It's Midnight's time with 'Rebirth By Blasphemy'

Review by Bob Ignizio

For Cleveland band Midnight’s main-man Athenor, heavy metal is a part of him. It flows in his veins. Long before people started throwing around terms like “New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal”, Athenor (aka Jamie Walters) was playing this kind of stuff in bands like Boulder, Destructor, and Abudullah. Only now, with the power of Metal Blade Records backing him up, he can finally bring his brand of filth-flavored thrash to a wider audience on his latest release, REBIRTH BY BLASPHEMY.

While Midnight’s sound most obviously recalls proto black metal bands like Venom and early Bathory, influences from classic metal artists like Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden ensure there’s a catchiness and accessibility here that can appeal to a somewhat wider audience. Not that you should expect to hear Midnight on mainstream radio anytime soon, especially given Athenor’s penchant for lyrical sleaze.

Favorite Albums of 2018

Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t watch as many movies since I put the Cleveland Movie Blog to bed at the end of 2017, and therefore had more time to listen to tunes. Or maybe this was just a really good year for music. Either way, I found a lot of music to like in 2018, and picking my top 10 wasn't easy. Many of my honorable mentions could just as easily rank in the number 9 or 10 spot depending on my mood.

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2018

10. The Breeders – ‘All Nerve’

Nineties alt rock seems to be having a resurgence of late, but this excellent album is too good to write off as a mere nostalgia trip.  Bonus points for covering Amon Duul II’s “Archangel’s Thunderbird”. 

Rock Doesn’t Need to Be Saved by Greta Van Fleet

I'll be honest. I'm not a fan of Greta Van Fleet, the trendy young band of the moment who sound more than a little bit like Led Zeppelin. That said, I don't begrudge them their success. The singer does a mean Robert Plant impression, the band can play, and in the greater scheme of things there's plenty of music out there that's worse.

However, I am tired of hearing about how GVF are supposedly “saving” rock n roll. Or even more ludicrous yet, given their retro affectations, that they are the “future” of rock n roll. The implication, of course, is that there aren’t any other new(ish) bands playing genuine honest-to-goodness rock music in the classic mold. 

I call bullshit.