Finland may not be the first place which comes to mind when thinking of thrash or groove metal. But beneath that veneer of power, symphonic, folk and melodic death metal, the Finnish scene has plenty of thrash bands just waiting to punch their way out. One such band are Midnight Bullet, who since their 2012 debut album have been smashing at that glass ceiling and now, a decade later are back with their fourth studio album ‘Hostile Resistance’.
With ‘Hostile Resistance’, Midnight Bullet continue to thrash like maniacs as they blend those thrashing powerful riffs with raw, raucous vocals, stomping about the place like Phil Anselmo in his prime. Then, to completely almost juxtapose that, the band deliver high octane soaring melodic parts which almost completely change the mood before bringing it crashing down to Earth in a halo of vodka soaked riffage. This means that tracks such as ‘Paranoia Obsession’, ‘Angel of Babylon’ and ‘Rain on Me’ have all the enjoyability of Machine Head and The Raven Age as well as Trivium and touches of Bullet For My Valentine as those sing along chorus’ prove to be key in the likeability of ‘Hostile Resistance’.
As an album, ‘Hostile Resistance’ is packaged up in a beautiful, high-quality production befitting of such genre, it is pristine and clinical without ever being sanitised of its rawness. Midnight Bullet may not do anything really new here, but what they do, they do really well.
