Midnight – Let There Be Witchery
March 4th, 2022
Blackened Heavy Metal / Speed Metal
Metal Blade Records
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
I’ve been a fan of Midnight ever since my partner introduced them to me back in 2018. These guys, or more specifically, guy (Athenar), have been steadily pumping out their brand of classic heavy metal with a blackened tinge since 2003, and they seem to age like a fine wine. While I absolutely adore some of their earlier records, like Satanic Royalty and No Mercy for Mayhem, their 2020 record Rebirth by Blasphemy was a high point for me. I named that album one of my favourites of the year, and it stood out to me from the rest of their discography for its more arena rock-style production as well as songwriting. Of course, this turned some fans off as it was a noticeable departure from their previously established sound. I, on the other hand, ate it all up. However, with this new record, 2022’s Let There Be Witchery, the band has backtracked a little bit, going back to their slightly more raw style of production, with the songwriting following suit. Unfortunately for me, it feels like Midnight is starting to retread old ground.
Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, this record fits right in amongst the older releases from the band. It’s fast, cutting, and to the point with its riffage. Yet a lot of the ideas being tossed around on this record feel like things the band has done before, just switched up a little bit, or rearranged into a different order. Songs like “Frothing Foulness”, “Nocturnal Molestation” (which straight up feels like a song from the previous album) and “More Torment” feel like they could have easily been drudged up as b-sides from an album like Satanic Royalty. That being said that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few new ideas that crop up from time to time. For example, the album opener, “Telepathic Nightmare”, throws in a lot of ugly, diminished chords that give the whole song a really vile feeling to it, and it certainly stands out amongst the tracklist because of that. It may be my favourite song on the album.
There are also some really weird choices found throughout this tracklist. For example it kind of baffled me that “Frothing Foulness” ends so abruptly. The band kind of launches into this big rock ending that keeps building in tension, and just when you think its going to reach a crescendo the thing just cuts off, and the next track, “In Sinful Secrecy”, starts up. It’s really weird and feels like Athenar is purposefully trying to troll his listeners, like he’s engaging in some kind of orgasm denialism or edging the listener without giving them what they expect. Hey, I’m all for subverting expectations when it’s done in an interesting way, but here I feel like it’s just kind of lazy. At the very least, “In Sinful Secrecy” follows up this track, and it’s such a catchy number that it often makes me forget about the weird way the previous song ended.
The production on this record is great, however. I wouldn’t be surprised if the band received enough pushback from their audience and fanbase over the higher production value on their previous record that they ultimately decided to dirty things up a bit again. There’s a noticeable rawness to the way everything sounds on here. The drums are crisp and thick but they still sound like there’s a layer of dust obscuring the sound of the instrument as it travels from the kit through the recording device and into the speakers of my headphones on the other end. The same could be said for the guitars. Athenar seems pretty loathe to use palm muting, so the riffage here has a layer of dirty atmosphere to it that crusts everything up. If anything Midnight should be proof that you don’t need to tune down that much to get a heavy, disgusting sound like what they’ve conjured up.
Lyrically the band is singing about all the same shit they usually sing about: torture, sex, Satan, witches, succubi, rituals, disease, heavy metal, it’s all pretty standard stuff. But despite my complaints about the instrumentals sounding samey and too much of a retread of past works, I do not have the same complaint about the lyric. I love the fact that Athenar writes exclusively about filth in all its forms. It’s gross, disgusting, and I love every second of it. I hope that never changes.
I guess I should say that this isn’t in any way meant to imply that Athenar is a bad musician. Clearly that isn’t the case. I’ve loved every record that Midnight has dropped, and they’re one of my favourite bands currently active in the metal world. They’ve been a huge influence on me as a musician as well. But I just can’t get past the fact that this album feels a bit rote in comparison to the material they’ve released before now. Perhaps the nature of the past few years, with the struggles of the pandemic wearing on everybody both mentally and physically, is to blame. Or perhaps it’s the fact that these guys have been on the go since 2003 and they’re starting to run out of steam now that they’re getting bigger and receiving more attention. Who’s to say? I’ll still always love Midnight, and this album has enough about it that I like to still pop it on from time to time, but if given the choice between this record and any of the band’s past releases, I’d rather go back and listen to their previous works than this. It’s a weaker album, but I think Midnight has it in them to regroup and put out something stronger and more interesting with their next release. Only time shall tell.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Okay
Favourite Tracks:
“Telepathic Nightmare”
“In Sinful Secrecy”
“Villainy Wretched Villainy”
“Szex Witchery”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 