HOUSTON — One of the beautiful aspects of attending a music festival is watching an artist play live for the first time among the ones you paid your hard-earned money to see. Maybe even discovering such bands outright while they’re on stage.
For instance: Hell’s Heroes VIII at White Oak Music Hall, the brainchild of Necrofier vocalist / guitarist and Night Cobra singer Christian Larson, presented on a silver platter the utter punk-influenced butchery and savage dominance of masked marauders Midnight.
A one-man band from Cleveland known as Athenar who plays all instruments and sings on his studio efforts and recruits a drummer and guitarist for live shows, Midnight took to the downtown main stage March 20 at 5:25 p.m. and incited vicious mosh pits and crowd surfing in garbage bins among the masses on a steamy 90-degree Spring Break day.
Following eight years of demos, splits and EP releases, Athenar unleashed his debut full-length album Satanic Royalty in 2011 and used Hell’s Heroes to celebrate it as part of a 15-year anniversary.
Taking the stage as if they were about to rob a bank with guitars and the kit, the chain-clad Athenar and his trio made an instant fan of yours truly with their assault on the masses (watch ATM footage below of “Violence on Violence,” “Savage Dominance” and “Holocaustic Deafening”).
Midnight’s brutality of short punk-infused Motorhead-influenced underground metal tunes was only half of the reason the band made such an impression. Proving that they’re not to be taken too seriously, Athenar provided a litany of humor that may have overshot some members of the audience. Highlights:
*Referring to the fact Day 2 headliner Loudness canceled its appearance 72 hours before the festival began, Athenar stated: “I have some news. Manowar is going to play tonight instead of Loudness. Christian wanted to keep it a secret. And they’re only going to play their new album.”
*“This is our 19th time playing this festival.” Unbeknownst to the frontman, his statement caused at least one fan to turn to his friend and ask, “How is that possible if there’s only been eight of them?”
*After one song, he declared: “There it is, in its entirety: W.A.S.P., The Crimson Idol.”
*Keeping the crowd hydrated, Athenar asked who wanted a water bottle, then while it was midair, he added, “Who wants herpes?” He then made an Eddie Murphy: Comedian reference by saying, “Shit’s like luggage.”
*Taking the stage after Voivod’s performance (coverage forthcoming) and as can be seen below in the video, Athenar told the audience: “It fucking gave me great pleasure to see the snuffville that Voivod did by murdering all you fuckers today. That was great. Thank you, Voivod. Come on! Thanks, Voivod. They just fucking annihilated you all. They literally murdered every single person here. Thank you for killing people. Very technologically they did that” as an ode to the group’s Killing Technology album from 1987.
Being signed to arguably metal’s top record label Metal Blade certainly doesn’t hurt Athenar’s cause. And with a performance such as the one Midnight put on at Hell’s Heroes VIII, it wouldn’t be overstating things to say theirs was one of the best of the three-day festival.
Royalty of the church, visible faces and 100 percent truth telling be damned.
