Hellripper & Midnight concert report, 03/06/2026

Satanic Goatkraft; or, one of the most fun shows I've ever been to. 

More often than not, the summer season tends to be quite busy in terms of how many shows it has, but much to my chagrin, it thus far seems to be quite light on that front for me, at least based on my tastes and expectations. Admittedly, the 2026 iteration of Mammothfest taking place in Thessaloniki was stacked with a slew of good bands, ranging from Ahab to Carcass, but I found each day’s lineups to be much too inconsistent in terms of how much they interested me to be willing to drop 35€ on any single day. So what was the second best option? To drop 30€ to watch two bands that were guaranteed to give me a good time in Hellripper and Midnight.

Empty as the season might be so far, the two bands definitely kicked June off in style, and it was only natural that I’d be attending their performance on the third, given that it was the former’s first time in the city, and the latter is on track to become an artist-in-residence at the Eightball, with their third show in 7 years (Covid included). Given both bands’ reputation for highly rambunctious and fun performances, it’s safe to say that I was quite looking forward to seeing them play together, with all the madness that would entail, not to mention that it’d be foolish for me to miss out on the occasion.

I’ve alluded to the predilection towards fun that Thessaloniki’s metal populace has when it comes to their live acts, so perhaps it should come as no surprise they started showing up in droves a good hour before the show started. It was

Hellripper’s first visit to the north, having already visited Athens twice already, one of said visits having taken place the night before. It isn’t far-fetched to assume one would want to be either at the barrier or in the thick of it while listening to speed metal live, I know for a fact I fall in the former category, at least in regards to Hellripper themselves, whom I originally stumbled upon back in 2019, around the time Black Arts and Alchemy had come out. Since then, I’ve taken great pleasure in seeing James McBain evolve as a musician, from ferocious, if standard, blackened speed metal, to the more melodious and progressive output of recent years.

It was a song from that particular release that signalled we’d be in for a hell of a time, as the quartet opened up with the staple “All Hail the Goat”, which, like any good speed metal tune, possesses an instantly memorable chorus which I’m convinced people wholly unfamiliar with the band could start screaming along to before it was done the first time around. It goes straight for the jugular, and thankfully this specific era of the band did get a good bit of attention, as roughly half the setlist was dedicated to their efficiently vicious early efforts, from Coagulating Darkness to The Affair of the Poisons. 

Regrettably enough, although I did bang my head silly to the title track off Black Arts and Alchemy, as well as two of the three notable songs The Affair of the Poisons had in the title track and “The Hanging Tree”, I couldn’t help but lament

the absence of my own personal favourites off those releases. “Demdike (In League with the Devil)” was notably absent, as was “Hexennacht”, and I’d be remiss not to be upset at the fact that to this day they’ve not played “Decrepit Christ” live, at least then I’d be able to take solace in watching a recording of it posted on YouTube. Being really into an artist eventually results in having a deep cut or two you hold near and dear to your heart, and unfortunately, the odds of you actually bearing witness to them in a live setting are slim at best, especially if the band doesn’t drop by your neck of the woods often enough so as to be inclined to sneak a surprise or two on the setlist.

In keeping with that, Coronach had the lion’s share of the night, with its three singles (Kinchyle, Hundreprest, and Mortercheyn) all showing up strategically through the performance. Start, middle, and near the end respectively. Then again, it’s not like these tracks were necessary to rile people up, as moshing and crowd surfing were almost unending for an hour straight, to the point where people’s shoes were randomly getting flung on stage (is it cliché to draw attention to the fact that it was a white Nike high-top? It’s as if this shoe is inextricably bound with metal music in the same way leather and

What was nephew up to?

spikes are at this point). The band themselves were no slouches either in the energy department, given that they all leapt around the stage furiously, at times climbing on the amps, or in McBain’s case, crowdsurfing during “Bastard of Hades” at the end. Drinks and water were flung all over, to the point where despite my relative distance from the pit I too was soaked to the bone and reeking of beer, but it’s hard to care about that when that is true for anyone who’s there with you, and having a great time only serves to make that matter even less.

Following that, everyone was anxiously waiting for Midnight. Truth be told, I’m not their biggest fan, I find their adherence to sleazy blackened speed metal to be more due to narrow artistic capabilities rather than a self-imposed restriction that allows them to focus on creating the best version of this music imaginable. That being said, I do quite like Satanic Royalty and Rebirth by Blasphemy, the former of the two actually having the set dedicated to it, in lieu of its 15th anniversary. I can thank my lucky stars for that.

Midnight’s reputation as great performers precedes them, and I was fully prepared for an exciting show, but nothing could have prepared me for Athenar beating himself over his head with his bass, or hopping to one of the small tables that are built around one of the club’s pillars. They say the world’s a stage, and the trio

Unc still got it.

made sure that they’d make this ring as true as it could within the confines of the Eightball. Crowd interaction was as intense as it was during Hellripper, with the occasional bit of awkward banter from Athenar, who took the time to thank people for showing up, as well as lambast dudes “touching each other in AirBnBs”, whatever that meant. You’d think that a band whose live presence thrives on the connection it fosters with the fans would be better attuned to a good bit of banter, but there is merit in saying that actions speak louder than words here, as they tore the roof off all the same. Then again, it’s hard not to do that with tracks like “Rip This Hell”, “Shock ‘til Blood”, and personal favourite of mine “Lust, Filth and Sleaze”. The entirety of Satanic Royalty is front-to-back bangers, tailor-made for small sweaty clubs and dive bars.

That being said, we did get treated to a brief rundown of deep cuts and “best–of”songs immediately after “T.A.P.” was over, such as “Fucking Speed and Darkness”, which was prefaced with the following poetic words: “This next song is about fucking, it’s about speed, and it’s about darkness”. Really can’t go wrong

with that description. There were also a couple of old-school deep cuts like “Black Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Endless Slut” to give something to those who were intimately acquainted with the band’s oeuvre, and we obviously had to cap things off with the riotous and surprisingly life-affirming anthem, “F.O.A.L.”. These tracks obviously didn’t differ much from the meat of the set, but they did tap into the same vein of hooky speed metal that Athenar draws from every once in a while.

Everyone brought their A-game here, and it’s hard to fault either band for much of anything, except perhaps that I wish the night had gone on a while longer. It’s shows such as these that keep me coming back for more and have prevented me from giving up on the live experience altogether, turning into a recluse who only listens to music on my own time. I’ve jabbered a lot about how shows can be a

mixed bag, so heaping this much praise on these two speed metal hellions feels like me being a hypocrite at best. Then again, am I really to blame when a performance is so good it just shuts down all my inhibitions and leads to me screaming myself coarse? I highly doubt it. It could also be me suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and being unable to separate the performances from the attendees, I’ll let you be the judge.