Gates of Hell Records and Jawbreaker Records are proud to announce the co-release of the MIDNATT / OVERTURE split LP “Swedish Metal”.

Both bands are newcomers in the Swedish Heavy Metal scene, and this split album collects their two debut demos, for the first time on vinyl format.

Overture (formed in 2022) is an up-and-coming, extremely talented young band from Stockholm. The power trio combines jawdropping musical virtuosity and musicianship with flawless song writing and a contagious young-and-hungry energy. Their specific blend of metal is highly recommended for fans of Scorpions, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Rising Force, Heavy Load and Silver Mountain.

Midnatt emerged from Arvika’s underground in 2022 with the “Metallisk Hetta” demo tape, a solid slab of gritty heavy metal, entirely sung in Swedish language. This raw-power trio conjures up a soundscape that can only lie behind the burning gates of Hell and that will appeal to all fans of the golden era of Swedish Heavy Metal.

Despite being two brand new bands, members in both Midnatt and Overture are no first-timers and no stranger to Metal danger: Midnatt in fact features members from Swedish Heavy Metal monster Commando, who made quite an impression with their 2020 “Rites of Damnation” EP and their previous 2018 demo cassette. Overture members are no beginners either as they’ve been delivering the goods in bands such as Eternal Evil and Atonement (who just recently released two excellent full albums) and more.

An exquisite and utterly traditional layout by Turborock Productions perfectly rounds off this fantastic release.

If you like your metal sharp and heavy, this split will make your day. Everyone else, cut and run!

Release date: 26 January, 2024.

REVIEW

There is nothing more inspirational and encouraging, but seeing a next generation of passionate headbangers grow in front of your eyes and having the courage to bring to the world their interpretation of our favourite genre. First steps are never easy and if you stumble as a “toddler” band it’s easy to fall, never to get up again. Luckily the metalized kids were always known for their resilience and mental fortitude, creativity as well, often running several bands in parallel and with remarkable musical experience behind them, before finishing their teen years. More often than not, despite all the advances of the digital era, outputting a fully-fledged album is a daunting task to accomplish these days, leaving no other choice for young formations, but to resort in joining metal forces in producing demos and splits for testing the audience and as an overture for a debut record.

No surprisingly our heroes of today come from Sweden – a land of plenty when it comes to traditional heavy metal sounds, that has solid historical background, plus promising future, as we’re about to find out. MIDNATT coming from Arvika, Värmland and their partners in crime – the capital boys from Stockholm, OVERTURE, recently presented to the world their split under the straightforward title “Swedish Metal”, leaving zero doubts for what those bands stand for. As a disclaimer, let me confess it will be my first ever encounter with the production of MIDNATT and on the flips side with OVERTURE my experience is way ahead, seeing them live as an opening act of the iconic MUSKELROCK festival this summer.

Diving deep into the unknown, MIDNATT step in with “Försvararna” and suddenly it strikes me that all their songs names and lyrics are in Swedish – at touch of exotic authenticity and a bold move for debutants. Another strike is the overall sound and feel of this opener. It’s so raw, basic and ultimately “punk”-ish, that one could swear it comes from a dark British alley, somewhere in the late 70-ties. Deprived of any lyrical understanding, what’s only left is to enjoy the emotion the band puts in that one and something tells me it comes straight from the heart. Afterwards, the young scandinavians hit the ground running with the self-titled “Midnatt”, pointing on faster and mature sounding direction, still preserving the rebellious fixture of the opener. Vocals are more hasty, express certain anger and appear to be way more aligned with the instrumental part. Obviously, the old-school heritage takes its toll, though reinvented in an original way, proudly carrying 21th century label. Somewhere in the middle of the track a beautiful interlude temporary instills a deceiving serenity, swiftly replaced by a swirling solo, storming to an end with repeatedly fading echo of the band´s name. 

