Nachtmystium are a band who since their inception at the turn of the century have been constantly evolving. Their early works were lessons in the rawest of US Black Metal but in the past few years they have moved into a more melodic and experimental sphere. In fact there are many parts of the latest release
Assassins - Black Meddle Part 1 (notice the clever pun there) that could barely be considered Black Metal at all.
Having dropped the slightly silly pseudonyms (it works for Scandinavians, not so much for Americans), corpse paint and most other aesthetics of your standard BM troupe this release bears, for better or worse depending on your outlook, pretty much no relation to their 2002 debut
Reign Of The Malicious. In fact it may as well have been recorded by a different band.
Its sound is more along the lines of Satyricon's albums Rebel Extravaganza and Volcano which brought a more "rock" element into the proceedings. In addition
Nachtmystium also incorporate keyboards to augment their music. However they don't use the keyboards in a traditional BM sense like Emperor or even Dimmu Borgir. But use synths such as Moog's and the like to create an almost psychedelic atmosphere not too dissimilar to Sigh's latest releases with many parts of the album dripping with bizarre space rock grooves and noises
As if to prove how much they have moved away from BM's signature sound the intro track
One Of These Nights features a riff nicked straight from the
Black Sabbath classic Children Of The Grave. This short intro leads straight in into the full-on blast beats of first track proper
Assassins. It should be said that despite the blast beats the guitar work is very melodic and several of the songs have catchy, almost anthemic choruses. This track is certainly one of those with a refrain that puts forward frontman Blake Judd's view of his band:
"We stand alone, pride does not die Kings in your dreams, slaves to this nightmare" The songs 8.00 min length is actually deceiving as like several other songs on the album, the last couple of minutes are actually take up by brain melting psych outros. Depending out your state of mind at the time this can be a good or bad thing. But it means that the album works better as a whole with some songs fading out in a woozy lull into the next.
Ghosts Of Grace is a very impressive track which has former Nile drummer Tony Laureano laying down an almost NWOBHM/Punk drumbeat with the incessant snare hits driving the song forward. The spacey guitar parts bring to mind the work of Transylvanian experimental black metalers Negura Bunget. The vocal howl of "
And the storm left nothing and the storm left all" stays long in the mind after the song ends especially after the final section where it is backed by some skull crushing double bass work
Away From The Light is a short piano instrumental, complete with fleeting snatches of trippy synth which is then followed by another spiteful, blasting number
Your True Enemy. This song sees the first of several guitar solo's which are used economically but to great effect.
One of the highlights of the album is the torturously slow
Code Negative. Jon Necromancer's (ok so not all the band got the memo to leave the pseudonyms behind) mesmerizing bass part is overlaid by a rich tapestry of guitar and synth. The whispered vocal passages add to the dreamy, expansive feeling of the track. These vocals give way to instrumental end section which is highly reminiscent of Pink Floyd. In fact the wailing guitar parts at the end of the song have you checking the credits just to make sure Dave Gilmour wasn't involved in the recording. The instruments slowly fade to be replaced by the intoned mantra of
"There is no cure for this illness". The albums focal point is undoubtedly the
Seasick trilogy which ends the album. Each of the songs three tracks is completely different yet somehow they all flow together as one.
The first part of the trilogy is
Drowned At Dusk, who's appegiated guitar parts backed by a shimmering, hazy wash of keyboards is successful in invoking images of a tranquil, deserted beach as night falls. The bass playing in particular is well arranged as when the bass line is introduced at 2.24 the slow, fuzzy notes combine with the lead guitar to play the harmonic melody until the guitar takes the song spinning upwards with a solo.
Part two,
Oceanborne is much shorter coming in at just 2 minutes 48 seconds. It's twisting; turning drum work is almost prog in structure. And to expand that experimental feeling further the band brings in that most necro of instruments, the saxophone. This unusual choice actually works quite well and never becomes tedious as the slight running time of the song prevents the sax from outstaying its welcome.
The last part
Silent Sunrise emerges out of some trippy, high frequency synths and its melodic nature is almost uplifting. However it still retains a menacing tone as if the writer is relieved to see the sun come up but feels as if the night has stolen something from him. Yet again the instrumental end section is superb, bringing in themes and movements from the previous two parts. However the song seems too short as not only does it only run for just over 4 minutes, the last 40 seconds consist of nothing but silence. It's as if the band were almost unsure how far to push the experimentation.
Nachtmystium have managed to create a fine album which offers something different for the listener. Many fans of Black Metal may be put off by its experimental designs but it is certainly a rewarding listen. My only complaint is that it all seems to be over too quickly. I would like to see the band push the envelop even further with their next release and see how far they can really take their music.
Written by
Stuart Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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