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MIDNIGHT FORTRESS
Midnight Fortress

Self-released (2025)
Rating: 9.5/10

Poland’s Midnight Fortress is the sort of power metal / glam metal / thrash metal band that existed in droves in the mid-to-late 80s and which so many modern metal bands are trying to emulate. Not many get the ingredients right, but Midnight Fortress has somehow gained access to metal mama’s secret recipe.

Definitely in contention for my album of the year, this self-titled debut smokes from every pore; a smouldering melting pot of Lizzy Borden, Skid Row, Savatage, Nitro, Judas Priest, Sanctuary and Krank which drips with darkness, sleaze and molten whiskey. The band’s leather strides creak under the flicker of neon boulevard lights as alleyway drains clog with watery mascara.

The backstreet mist is a mixture of hairspray and sweaty, fiery breath as the clan launches into the scorching ‘Price (Livin’ Inside Of Hell)’, a pure molten metal powerhouse of high pitched vocal roars and the sort of 80s power metal I lusted over as a teenager. Everything about the song rips, as bathed in crimson light these new metal gods strut cocksure through pillars of dry ice.

Eric “Büllet” Kula boasts a fearsome set of sizzling pipes while also forming a supercharged axe team alongside fellow guitarist Boriz “Beast” Smidoda. The guitar work throughout the album is such a dense cloak of dark red as a majority of the tracks crack and pop like glowing night side embers. The percussion of Michael “Rider” Telesiński drives speed metal sizzler ‘Sadistic’ like a man possessed. Think of those old Exciter albums as the band skids furiously through the fog on burning wheels.

‘Ghosting’ thuds like classic Dokken but with a punky Stooges fuzz initially then transforms into a Goth / new wave vibe before the hard rock tendencies unravel. There’s certainly a lot of variety here; ‘Lilith’ knows how to provide a Black Sabbath-esque chug, while ‘When My World Turns Black’ has dashes of classic, brooding Metallica, but there’s always that spine of glam-fused power metal to keep the sparks flying. ‘Last Ride’ is a monster, the riffs and drums stomping hard with steady menace as the vocal snarls coat the dynamics with a heavy layering of grit.

This is a pure metal outing, one which hits every sweet spot before the closing title track provides further thrashing power. Sat alongside the new Sacred Leather opus (Keep The Fire Burning), Midnight Fortress is a magical metal meltdown of the highest order.

Neil Arnold

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