Complete and Total Fucking Midnight

A demented burst of first-wave Black Metal exactly 30 years too late but no less ripping and unholy, Midnight rape your ears with a combination of sordid blasphemy and perverted glam metal. Seriously – this is like Venom, Hellhammer and Bathory rising out of the NWOBHM grave and shaking the cobwebs loose for another gloriously dirty, catchy spell of punky Black Metal. This is Satan’s party music and it rules hard. Endless hooks and shrill solos buried under a veil of raw production fuzz, with classic numbers such as “All Hail Hell”, “I am Violator” and “Endless Slut”.

Although some of this has been re-recorded properly (and live), this still fucking rules because it’s so sordid, catchy and simple.

This compilation released by Nuclear War Now is an amalgam of several demos by the band and clocks in at 66:56. There is a bit of variety on how raw the individual tracks are but the great news is that THEY ARE ALL FUCKING RAW! Midnight show us that black metal is dead and still partying on the other side.

Get it or die! I think you know who you are.

Originally published in Procession of Black Doom zine #4

You never get tired of banging your head to Motorhead? You worship Venom? You spin your Toxic Holocaust records while fucking sleazy whores and drinking cheap Russian Vodka like there’s no tomorrow? Then you’d better not waste your money on the new Dream Theater album and just get this killer compilation instead!

There are many Black/Thrash bands today and rarely do I get so excited nowadays by discovering another new bunch of drunken headbangers playing what I’ve already heard many times before, usually done better. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this genre VERY much and I don’t seek any kind of originality among its narrow borders and Midnight could seem to be just another band that plays this poisonous Satanik Speed Metal, but it’s not!

What most probably caught my attention about this release is the feeling it has. When listening to a song like “Endless Slut”, one should not be a genius in order to recall Venom’s “Angel Dust” it’s heavily influenced by, but there’s no feeling of this music being recycled, regurgitated or call it you will here. The songs here sound like they’re written, composed and performed just with the same enthusiasm as Venom’s Welcome to Hell was done, not more and not less!

This release features 20 songs in total and there’s no filler whatsoever here! Pure dirty, blasphemous drunken Rock n’ Roll done the unholy way! If you’re into this kind of stuff, you can’t go wrong with this great release, forged with utter dedication by NWN!

This is metal!

The sound is so heavy, fast, and aggressive. Complete and Total Fucking Midnight offers insane headbanging riffs, rampage drums and louder than hell vocals in the vein of Venom and Bathory. There's not much to tell, put this record in your player and be blown away. But I think that you need some basic thoughts about this release.

Okay, we'll start from sound. It's so natural. It's ugly and raw, as metal sound is supposed to be. Nothing fancy here. It comes from the soul. Vocal? Vocal is pure evil and hate. It reminds me of Quorthon.

We are all familiar with lyrical themes. They're not something new or extraordinary. But that's not bad. It suites music perfectly! I don't think that metal music should be about flowers, philosophy or world peace. Metal music is supposed to be violent and dangerous.

There are 20 songs on this release and every one of them is a killer. That's amazing! I mean, every single one is unbelievably excellent. Lord in Chains personally reminds me of Venom's Black Metal, and Servant of No One has intro which is similar to Mayhem's Deathcrush (at least to me). I don't know if this is true, but I choose to believe that those songs are tributes to those ancient gods of destruction.

In these times, when there are few good metal bands, it's nice to hear something like Midnight. It's a relief to know that there are bands who are making metal music a threat once again.

All Hail Hell!