MIDNIGHT - Hellish Expectations review

 

MIDNIGHT - Hellish Expectations

Metal Blade Records

This latest release by MIDNIGHT opens with the song "Expect Total Hell". As always (and that's a key phrase to remember) the band starts off with a cut suitable for starting a performance off. But at this point in my appreciation for the band I do expect something decent but total hell? I don't think so. 

You see I go back to 2006 when my close friend turned me onto MIDNIGHT with their Complete and Total Fucking Midnight compilation. Now back then that release was like hell fuckin yeah this is what metal needs. I say that because except for the underground the band's being pushed by the mainstream literally sucked, those bands blew. So to me yeah MIDNIGHT were amazing. 

Of course it wouldn't be until 2011 when the band (actually Athenar) put out their first official full length Satanic Royalty. I still consider that to be their best album. At least it's my favorite still to this day along with the early compilation of course. Now everything after that has been good or decent. 2022's Let There Be Witchery falls into the decent category for me. 

Which brings me back to the "as always" phrase. I told ya to remember it. Here we are with the sixth album by MIDNIGHT. So with blackened speed metal, black & roll or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. Athenar is gonna be limited to what he can do to make it good without changing the formula. 

So on here like I mentioned earlier "Expect Total Hell" is a fuckin great opening track with some cool guitar soloing. In fact there's a lot of cool guitar solos by Athenar. "Gash Scrape" is fairly old hardcore influenced which I think is cool. "Slave of the Blade" is a short and fast blasting tune that will get a slam pit started. "Dungeon Lust" is a damm good straight up rocking cut. It definitely needs to be in their live set. 

As far as the rest of the album goes well "FOAL" (Fuck Off And Live) is a decent closer. With that said I like this album more than Let There Be Witchery. The first half of the album is loaded heavily with the better cuts. Obviously someone like me is gonna be critical to a point even as an long time fan. But obviously people who just got into MIDNIGHT when they signed on to Metal Blade Records will think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. 

https://www.metalblade.com/us/

LISTEN HERE:

https://midnight-ohio.bandcamp.com/album/hellish-expectations