Dead Rooster - Midnight Special (2013)

   It is (or should be) widely known, that since the early '90s no real metal styles or genres have shown up, only the mix of already existing ones. And since then it's also impossible to make anything new, no matter how much the mainstream scene is struggling to introduce new "perspectives" (the hipster way) or made up genres (weird style mixes), or styles that simply haven't been known yet for mainstream audiences. However, to make something good and impressive is still possible, though it's also challenging to not do it as an exact rip off (like how nowadays most commercial extreme bands do). From this approach Dead Rooster was definitely one of the most impressive and most interesting bands in the early '10s underground scene. 

   They've debuted in 2012 with "Witches of Belial", a strongly drone influenced sludge/doom EP. It was quite an actual style pick at the time, when the importance of sound - and to be exact, mainly noisy, heavy sound - grew, and plenty of new bands experimented with something similar. But for their full-length album they didn't continue the same line, instead they switched to something way more intense, by releasing a thrash / punk influenced record. It was literally the opposite of what anyone could have expected from a drone/doom band. And it seems like the band felt to be at home in both styles, since both "Witches of Belial" and "Midnight Special" were just excellent. The drone-ish, sludgy influence made the simple punk /thrash riffs sound way noisier and dirtier than usual. Also the same sound and rusty-shouting vocal style turned the basically punk themes less punk-compatible and more thrash-like. This step was advantageous in two ways: first, immediately it switched in analogy with the currently also quite actual old school / vintage tendencies in the underground, and second, it was like a remake of the transit from punk and heavy metal to the birth of thrash metal. Like a modern, rough reintroduction of the early '80s, from a band that switched from the modern pathfinder way to a vintage, old school, but also quite actual direction. And to hear a quote from Venom while listening to the album is just the tip of the iceberg. Two songs from their previous EP also could be found here as slightly more intense, re-recorded versions. The contrast of the mainly determining fast intensity and the down-pulling, apocalyptic tone is also golden. Despite its short length and raw simplicity, "Midnight Special" became a quite impressive and energetic album. An underrated masterpiece that highlighted a long time missing piece and spirit from the main metal scene.