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LIZZY BORDEN
My Midnight Things

Metal Blade (2018)
Rating: 10/10

I hate the fact that this record is so stunningly perfect it’ll probably fly beneath everyone’s radar and not get recognised for the pinnacle of greatness it is. I also hate the fact that rock radio and live touring in the U.S. is so rigid and corporate controlled that Lizzy Borden’s new album won’t get the proper nationwide spin it deserves nor land an opening gig slot for some major act he and his band need… check that, earned.

My Midnight Things isn’t club or theatre music, it’s arena rock. This needs to be played in a stadium in front of thousands of people for full effect.

The first four tracks – ‘My Midnight Things’, ‘Obsessed With You’, ‘Long May They Haunt Us’ and ‘The Scar Across My Heart’ – are so suited for modern rock radio it hurts just saying that. Most artists have to painstakingly search for songs to appease record execs looking for radio hits and right off the bat, Borden has four lined up and ready to go.

My Midnight Things is commercial metal at its very best. Let me clarify that statement. Fans hate “commercial” anything, I know, but in this case it’s a huge, massive compliment. This is high quality rock ‘n’ roll that deftly mixes pop with rock and metal, and nails it at every turn. It’s distinctly Lizzy Borden but there’s also trace hints of Red Kross and Cheap Trick, for example, that fade in and out, especially with ‘The Scar Across My Heart’ or ‘Run Away With Me’.

The songwriting and arrangement on this record needs recognition also, raising the bar of expectation super high for other artists to achieve what Lizzy has captured here. It’s refreshing to see a rock vet like Borden take his talents to the next level and produce a record that’s brimming with uniqueness and monster creativity, instead of relying on rehash and formula to carry him through. My Midnight Things was thought out to the last detail and it shows.

Like most records I listen to when I receive them for review, I wait for the clunker. A good record starts strong and begins to taper off right around track three. Maybe it picks back up, maybe it doesn’t. However, My Midnight Things starts out strong and never stops… not for a moment. I get excited when I hear great music being made, and even more excited when scene vets like Lizzy Borden are the ones doing it.

If you look at Lizzy’s career, he went through phases. In the early 80s it was definitely straight forward metal. Then in 1987 Visual Lies happened. That disc delved deep into the concepts of truth and identity, that is, what we see around us, each other, are we actually who we are, is the world what we actually see, or is it all a visual lie? Borden’s next record, Master Of Disguise (1989), took the aforementioned concept and extended it further. Are we who we say we are, or is it simply a game of deceit and misrepresentation? Instead of being “real” or genuine of heart and soul, maybe we, as people, have essentially become actors in some sort of social play, essentially reading scripted lines and donning masks to hide who we are.

These are themes addressing humanism, the human experience, which is why I view My Midnight Things as the third record in this unofficial trilogy, this time examining the other component of who we are and what we need to survive which is love, all types, and all forms. Master Of Disguise was conceptual in architecture, that is, how the record was created or constructed. My Midnight Things is completely concept from the ground up beginning with the art itself, the songs, and ending with the construct of the record as a whole. The album’s title plays a dual, key role.

The phrase, “my midnight things” can be heard referenced throughout the record in various songs. Borden revisits that title or phrase often, it holds meaning, but what exactly does it reference? That’s a mystery of sorts. It could be a reference to lovers, dreams, feelings, even the deconstruction of love itself into a million different pieces. It also serves as a vehicle tying each song together into this greater concept that Borden has created.

Then again, My Midnight Things may very well allude to that which hides or lives inside the fragile human psyche, sometimes whole and sometimes fragmented. In the case of Lizzy Borden, it’s entirely possible that every record he’s done, every image or persona he’s donned as a performer, has been a statement of the human psychological condition, maybe an examination into the state of psychoses; Visual Lies examining truth or misdirection in identity, Master Of Disguise nothing more than questioning how “real” we actually are, or, whether we’re just actors acting out parts.

My Midnight Things might be a record that explores one part of the human psyche – love; our search for love, our acceptance of love, how we push love away. The other “midnight things” might actually be fear, anxiety, depression, or a disconnect with reality; other components of the psyche that could be explored on future albums. If we are actors acting, or, hiding our true identity, maybe we’re being enabled by the psychoses we have, be it big or small; dangerous to ourselves or others, or maybe just detached from the world around us, alienated, shunned, forgotten about, or cared for by our own, personal, “midnight things”.

For example, the catchy, rocking ‘Obsessed With You’ has an undertone of psychosexual desire manifesting as obsession, a weaponized form of love, if you will. Through the eyes of Lizzy Borden, the human experience is complex and multi-faceted, defined by tremendous depth and texture. Love, one dimensional? Borden presents us with 10 songs about love but seen through the lens of whatever the “midnight things” might be, but all of it connected by desire matching the type of love it feeds back to.

I think My Midnight Things is, hands down, the best record of 2018, and I don’t care what else gets released. I also think this is Lizzy Borden’s masterpiece. If he stopped right now and retired, this would be his Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. In fact, this record is as good as that legendary 1967 Beatles album. It’s as perfect as perfection can possibly be. Not only am I excited to see him live soon, I’m equally excited and curious as to what future records he has in store for us.

Theron Moore

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