Midnight Hour – Fire in the Sky

Midnight Hour
Fire in the Sky
1992 Hype Records
Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

Ed Rutledge – Lead vocals, BGVs
Darren Mill – Lead guitar, rhythm guitar
John Jenson – Bass, BGVs
Dave Dickey – Percussion

Lynn Rutledge – BGVs
Cathy Davis – BGVs

1. Fire in the Sky
2. Shine
3. This One’s for the Children
4. Take Me Higher
5. Bad Times Good Times

Midnight Hour is probably more known for their 1994 CD Piercing the Darkness (although still a very underground release), but this is an earlier demo and it smokes. Some bands sound like they are trying hard to sound good, and others make it sound effortless. Midnight Hour falls to the effortless side on this recording. I remember liking their 1994 CD, but I think I might like this tape better. But this one is also more straight up late 80s commercial metal – no real pop metal about it as the songs have plenty of crunch. But they can really write and sing some catchy melodies. Dickey and Jensen were both gone by the 1994 CD. There also appears to be another demo from 1992 called Heat of the Fight, but I am not sure which one was released first.