Midnight Phantom – LA Nights Review

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Let’s have a party! The days, or better yet, the nights of crazy LA Sunset Boulevard are back with some Metal for the delight of the headbangers who love a most energized kind of music. I’ve always told here that I admire the energy and the feeling that Hard’n’Heavy bands give to their music. By the way, album opener “When the Night Comes” is the kind of perfect track due to the yell in the beginning and the energetic and adrenalized guitar riffing. The kind of track that puts the fan in the mood instantly. The energy that “LA Nights” pours is just something out of this sad and pathetic and lonely little planet. I genuinely cherish the great vibes that comes from an album like this one. This is the great contrast that exists in Metal music. On one side, a music that invites for reflection; on the other hand, a music that invites to party. Simple as that. I think sometimes things have got to be as simple as they can be.

Of course, in an album like this it’s possible to find as many influences as the fan can count. Not difficult to cite a truckload of bands that influenced Midnight Phantom “LA Nights,” however the band’s strong suit is not to care about this and melt in their cauldron all the influences from Metal music they can. That makes the album a hodgepodge that delights the fan with inspired, but expect musical solutions. The chorus of the ballad “Shine on,” for instance, reminds me a little Blind Guardian’s “Bright Eyes” from the compilation “The Forgotten Tales” – a good tip, my dear child of the night. Following track “Steps” have a killer guitar riffing. The kind that makes the fan headbang at large and non stop.

It’s not so common nowadays an album with 15 tracks. Well, “LA Nights” gives the fan the pleasure of listening to all of them with great guitar solos and instrumentals. By the way, vocals have a rare tone for the subgenre. His voice is clean and tuned and Stephan Wsintek is able to play around with it as he wishes. That’s a quality to be cherished. Believe me.

Ah, almost forgot. The album is the work of two masterminds, the aforementioned vocalist Stephan Wsintek and multiinstrumentist Christian Heimbucher. Sign of the times what is possible to do these days.

Midnight Phantom “LA Nights” was independently released on September 17th.

Track Listing:

  1. When the Night Comes
  2. Sting Attack
  3. Race Called Today
  4. One Time One Life
  5. The Mask
  6. Shine On
  7. Steps
  8. Behind My Pride
  9. Black Panther
  10. Chaos in Motion
  11. God
  12. L.A. Nights
  13. Push It to the Limit
  14. I’ve Seen the Bird
  15. Gallery in Mind

Watch “When the Night Comes” official video here: