ALBUM REVIEW: Let There Be Witchery – Midnight
In the multifaceted world of heavy metal today, there are a plenty of bands that bring bland, safe and sterilised-feeling content to the table. Bands that seem to have no drive to shock or stir their audiences whatsoever. Bands that wouldn’t raise the eyebrow of even the most timid pensioner. Then, there are bands like MIDNIGHT. Seeming to be on a quest to make this corner of music feel generally threatening again, the hooded ruffian known as Athenar to all adherents of filthy, riff-splattered street metal has dropped his latest offering, tentatively titled Let There Be Witchery.
The album opens with the creepy, occultic intro of Telepathic Nightmare, an initial banshee-wail of squealing guitars, before in characteristically MIDNIGHT fashion, a massive, barrelling D-beat comes thundering into view. In fact, all the band’s hallmarks are firmly on display here, a melodic slug of roughly struck power chords, pick slides, a total rock ‘n’ roll solo and of course, the bile of Athenar‘s vocals. The tempo drops slightly on the amphetamine chaser that is Frothing Foulness, which lurches into a typically charismatic neanderthal riff backed up with a CELTIC FROST album’s worth of metal’s favourite syllable, which of course is “OÜGH“.
Following the initial opening salvo, we find a trifecta of slightly more restrained material (although this is MIDNIGHT we’re talking about, so that essentially means “by a degree of microns.”) Leading the charge and providing the album’s first black ‘n’ roll love song, In Sinful Secrecy is a strobing hunk of snotty, belligerent murk, draped in deeply satisfying solos and delivered with all the wit and subtlety of a brick to the teeth. You have barely a moment to breathe before Nocturnal Molestation kicks in. Sharp and punky, this is an exercise in flexing that muscular MIDNIGHT riff work which grabs you by the throat and just refuses to give even a moment of quarter. After this, the voodoo throb of More Torment may feel like respite, but nevertheless is a total neck snapper. You may have to remind yourself that he’s singing “more torment“, not “MOTÖRHEAD“.
The tempo is very definitely cranked up as we move to Let There Be Witchery’s closing moments. Let There Be Sodomy provides an athletic bit of guitar work strung over MIDNIGHT’s trademark burning runaway train of a rhythm section; this one is as catchy as anything they’ve done before and is a likely candidate for the album’s highlight. Devil Virgin is a black magick stamper with a bruiser of a riff, lashings of melody and some interesting hi-hat flair, before the speed gets cranked up and the IQ gets cranked down for Snake Obsession, a Violence On Violence-style batterer, taut, muscular and aggressive as hell.
Athenar has clearly saved the best for last on this outing. Villainy Wretched Villainy is probably the closest to a party banger he’s capable of writing. Bright, punchy power chords and a big, singalong chorus, all bookended with soaring solos and some excellent dual guitar lines. Add this one to your drinking playlist, it’ll fit right in. Closing out the album we find Szex Witchery. It makes for classic MIDNIGHT material, massive riffs, punchy rhythms and overall a package that makes your neck twitch and your fist want to slam itself against the nearest stage-shaped object. If this is not the effect this track has on you, please seek medical attention.
As a complete package, this is indistinguishable from anything that’s gone before, but this is not a criticism. Part of the reason why MIDNIGHT’s output is so fantastic is that it is supremely digestible. You know exactly what it is you’re going to be subjected to across the next 40-or-so minutes and that is always the audible equivalent of being repeatedly punched in the face by a large man with an anchor tattoo on his hairy forearm. Rest assured then, that this particular beating is definitely on par with any of MIDNIGHT‘s other output, if not arguably one of their best. We’ll see you in A&E later.
Rating: 9/10
Let There Be Witchery is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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