Metal Blade Records
Release: 24 January 2020
Tracklist:
Fucking Speed and Darkness
Rebirth by Blasphemy
Escape the Grave
Devil’s Excrement
Rising Scum
Warning from the Reaper
Cursed Possessions
Raw Attack
The Sounds of Hell
You Can Drag Me Through Fire
I’ve never claimed to be a big Black Metal fan outside a handful of bands. I do like a lot of bands that are Blackened whether Thrash or Death. I fucking love Black ‘N’ Roll. I’m still learning about a lot of these bands, but so far I have enjoyed all I have checked out. My favorite has been a band called Midnight, at the helm a single Man, Athenar, who writes and performs all the instruments in the studio. I’m new to his material (the last 3 or 4 years,) but he has been around since 2002. During this time, he has done splits, comps, live and three full-length albums. Now that he is signed to Metal Blade, he is releasing his fourth album, and first major-label album entitled Rebirth By Blasphemy.
Creating a cacophonous sound blending the best of Venom, punk rock, and Black Metal, Midnight has been able to take these seemingly disparate styles and make it dark, dank, loud, and catchy all at once. The backbone of the music is simple rock delivered with a punk rock ferocity, tempered with the early sound of Metal (in particular Venom, one of the originators of what would later become Black Metal) and cast it in this spitting, venomous traditional Black Metal delivery. And fear not loyal fans who may think that a transfer to the majors would dampen the sound. Far from it: it seems that Midnight is just as heavy and intense as ever. Angry yet spirited, Rebirth By Blasphemy, from the opening track “Fucking Speed and Darkness” on, is a fast-paced juggernaut of masterful brutality that also gets your body moving. Tracks like “Cursed Possessions,” “Rebirth By Blasphemy,” “Devil’s Excrement,” and “You Can Drag Me Through Fire” are standouts on an album that doesn’t have a bad track to it.
I was lucky enough to catch Midnight on tour last year with Abbath, and they put on an excellent show. It was fun and raucous, summoning up visuals of The Mentors and the sounds of Motorhead and Venom sodomizing punk rock. Rebirth By Blasphemy is an album I see myself returning to many times this year and is already a standout for me this early on
Written by: Chris Martin
Ratings: 9/10
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