Midnight Frost (To Rest with Eternity)

The artwork of “Midnight Frost” is fantastic. I would like to emphasize that, because there are not many further positive aspects concerning this release. Especially the musical content of the Heidegger rehearsal 1992 sucks. The intro is completely worthless and the two regular songs do not have any kind of clear contour. Needless to say that their sound is nothing but a sheer disaster. Any demo cassette by a beginner band from a Third World country might sound better. So we just get a noisy mishmash without dynamic, structure or vehemence. Perhaps it is a subtle revenge by Akhenaten on Heidegger, who, as we know, was a member of the NSDAP from 1933 to 1945 and that is why everything here was deliberately executed badly? Honestly, I don’t think so. The entire A side is just a big failure.

The B side with its stripped-down versions of two songs from the debut saves the release to a certain degree. Here we hear the typical trademarks of Judas Iscariot, unleashed speed parts, an expressive guitar work, coherent slow-moving sections and the hoarse vocals of the master himself. Additionally, a smooth flow comes free of charge. Last but not least, the tracks convey this feeling of misanthropic insanity that made black metal so great. Due to the fact that the production of these tracks gives no reasons to complain and in view of the technical precision of the musicians, this side provides some arguments to buy this vinyl (if you can still find it for sale somewhere). Number 457 of 1.000 will remain in my collection, although it is a very ambivalent release. Anyway, it’s better to get two good songs and two (or three, if we count the intro too) shitty ones than to receive four pieces that wallow in mediocrity without any highlight.

Finally, the 7” includes an inlay sheet with a long and partly somewhat egocentric explanation by Akhenaton why he now buries Judas Iscariot. As if everything had not already been said with the “quality” of the A side...

You know, I really don't want to get on the anti-Akhenaten bandwagon or anything, but I have to say that this release does not really inspire confidence. That might be a rather moot point at this juncture, considering it's the last Judas Iscariot release, but I think that makes its shortcomings all the more noticeable. First and foremost, there's the fact that "Midnight Frost (To Rest With Eternity)" is nothing more than five previously-released tracks compiled for whatever reason. The first three tracks -- originally from a demo -- are pretty raw shit. While this isn't bad in and of itself, it sets the groundwork fo a total lack of consistency between the two "halves" of this release. And though there's nothing inherently wrong with raw music, there is when it's not that great to begin with. As you may have guessed, these three tracks are unfortunately not that great. They're fairly below average, especially compared with Judas Iscariot's other releases. In fact, the only reason I rated this release as highly as I did was because of the fact that the other two tracks originally hailed from "The Cold Earth Slept Below," which is my second-favorite Judas Iscariot release. That being said, the composition and performance is naturally competent or else I wouldn't claim to like it. However, don't take this to mean that these two tracks (the titular 'Midnight Frost' and 'Ye Blessed Creatures') are enough to carry the whole so-called album; they're simply not.

While rare, it should surprise nobody to know that this release is not at all incredible and frankly not worthy to bear the Judas Iscariot name (which at one time stood for something good, despite all the relatively recent propaganda you might read to the contrary). As I mentioned earlier, the lack of internal consistency is primarily what kills it. While some people will obviously want this release because it contains the not-in-print "Heidegger" demo, I have to confess that it's not really anything worth hunting down. I guess it's fitting that Judas Iscariot ended with the same material with which it began, but at the same time, I don't feel at-all confident in recommending it to anyone other than a die-hard JI completist. This is likely to turn off more people than not, so casual fans of Judas Iscariot beware.