MIDNIGHT is starting to take the world by storm with his brand of very candid and robust Heavy Metal larded with a touch of Death ‘n’ Roll. As known by now it is a one man band when he is in the studio, and a real band when he goes on the road. Something he doing more often lately, which the audiences definitely thank him for. MIDNIGHT has been operating as a musical entity for some 22 years, and throughout those years he has played and recorded a lot of covers as well as his own stuff. Now, on May 23, 2025, he has decided to put some of those together on a sort of tribute album for the music that has inspired him. He has named it “Steel, Rust and Disgust”.

First off MIDNIGHT starts with one of his own creations, “Cleveland Metal”, and it is a continuation of what he always has done. The only difference being that this one for the audience to sing along to, especially as he can change Cleveland into the town or city he is playing that night. The other song that is not a cover is the title song “Steel, Rust and Disgust” and it is a slower song that just oozes heaviness and suspense, topped by the very distinctive voice of Athenar himself. This is a real headbanger of a song, and will have the audience throwing their hairs all through the air when being played. Like I said, the rest are all covers, but I have to admit that I am not too well known with most of the names that pass me by.

The names that I know of on “Steel, Rust and Disgust” are SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS, DEAD BOYS and ELECTRIC EELS (twice). Not the songs themselves, but just the names. What I like about this album is that although you are confronted with 12 songs, the time it takes for them to get passed me is under 35 minutes. So, no long and difficult tunes with lots of breaks. On the contrary, very pointy and straight forward music that either will entice you to like it or that will not do it for you, although the latter seems very unlikely if you have been interested in MIDNIGHT before now. I like the punky attitude of many of the songs on “Steel, Rust and Disgust”, which for me has given me an extra insight into who or what has helped to form what MIDNIGHT has become over the years.