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Midnight is an American blackened speed metal project formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2003 by Athenar, the alias of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Walters. Previously a member of Boulder, Walters remains Midnight’s principal songwriter and typically records the vocals, guitars, bass and drums himself. Onstage, additional musicians expand the project into a trio, whose black hoods, leather and bullet belts complement the music’s abrasive sound and provocative imagery.
Midnight’s earliest recordings appeared in 2003 as a self-titled demo and the Funeral Bell mini-album. S ...read more
Midnight is an American blackened speed metal project formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2003 by Athenar, the alias of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Walters. Previously a member of Boulder, Walters remains Midnight’s principal songwriter and typically records the vocals, guitars, bass and drums himself. Onstage, additional musicians expand the project into a trio, whose black hoods, leather and bullet belts complement the music’s abrasive sound and provocative imagery.
Midnight’s earliest recordings appeared in 2003 as a self-titled demo and the Funeral Bell mini-album. Singles, EPs, splits and compilations followed throughout the decade before Hells Headbangers released the first full-length album, Satanic Royalty, in 2011. The follow-up albums No Mercy for Mayhem (2014) and Sweet Death and Ecstasy (2017) continued the project’s combination of early extreme metal, punk and hard rock.
Midnight signed with Metal Blade Records in 2019, releasing Rebirth by Blasphemy through the label in January 2020. Let There Be Witchery followed in 2022, with Hellish Expectations arriving in 2024. Athenar described writing the latter over a single weekend, prompted by his initial dissatisfaction with the unfinished recordings for Let There Be Witchery. Its ten songs were intended as a particularly concise expression of Midnight’s sound.
Released in May 2025, Steel, Rust and Disgust paid tribute to musicians from Athenar’s home region. The album combined ten covers with two original songs, Cleveland Metal and the title track. Covered artists included Dead Boys, Rocket from the Tombs, Electric Eels, Rubber City Rebels and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, bringing several strands of the region’s musical history into Midnight’s catalogue.
In 2026, Midnight marked the fifteenth anniversary of Satanic Royalty with a world tour featuring performances of the album. Two shows recorded at Hollywood’s Knucklehead venue on May 28 and 29 provided the material for Satanic Attack Live!, scheduled for release on November 6, 2026. The live album includes the debut in its original running order alongside additional material.
Musically, Midnight combines speed metal, first-wave black metal, punk and traditional heavy metal, often described as black ’n’ roll. Distorted riffs, driving rhythms and Athenar’s rough vocals accompany an emphasis on memorable hooks. He has identified catchiness as central to his songwriting, extending that approach to lyrics and guitar solos; the solos themselves develop through spontaneous playing. Occult imagery, lust and excess recur throughout the lyrics and presentation. https://midnight-ohio.bandcamp.com/ « hide |
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