While many musicians felt paralyzed by the pandemic and its lack of touring and recording opportunities, Jamie “Athenar” Walters completed three full Midnight albums. That’s just one of the many advantages of being a one-man band—Walters plays all the instruments in the studio himself and then enlists touring musicians for the road. “I recorded Let There Be Witchery first, almost exactly two years ago, so that’s why it’s coming out first,” Walters tells Apple Music. “I wanted to keep everything in order.” In keeping with Midnight’s two-decade tradition of sleazy speed metal and lascivious rock ’n’ roll, Let There Be Witchery channels Venom and Motörhead while extolling the virtues of sex and Satan. “Maybe it’s a bad motto, but mine is, ‘If it’s a challenge, fuck it,’” Walters says. “Whatever comes out, it happens pretty naturally. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Below, he discusses each track on the album.
“Telepathic Nightmare”
“When I made demos of these tunes, this didn’t sound like an opener to me. But in the studio, the delivery of the vocals was just so commanding that it seemed like the first lines of the album. It just comes out and socks you in the face. It’s got kind of an ominous intro, and then it busts into these Voivod chords, which I thought was unique for a Midnight opener. It was one of those surprises that turned out a lot better than what I intended it to be.”
“Frothing Foulness”
“What can be said that the title doesn't already expose? All these songs have a certain general theme running through them—carnal pleasures, and the good and bad that they bring. That’s the theme of the album, but here it’s all laid out. You could say ‘Frothing Foulness’ has to do with elements of the human body.”
“In Sinful Secrecy”
“The way the chords are in this, you could turn it into a pop song. It opens up with the vocal line ‘In sinful secrecy,’ which was my sleazeball attempt at ‘In my dreams, you’re still the same’ by Dokken, which is one of my favorite bands. I wanted to open up with a vocal line like that song and—I hate to use this as a reference because I don’t like the song necessarily—the Bon Jovi tune ‘You Give Love a Bad Name.’ This is the sleazeball version of those velvety numbers.”
“Nocturnal Molestation”
“It’s funny that the label chose this as the single, just based on the title alone. But you know, just because someone’s getting molested doesn’t mean it’s a one-way street. It could be mutual molestation—that’s how I envision it. Musically, it was my attempt at that monotonous kind of MC5 ‘Looking at You’ type of riff. But then, a buddy of mine recently pointed out that the song is the same as ‘Lipstick’ by the Fun Things. And holy shit, it is! It’s one of those things that came out subliminally without me even realizing it.”
“More Torment”
“Lyrically, this one of those devil-on-one-shoulder, angel-on-the-other-shoulder type of things. Musically, I thought of it as your standard Hellhammer-ish boom-boom-bap type of thing, but then another buddy of mine said it reminded him of Samhain’s ‘Halloween.’ And I was like, ‘Aw, fuck. Can I not make up an original song?’”
“Let There Be Sodomy”
“Sodomy is a recurring theme in Midnight, but let it be known that sodomy doesn’t always have to be with the butthole. Anything other than the way George Carlin says, ‘Man on top, get it over with’ could be sodomy. And it’s just a cool-sounding word. It rolls off the tongue nicely. It should be a soft o, but it’s a hard o. And Sodom is one of my favorite bands. I like this one because the verses are all pumped up and aggressive, but the chorus is just open chords that you can sing along with.”
“Devil Virgin”
“It was bound to happen. No heavy metal musician worth their salt is not going to put a Mercyful Fate disco hi-hat in one of their tunes eventually. It just took me a little longer than others. These are the first lyrics I wrote for the album, and I thought they were very Petrus Steele. Carnivore is one of my favorites of all time, and I could imagine him saying these lyrics. It’s probably my favorite tune on the album.”
“Snake Obsession”
“I guess there are multiple ways you could look at it, depending on your definition of snakes. I was coming from the Chinese astrology side of it. You know, snakes, oxes, that kind of thing. But the snake person can lure you in with their hypnotizing eyes, you know? That’s a theme that’s been used before in rock ’n’ roll and heavy metal. Musically, it was the first one I wrote, and it’s pretty Motörhead-ish at points.”
“Villainy Wretched Villainy”
“I’ve always loved the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Scream Blacula Scream kind of thing, so I finally did it. And ‘wretched’ is such a great word to say. It really comes from the gut when you say it. You can’t smile and say that word, really. Lyrically, it’s about being the villain, the bad guy. Musically, I wanted that ‘Countess Bathory’ kind of feel, where it’s just chords, and maybe Geoff Tate could sing over it. But instead, you have me barking over it and sounding gross.”
“Szex Witchery”
“The reason for the z was because we were in Hungary in 2019, and we just kept going by this area with the ‘szex’ shops. That’s how it was spelled. Having a 13-year-old brain, I was just like, ‘Whoa, that’s funny. Szex!’ So, we started putting zs into words wherever it seemed appropriate. And the song just sounded a lot slimier with the z. Musically, this was my attempt at a Tank ‘Shellshock’ type of riff. Filth Hounds of Hades is one of my favorite records.”