MIDNIGHT SPELL Sky Destroyer | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

 Released by Iron Oxide Records on January 8th, 2021

Quick Background

Born amidst the Miami underground, Midnight Spell makes pure heavy metal in its truest form. Founded in 2017, the band has the mission to "carry the torch of real heavy metal and push the boundaries of the genre to its limits". The five-piece band has a traditional line-up with two guitars and a frontman. The drummer Brian Wilson is currently also part of the Yngwie Malmsteen's band. 

Sky Destroyer

Sky Destroyer is the debut album by the heavy metallers from south Florida. Nine songs in 41 minutes is a structure that pleased me from the get go. The other thing on their favor releasing the album on the 2nd week of the year when the competition for our ears is very limited. And spoiler alert, I am happy they did because Sky Destroyer was a very pleasant surprise. When I was preparing the listen to the album opener and single "Blood for Blood" I thought 'ok another new wave of traditional heavy metal from the USA with good song writing but boring mid-rangy vocals and very flat sound'. To my surprise the song opens with Paolo Velazquez delivering a high pitched scream that reminds me of Bruce Dickinson on "Be Quick of Be Dead". Throughout the song and album, Paolo balances mid range phrases and high pitched screams. With that said, the vocal performance on the opener is my favorite on the album. Overall both from a singing and musical perspective Sky Destroyer feel like an album part of the early US heavy metal movement. Meaning you hear the clear influences of Queensryche, Fates Warning and specially Riot. The lyrics cover several topics but mainly fantasy, swords and kingdoms and also heavy metal itself.

The opener and single is a jewel of a metal song. The guitarwork reminds me of Hammerfall but at a higher technical level. So some of the riffs are quite catchy and technical. Both Cooper and Hammer can solo, so in this song and during the whole album, they use trading guitar solos in the best Iron Maiden style. It's worth highlighting that the the guitarwork is quite good throughout the album with fun and interesting riffs (e.g. "Between the Eyes") and technical guitar solos (e.g. title track). 

Tracks two to four are short 3 to 4 minutes songs that use simplicity to deliver the catchy hard rock anthems "Between the Eyes", "Lady of the Moonlight" and "Midnight Ride." The title track while also short and direct, it's a bit different. It features a nice drum intro and it's a speed metal song. It's also one of the few times when Paolo uses more drive on his vocal performance. The last 3 songs differ a bit from the first half of the album as they are more dynamic and around the 6 min mark each. "Cemetery Queen" for example is a darker doomy song. It's a great song that made me think on early Helloween. The last song is about heavy metal, but very few band pull it off, in that case it didn't work so well, but it is not a big problem.

The Picky Guy

Despite the claim that they will "push the boundaries of the genre to its limits", Midnight Spell do not bring anything new to the table. Besides great song writing, what they do right is what they love. Not many bands do that well when it comes to over-the-top unapologetic heavy metal with hints of power metal. Another point, the bright and clean production worked well and the album sound ok, even the bass can be heard nicely (e.g. "Cemetery Queen" or the mid tempo "To the Stars"). But at moments, it sounded to me that the treble was too high. It's not really a problem, but half way through the album we get the instrumental "Mercy" which doesn't add much to nor damage the overall album experience. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

At first I was thinking this is sounding good but if they go for 60 minute album with fillers and power ballads, it will ruin it. To my delight they didn't! They kept the ideal format of about 45 min and around 8 songs. Perfect! And no ballads whatsoever. I'll take an instrumental over a ballad anytime! In a year that started no different than the crappy 2020, Midnight Spell was a very nice surprise to kick-off the 2021 reviews. I do miss bands that bring this unapologetic true metal almost 90's power metal without being afraid to put some high pitched vocals in the mix. Of course the music writing has to work and the balance to avoid cheesy territories is needed, gladly I must say Midnight Spell accomplish both. I'll give it 81 / 100. Good album! If you like Hammerfall, Helloween, Riot, early Queensryche, Sky Destroyer is guaranteed fun. 

SCORE: 81/100

Genre: Heavy Metal

Released by Iron Oxide Records on January 8th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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