Midnight set to release covers album Steel, Rust and Disgust on May 23 via Metal Blade Records; “Cleveland Metal” video out now with preorders available!

Cleveland’s favourite filth metal practitioners, MIDNIGHT, are back with Steel, Rust and Disgust – a ferocious covers album set for release on 23rd May via Metal Blade Records.

For over two decades, one-man wrecking crew Athenar has been churning out a depraved blend of metal and punk — through demos, EPs, LPs, and countless splits — carving a sleazy, unholy path through the underground. Following last year’s chart-scorching Hellish Expectations, this new collection features ten raw, obscure cover tracks alongside two brand-new filth-laden originals.

“The idea to record an album of all cover jams with a certain theme is nothing quite new,” says Athenar. “The original title for this album was gonna be Throw Ups, as an homage to 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 just be fucking stupid.”

He continues, “I just wanted to record some songs by bands who shared the same sights, sounds, and sewage of my region of birth. Some of these tunes you may have heard, some you may not. So please, do yourself a favour and check out the original versions… if you want to transform into a total fucking slimebag, that is!”

To mark the album’s announcement, MIDNIGHT have unleashed one of the new original tracks: “Cleveland Metal.”

“‘Cleveland’ and ‘metal.’ Those two words flow together like molten steel,” says Athenar. “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.”