Unlocking the ¨Sarkofag¨ outbreaks a three minute gnarly guitar experience, structured in a moderate tempo, where the vocals are diligently built on top of the composition to deliver the most comprehensive song so far. After several listen-troughs it starts to fall into place and besides the only clearly understandable part of the chorus is the “sarkofag” shoutout, I would argue that with a touch of professional producing and polishing the rough edges in the recording part, that banger could transform in a signature song in a future fully fledged debut album. To wrap it up we MIDNATT, we reach to the fourth named “Domedag” and seeing the title for the first time, my gut feeling was that this one has to mean “doomsday” or something of that nature.  Google Translator confirmed my hypothesis and moving away from linguistics, the novelty here is the intro which contrasts from the previous with softer, almost acoustic nuance, combined with countdown drumming smoothly making path for the vocals to space out. Things quickly fall into place shortly after and the guttural howl “Dooomedaaag” shatters the air. Right after this initial praise of the biblical doomsday, the song starts to gallop in a pacy tempo, accelerating and generating more trust. Guitarwork is notably one level up here, not being unnecessarily perplexed, yet giving the composition a much-needed flavor of creativity. The classic piano outro makes me smile and it’s a descent attempt to close both song and EP with a touch of style.

Time to turn the page and invite the second part of the split duet- another adolescent trio under the name of OVERTURE. Really love the cover of their 2022 Demo – my favorite red-black color combo and gothic fonts, easily sends me back in my teens when this was enough to output and turn you into a local band sensation. “Falcon’s Flight I” is a 21 seconds instrumental overture (boy, do I figured out instantly the hidden message here!), beginning brilliantly in every aspect, reminding me for the early intro creations of Jeff Waters and the abrupt, guillotine style ending came as shock. Is this done on purpose!? “When The Fire Burns” bursts out with an explosive shredder, overdriving energetically and keeping that enthusiastic pace all throughout the entire duration of the song. Happy to realize the vocal work is quite spot on here, neatly aligned with the general tonality, not showing dominant role in the composition, even at times being a bit on the background, which I reckon is a matter of music mixing and production. That track goes by in a single breath, putting in my imagination the vivid visual of a high-school band trying to impress the jury on a local talent show. As romantic as this sound, the boys keep up with the role pretty successfully, implying decent potential to develop in the future.

“Charon’s Might” kicks the door open to another level of artistic expression with blazing guitars taking center stage in the beginning, warming up for the lead singer jumping out of his boots in a raw frontal attack singing, storming the verses like a beast on the loose. Now I am impressed and taken by surprise in a way, while it becomes crystal clear why these youngsters made it to the opening act of Muskelrock. Hundred percent well deserved and exactly this banger could easily raise hundreds of fists in the air and cure last night’s hangover in an instant. For a demo recording that’s just more than one can wish for, so fingers crossed it will appear in the debut album polished and still genuine. Моving along with „Fading Away“ I am fully convinced that OVERTURE just love using intros as powerful statements to conquer attention and captivate the listener. That one hooks you from the very first note and makes your brain ticks in “Let’s see what comes next…” fashion. What the band delivers next might be pretty different, which is not necessary a bad thing. After the intro, the sound gets bit more old-school and asymmetrical, vocals show certain rough edges and all of that combined melts down into invigorating party spirit, without depreciating the value of the track, which remains a proper ear buster. It’s a rare occurrence and to be honest I can’t think of a parallel when a demo concludes with an extended version of the opening intro. “Falcon’s Flight II” (part 2) happens to be exactly that, stretching the creatives ideas from the first chunk to 90+ seconds of classic guitar proficiency, market by a number of conspicuous influences. At first chance will ask the band’s leader about the intrinsic motives behind such unconventional pairing and in the end, what gives a bit odd vibe in that piece is the bizarre background sound, giving the sensation of a metallic white noise.

CONCLUSION:

Two sides of a coin may stick together back-to-back; however, they are rarely look alike. People do perceive the combined value of both heads and tails, the same way we initially comprehend the “Swedish Metal” LP split. In fact, MIDNATT and OVERTURE are quite distinct bands, both contributing to the continuity and development of Swedish traditional metal scene in their own genuine manner, carrying all the pros and cons of the chosen musical ethos. While MIDNATT doubles down on entirely native language lyrics, more basic and non-pretentious compositions – a style dear to a multitude of fans out there, OVERTURE shines brightly with their comprehensive and diverse musical upbringing, multi-flavored orchestrations and filtered vocal work. Being slightly biased, in my humble opinion the Stockholm trio brings a bit more gravitas to the release, which doesn’t harm the split integrity, on the contrary – makes it a precious and rare find in today’s saturated metal environment.

TheNWOTHM Score: 6.5/10