Midnight (US) - Complete and Total Hell
Hells Headbangers
Black Rock and Roll
21 songs (01:13:20)
Release year: 2012
Midnight, Hells Headbangers
Reviewed by Charles
Well, I needed this after listening to that Locrian album through three times back to back.

Everybody loves Midnight- or at least, everyone who’s heard them probably loves them. Satanic Royalty from last year was their first full album, but it has been followed rapidly by a welcome compilation of the several years’ worth of splits, EPs and demos that preceded it. About as unreconstructed as it is possible to imagine, the band’s riotous assault sits somewhere between Motorhead, Venom and harsher blackened thrash in the vein of Sodom. You would have had to have had your ear pretty close to the ground to pick up these releases first time around, so if you did, kudos- there probably isn’t much point reading on. If you didn’t, then you need this 21 track CD. It’s so good, it made me spontaneously get up and do a forward roll in my living room.

Midnight’s sound is completely exuberant, based around fuzzed up rock and roll riffing and super-hooky choruses- the latter delivered in Athenar’s instantly-recognisable vocal retchings. White Hot Fire is heinously brilliant, with its pulsatingly fast tempo, anthemic chorus, and mad guitar solo. But pretty much the exact same could be said for any number of songs here- Lord in Chains, Wings of Satan, Turn up the Hell, Black Rock n Roll (more a manifesto than a tune) and on, and on, and on.

Anyone who heard Satanic Royalty will know the band also has a penchant for truly filthy slow numbers. Long Live Death is the first of this type of thing to surface here: the riff plods with wilful stupidity, Athenar slavers ludicrously over the title line in the chorus, and there’s also a howling guitar solo. Strike of Midnight is apocalyptic, with its churning riff working like a freakish invocation. And the groove on Cross Held High is monstrous.

And I haven’t even mentioned some of the best songs here, like Take You to Hell, which in a better world would be filling 80,000 seat stadiums with bellowing fans. The only downer is the casual sexism in some of the lyrics. But setting that, sadly common, failing aside, this is 'completely and totally' essential.

Killing Songs :
All
Charles quoted no quote
Other albums by Midnight (US) that we have reviewed:
Midnight (US) - Sweet Death and Ecstasy reviewed by Andy and quoted 80 / 100
Midnight (US) - Shox of Violence reviewed by Andy and quoted no quote
Midnight (US) - No Mercy For Mayhem reviewed by Andy and quoted 81 / 100
Midnight (US) - Satanic Royalty reviewed by Charles and quoted 85 / 100
0 readers voted
Average:
 0
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 0 replies to this review. Last one on Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:28 pm
View and Post comments