Midwestern metallers Midas yearn for the simpler days of the early eighties, when their hometown of Detroit really was Rock City and radio anthems like their own Break The Chains would have ruled local rock stations with an iron fist.

Quite frankly so do I, and so I’ve been having an awful lot of fun with the band’s self-titled album, out later this month on the excellent No Remorse Records Imprint. Like all the best ‘local’ metal of the early eighties, melody is never far away from the Midas agenda – they ain’t afraid to deploy tinny synths if they feel a song needs them – and even on muscular anthems like Eyes In The Cold (it sounds like Thor if Thor could sing!) hummable riffs and whistle-ready lead guitar work are the order of the day.

The band sound a little like Riot at times – I believe they’ve covered Swords and Tequila – and surprisingly, on the more ‘modern’ Nobody Gets Out Alive, or maybe the ragged Lemmyness of Running Scared, you’ll get the sense that they might work very well as tour mates with D&D-obsessed rivet heads Gygax, but for the most part the band are happy to plow their own furrow, which might be a well-worn one sonically but – and it’s a big but – it’s a furrow they’ve given a fresh feel and sound to through their own endeavour and sparky ideas.

It’s hard to see too many people being won over by standout track Hell Has Frozen Over – a fine amalgam of Cirith Ungol, Brocas Helm and the like – if they weren’t around when this music was doing the business the first time around – but if equally if you were then it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t be adding this to your collection as soon as is expeditious to your wallet. If that sounds like you -Don’t delay – act today – and let your ears be touched by Midas as soon as possible…

Midas releases on April 29th