like this band, I am unlikely to convince you. On the other hand, this record should! It will chew you up, spit you out and leave you begging for more. This isn’t a “play once and forget” album for the fickle mass, this is another cult gem from Ohio’s nastiest.

Midnight is as Midnight as ever. Delivering salacious, chaotic and barbaric music with a lustful dripping of bodily and temporal sleaziness. This is real Heavy Metal from the gutter.

For more MIDNIGHT mayhem, read my interview with Athenar here.