In 1983, Heavy Metal Shock Rocker Lizzy Borden devised his own brand of Metal in Los Angeles, California, in the midst of a dark and thriving new era in music as the genre was on the verge of taking over the world. Musically, Borden was emphatically influenced by 1970’s Glam Rock led by David Bowie, a New Wave of British Heavy Metal in Judas Priest, and the Shock Rock theatrics of Alice Cooper and Kiss. Years later, Borden continues to write, record, and tour while thrilling audiences all over the world. A new reckoning, Lizzy Borden returns on Friday, June 15, 2018, unearthing their new album, My Midnight Things, thanks to the legendary Metal Blade Records.
Classifying his moniker after the infamous woman who was acquitted of two ruthless murders in 1812, Borden, along with his brother, Drummer Joey Scott, developed a Metal sound unlike any other band of their time. Together, the brothers blended Heavy Metal and Power Metal with the look and effects of Horror via the use of synthesizers.
Following the buzz of his 1983 EP, Giv’em The Axe, come 1984, Borden soon found himself signed to Metal Blade Records, a hot new label for the growing Heavy Metal scene. In 1985, Borden released his debut LP, Love You to Pieces, and spent the course of the 1980’s releasing compelling albums like 1986’s Menace to Society, 1987’s Terror Rising, and 1987’s Visual Lies. Receiving much fanfare, Borden saw his music reach the Billboard Top 200 Charts on four occasions, successfully hammering his mark on Metal.
By the mid-1990’s, Lizzy Borden slowed down due to the changing music industry, and in 1996, Borden put the band on hiatus. Later, in 1999, Lizzy Borden rose from the ashes and played to a sea of 35,000 crazy Metal fans at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. Into the new millennium, Borden continued to tour and got back into writing, releasing two new albums with centralized themes – 2000’s Deal with the Devil (Religion) and 2007’s Appointment With Death (Death).
Over the last few years, while touring the world, Borden recognized the passionate young fans attending his shows, singing along and going nuts. Borden decided he wanted to make new music for those new fans, something they could call their own. Signing a new deal with Metal Blade, Borden set out to create what would be his first album in eleven years. Producing the album himself, with Joey Scott as co-producer, Borden wanted these new songs to really shine, so he based the creative process around the atmosphere of the lyrics. Late at night, Borden took to his North Hollywood studio, alone with his thoughts, and conceived the songs that would bring My Midnight Things to a stark fruition. A multi-talented musician, in addition to vocals, Borden performs all the guitar and bass on My Midnight Things, while Scott contributed on drums, and Marliese Quance Mildenberger played a good portion of the keyboard tracks.
The end result, My Midnight Things, built around the theme of Love, is a collection of music with an attractive aura that bites without warning. Sonically tight, My Midnight Things contains a well polished, glossy Power Metal sound with a touch of Industrial Rock effects, heroic guitar, and a seething use of keyboards. Vocally, Borden recorded his vocal tracks using layering which added a stunning presence to his voice.
Turning out the light, Borden opens with “My Midnight Things,” a track holding sheer desire for this person to be part of his night. The infatuation of “Obsessed with You” precedes the welcoming “Long May They Haunt Us,” a song holding those fond nightmares forever in your heart. Bleeding, the melodic guitar of “The Scar Across My Heart” pays homage to a love that burns brighter than any other before the thunderous “A Stranger to Love.”
In denial, the dramatic piano of “The Perfect Poison” centers a climatic rise around the truth this person is bad news but you are in love with them anyway. Gripping, the divine escape of “Run Away with Me” and the beating of “Our Love Is God” lead into a second version of the title track. Well done, “My Midnight Things (Reprise)” is a quiet and dramatic theatrical explosion. As dusk nears, the rising spirits of “We Belong to the Shadows” lives in a dark inspiring home turning the final page of a bold composition.
An impressive effort, My Midnight Things is a concrete dose of vivid Heavy Metal with dramatic and expressive lyrical content. Profoundly alluring, all the way through, the music of My Midnight Things is the type of album everyone can relate to as each track will reach you in some way. Possessing a strong talent for both music and lyrics, Borden has not lost his edge, in fact he has only gotten better. Fans of Lizzy Borden will be pleased to hear the Metal veteran’s best work yet. Raise your fist, CrypticRock gives My Midnight Things 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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