MIDNIGHT PRIEST – “Aggressive Hauntings” Album Review

ALBUM SUMMARY

Purchase the album digitally HERE or visit Metal on Metal Records

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REVIEW – IN SHORT

“Aggressive Hauntings” by Midnight Priest, from Metal On Metal Records, was released in 2019 and is the band’s 3rd full-length album. Personally, I had not heard of Midnight Priest prior to running across the album on YouTube. The album has over 200k views in just over two months so they certainly have gotten the attention of the metal community. Midnight Priest has a very 80s sound, with modern production quality, and a grit that reminds me of a cross between Mercyful Fate and Judas Priest (with lyrical themes such as satanic rituals, possession, demons, ghosts…very Mercyful Fate/King Diamond-like) . The album features very strong musicianship, great sound quality, and a few songs that could be placed among the top metal songs of the 2010’s. However, the album lacks consistency in it’s second half, and the vocals of Lex Thunder are very much an acquired taste (think King Diamond). In addition, there is some inconsistent “punch” – some songs are pure metal, while others feel like cliche 80s rock. All that said, Midnight Priest shows a lot of potential with “Aggressive Hauntings” and are a band to be followed closely in the 2020s.

REVIEW – IN DEPTH

The album opens with a 1 minute, 19 second organ instrumental, reminiscent of the opening of King Diamond’s “The Fatal Portrait” album. Is the opening a little too long? Yes. Does it set the mood and tone for the album? It sure does. The sound quality of the organ is also perfect and, while most of us will start to skip this song after the first few listens, it is a nice lead in to the first song on the album.

“Funeral”, whose title screams Mercyful Fate, opens the album with a bass-drop, and a riff with a double-kick. The quality production is immediately noticeable – the bass, drums, and both guitars are clearly defined in the production (shout out to Rock n Raw Studios). Then, the vocals of Lex Thunder first kick in. His first few lines reminded me of King Diamond, when he sings in his lower register. As a lifelong King Diamond fan, this immediately grabbed my attention. Lex’s gritty vocal styles also vary from “normal” register singing to high-pitched screeches, again reminiscent of King Diamond. From a music standpoint, the riffs sound like they could be from Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” album and the riffs flowing naturally from one to another. The pacing of the song also varies and by the end of the track, I got the sense that Midnight Priest are willing to put a lot of effort into their song-writing.

Next, is the album’s title track, “Aggressive Hauntings”. This song begins to show of a bit of a signature guitar squeal that is heard throughout the rest of the album. This effect is so up-front at some points that I had some audio peaking issues in my car. That is not a complaint, probably just me listening to the album too loudly, if there is such a thing. The vocals on this track are a little more grating on the ears and it becomes apparent that Lex Thunder is probably going to be an acquired taste for a specific subset of metal fans. If King Diamond’s vocals are associated with words like “soaring”, Lex’s vocals are closer to “shrieking” at times. The music on this song, however, is great. Probably my favorite on the album. The chorus is a stand-out, and the theatrics throughout the song help to tell the story. Listen for “I think she’s dead” about 75% through the song, I love that part.

The third full track on the album, “Eyes in the Dark” is a bit less aggressive than the first two songs. For example, I would consider the pre-chorus ‘metal’ and the chorus ‘hard rock’. Overall, the song lean more 80s hard rock. The riffs are also less diverse and a bit more straight forward. The vocals continue to grate a bit but the back and forth guitar solo’s are a nice addition. I’d argue “Eyes in the Dark” is a step down from the first two songs, but still solid and probably catchier than the previous tracks.

Next up is “Holy Flesh” which I will go ahead and call Midnight Priest’s “radio-track”- very catchy and the music is arranged well. The vocals are more subdued and more controlled in this song, and may be the strongest vocal performance on the entire record. Stand-out moments for me are 1) pre-chorus – the “master” lyric kicks ass, 2) guitar solos – very strong and fit the song well and 3) the song break – great riffs with a flow that reminds me of Iron Maiden.

The next two tracks, “Ecstasy” and “Sin for Satan” are more Judas Priest-esque. The musician quality shows off here but in both songs the song-writing feels more inconsistent. Some of the riffs are great, some are very basic. For example, the chorus of “Sin for Satan” is heavy, dark, and head-bang worthy but section of the song where the “now sin for satan” is repeated just doesn’t do it for me.

The last three songs feel like a distinct departure from the rest of the album, both in theme and song quality. The tracks feel very generic at times, and lack a unique Midnight Priest feel. The horror-themes go away, and are replaced with “we are metal, we like leather” type lyrics. Even the vocals stop resembling the high-pitched screams, instead aiming for a more traditional singing voice. I encourage you to check out the last three songs for yourself, maybe they just aren’t my thing.

Overall, this album really caught my attention. I tend to be very picky about the music I enjoy but Midnight Priest made me a fan with the first 7 tracks. If not for a drop-off on the back-end of the album, this would have scored better than a 7.5. At the end of the day, Midnight Priest proved to be talented, hard-working, unique and show a lot of potential.