THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Midnight’s one-man-army Athenar has been spewing out an ungodly racket, dropping countless demos, splits, EPs and LPs — and ultimately slaying the metal/punk underground with his own addictive brand of lust, grime, and sleaze — for over two decades. The Steel, Rust And Disgust collection follows last year’s chart-topping Hellish Expectation, and features 10 covers alongside two new cuts.
Athenar comments: “The idea to record an album of all cover jams with a certain theme is nothing quite new. The original title for this album was gonna be Throw Ups as an homage to the 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 be just fucking stupid.
“I just wanted to record some songs by bands who shared the same sights, sounds, and sewage of my region of birth,” he continues. “Some of these tunes you may have heard, some you may have not. So please, do yourself a favor and check out the original versions… if you want to transform into a total fucking slimebag, that is!“
In advance of the record’s official release, Midnight released the original track Cleveland Metal. Notes Athenar: “Cleveland and metal. Those two words flow together like molten steel. This title was directly taken from a compilation album of the same name released in 1983. The song was written as an erotic love letter to the cursed city whence I was thrusted upon and its fellow inhabitants of subhumans.”
