Midnight/Ghoul: Poor Kid’s Mansion - Los Angeles, CA - 7/19/25
Thrash metal bands Midnight and Ghoul announced a one-off show together at the Poor Kid’s Mansion in Los Angeles, California. Despite the name, the setting was a backyard making this a legitimate backyard show. With a few other bands on the bill, this was set to be a wild night. Anything goes in a setting like this. People were seen drinking and smoking like there’s no tomorrow. As nighttime set in, the backyard was nicely packed and made it challenging to move around. Regardless, the audience were excited to see two amazing thrash metal bands back-to-back.
The mutants of Creepsylvania Ghoul have been around since 2001 and have since released five studio albums. They are known for the stage outfits and antics that they do while on stage very similar to the shock rock band Gwar. as the show started, a character made to look like a Karen came out to complain about the noise. After a while, the members of Ghoul came out to silence her, rip her scalp off, and the show was underway. Ghoul started their show with “Off with Their Heads” as Karen’s scalp was shooting red liquid onto the audience delivering a traditional Ghoul show. The audience wasted no time in moshing and shoving each other in true metal fashion. Ghoul played some fan-favorites like “Dungeon Bastards,” “Word is Law,” and “The Eyes of the Witch.” One of the more memorable moments was when a character dressed up as an ICE agent came out to taunt the audience. The audience had no trouble yelling out, “No ice! No ice!” in light of recent events. Ghoul also took care of the ice agent, and he proceeded to spray the audience with fluid. The thrash metal never slowed down as Ghoul played more classics like “Ratlicker,” “Rot Gut,” and “As Your Casket Closes.” The final song of their performance was “Graveyard Mosh” and it featured more character tossing out liquid and other unknown substances onto the audience. By the time Ghoul finished their performance, lots of people were covered in various colors looking as if they just took a swim in a tie-dye pool. Ghoul finished up their set and made way for the headlining band of the night.
Black-thrash band Midnight have exploded in popularity in recent years. On May 23rd, they released their ninth studio album Steel, Rust and Disgust. Plenty of Midnight fans were seen in attendance, and they were more than ready for some black-thrash. The members came out and started their show with “All Hail Hell.” With a classic thrash metal sound, the audience once again wasted no time in moshing and shoving each other. The members wear hooded masks to keep their identities a secret. Regardless, the audience was into their music and live performance. Midnight next played “Fucking Speed and Darkness,” one of their newer songs, but easily one of their best songs now. With how fast it is, the audience kept moshing. Aside from moshing, plenty of fans took it upon themselves to stage dive. Eventually it became a mix of moshing and stage divers. Other fast songs performed in their set included “Satanic Royalty,” “Endless Slut,” “Black Rock n Roll,” and “Evil Like a Knife.” There was so much moshing, that plenty of dust and debris was being kicked up into the air. The members were actively interacting with fans with fist bumps and raising their horns. The second to last song was the popular song ‘You Can’t Stop Steel” and it kept the audience going wild. The final song of their performance was “Unholy and Rotten”, and it was the last chance for the audience to give it their all. They did not disappoint and proved why Los Angeles has some of the craziest and most loyal crowds. A great night overall and hopefully it’s not long before both bands come back to LA. Midnight is set to come back as support for thrash metal legends Dark Angel on October 16th in Los Angeles.
