Stockholm-based Midnight Danger is back from the dead with the devilish sophomore release, “Chapter 2: Endless Nightmare!”
It’s been two long years since Midnight Danger released his screaming full length debut album “Malignant Force.” Since then, Midnight Danger has fine-tuned his sound like a creature of the night sharpens its fangs. His latest release, “Chapter 2: Endless Nightmare” is an intense journey back from the abyss with dark driving synth bass lines, beefy riffs, and fantastic production. Featuring a slew of hellish synth metal and darksynth, Midnight Danger is be perfect for fans of Dance With The Dead, Volkor X, or Elay Arson.
“Malignant Force,” Midnight Danger’s first album, definitely had its roots in traditional outrun and synthwave, as well as a blend of 80s rock. You can hear it in the bpm and synth tempos, the fantastic melodies utilizing higher pitched synths, the crooning 80s hair metal references, and the retro stab percussion effects (there’s a perfect example at 2:22 in ‘Adrenaline Burst.’)
Of course, layered in with that were minor key synth lines and darksynth inspired heavy bass lines too. So, because of its foundation, “Malignant Force” always felt like a blend of synthwave and outrun with darksynth instead of being full-on pedal to the metal graveyard at midnight darksynth. It was an exploration of the young teenage girl that gets murdered in the first act – not the the sigil covered Necronomicon surrounded by corpese in the third.
A New Deviant Direction
This is where “Chapter 2: Endless Nightmare” changes things up, improving on an already radical sound. This album is a BEAST with intensity turned up to 11 and the darkness factor cranked up too. It punches out some fantastically catchy and fierce tracks left and right. Even though there are still retro influences and synthwave tracks, the this album definitely falls more in the darksynth category than outrun. The production has been polished, and Midnight Danger’s sound swells with a new cinematic quality too.
The style of the synth metal on Midnight Danger’s “Chapter 2: Endless Nightmare,” has even changed a bit too – from hair metal and 80s glam to Iron Maiden esque heavy metal, taking the guitar influences to the darkside of the grave. (Even the album art looks a little like Eddie the Head!)
Altogether, this second offering from Midnight Danger really shows an artist refining their craft. All of the outstanding elements from the first album are here, but infused with a new sense of wicked ferocity and determination – just like a corpse, rising from the dead, hell bent on revenge.
