Midnight
Satanic Royalty

Hells Headbangers 2011

After an unlimited number of splits and EPs Cleveland's Midnight has finally unleashed a real full-length album.  I hope you are in for hell-rockin' good time!  The album opens with a total Venom-inspired stomper called Satanic Royalty!  It's as if Cronos were in the recording studio with Athenar when this song was recorded.  The tempo quickens and a rock n' roll solo torches the speakers!  However this track quickly gives way to an adrenaline-soaked ode to Motorhead's scorching ethics in the form of You Can't Stop Steel.  And then all hell breaks loose on my favorite song, Rip This Hell.  The main riff reminds me of Bathory's Necromancy only slightly skewed through a Motorhead cocaine overdose!  The song is a total drivin' anthem and rocks my socks off!  Athenar's vocals are at their totalitarian best!  Necromania is a twisted union of Bathory and Venom all full of muscular riffs that flex and slither.  Like a hammer smashing your face, Lust Filth and Sleaze charges forward with a total Motorhead-esque rhythm as it smokes towards total burnout.  I hear faint echoes of Darkthrone's black n roll style burst forth on Violence On Violence.  Though this is buried beneath gravel, dirt and a seering Venom flame.  The gears shift slightly downwards on Savage Dominance as it bounces between rocking black metal and alcohol-fueled traditional metal. The assault wraps up with the Motorhead-worship Shock Til Blood.  The barroom guitar solos reek of beer and cigarettes and Athenar's voice sounds like a dirtier Lemmy.  Midnight's debut album is a megadose of Bathory/Venom/Motorhead injected street metal!  Totally tough and gritty, you certainly don't want to get caught out at night when this album is on the prowl.  You might wind up dead!