"It's refreshing sometimes to see a band starting with demos. This is the second one for San Francisco's Midden after last year's Demo 2022. This is very raw, brutal and mostly speedy black metal with no frills, nothing pretty, just pure raw energy that emanates a cold atmosphere. I'm reminded a bit of Megiddo; while Midden doesn't sound like them all that much, there's the same kind of malevolent, ear-splitting raw sound through and through. Throw in some completely indecipherable vocals that'll just clean your eardrums and Demo 2023 is one nice slab of hellish black metal that's not for the faint of heart."

- The Metal Crypt