Cleveland’s favorite filth metal practitioners, Midnight, will unleash “Steel, Rust and Disgust” on May 23rd, 2025, via Metal Blade Records.
One-man-army, Athenar, has been spewing out an ungodly racket, dropping countless demos, splits, EPs, and LPs and ultimately slaying the metal/punk underground with his own addictive brand of lust, grime, and sleaze for over two decades. The “Steel, Rust and Disgust” collective follows last year’s chart topping “Hellish Expectations” full-length and features ten unique cover tracks alongside two new cuts.
Athenar comments: “The idea to record an album of all cover jams with a certain theme is nothing quite new. The original title for this album was gonna be ‘Throw Ups’ as an homage to the David Bowie’s ‘Pin Ups’ album, also of covers. Although ‘Throw Ups’ is only two syllables and I need six. I guess I could’ve called it ‘Throw Downs Throw Outs Throw Ups’, but that would be just fucking stupid”.
“I just wanted to record some songs by bands who shared the same sights, sounds, and sewage of my region of birth”, he continues. “Some of these tunes you may have heard, some you may have not. So please, do yourself a favor and check out the original versions… if you want to transform into a total fucking slimebag that is”!
In advance of the record’s official release, today Midnight presents the original track, “Cleveland Metal”. Notes Athenar: “‘Cleveland’ and ‘metal’. Those two words flow together like molten steel. This title was directly taken from a compilation album of the same name released in 1983 on Clubside Records, pre Auburn Records. The song was written as an erotic love letter to the cursed city whence I was thrusted upon and its fellow inhabitants of subhumans”.
Watch the official video for “Cleveland Metal”, directed by My Good Eye Visuals, below.
“Steel, Rust and Disgust” will be released on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:
• Orange (US – Ltd 600)
• 180g Black (EU)
• Orange/Black Dust Splatter (EU – Ltd. 500)
• White/Black Dust Splatter (Band Exclusive – Ltd. 300 available here)
Pre-order “Steel, Rust and Disgust” here.
Tracklist:
01. Cleveland Metal
02. Iron Beast (Kratos cover)
03. I’m Insane (Synastryche cover)
04. Final Solution (Rocket From The Tombs cover)
05. Frenzy (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)
06. Child Eaters (Rubber City Rebels cover)
07. 3rd Generation Nation (Dead Boys cover)
08. Rock N’ Roll Fever (David Allan Coe cover)
09. Carrions Keep (False Hope cover)
10. Black Leather Rock (Electric Eels cover)
11. Steel, Rust and Disgust
12. Agitated (Electric Eels cover)
Weblinks:
www.facebook.com/midnightviolators
www.instagram.com/midnightviolators
