Midnite City - 'Bite The Bullet'

Rock Metal Machine
2 hours ago
2 min read

This is their fifth album now and they show no signs of wanting to toughen up their sound or go off at a tangent. Instead, they have honed their songs of love, heartbreak and believing, to give you a fistful of catchy Pop Rock tracks.

Band members' portraits on a gritty city background, yellow and black theme. Text: "Midnite City," "Bite The Bullet." Intense mood.

When you drop the needle and ‘Live Like You Mean It’ booms out, the song elbows its way between members of Mötley Crüe and Poison to get to a bar on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, circa 1988, and orders a bottle of Jack Daniels. Every trope of Hair Metal is there; the big drum sound, the Pop Rock hooks, and gang vocals that sound like everyone in the alley has been invited in to add their voices.

However, that song only tells a small part of the story. Overall, the rest of the record has much more in common with the AOR bands of the late eighties, and in particular the UK ones. Those UK bands that had as much going for them as their US counterparts, but failed to make a splash across the pond back in the day.

This is their fifth album now and they show no signs of wanting to toughen up their sound or go off at a tangent. Instead, they have honed their songs of love, heartbreak and believing, to give you a fistful of catchy Pop Rock tracks. Lyrically, it is less about being up for a good time and more about reflecting on life and relationships. The maturity is compounded by Chris Laney’s production, who brings his experience to give it all a polished sheen.

Shawn Charvette’s keyboards froth like bubble bath through the songs, often outvying the guitars to be the main attraction. Miles Meakin’s guitars do emerge though for some surprisingly tasteful solos that hold on to the melody and the sentiment of the songs well. Wylde’s voice is more Party Rock than Steve Perry, but it works well enough on these songs, and the production makes sure the layered vocals help the choruses stick like gum. ‘Running Back To Your Heart’ has one of the strongest hooks, reminiscent of Blood Red Saints, while ‘Lethal Dose Of Love’ could be Trixter and the lead-off single ‘Heaven In This Hell’ adds some moodiness to their sound.

By the time ‘When Summer Ends’ closes with its Van Halen ‘Dreams’-influenced keyboards, you know that now summer has ended, like a tanning bed, you can pop this on for some artificial sunshine.