Nachtmystium announce return with new album, share first new single in years "Phoenix Predator"
Official press release:
Nachtmystium are back! And after all that was said and done, mastermind Blake Judd aka Azentrius is still standing. Not only that, but Judd has clawed himself back from the abyss of a most extreme life imaginable to a much more quiet, observant, and matured artist and person.
His return will not be met with universal applause – even from the black metal scene. For anybody following the tumultuous career of Blake Judd and his pioneering band that has pushed the borders of their genre into new territories, this comes hardly as a surprise.
With their ninth studio album Blight Privilege, Nachtmystium are once again presenting a masterpiece that can even compete with the trilogy of albums that many view as the peak of the earlier career of the American black metal (USBM) trailblazers: Instinct: Decay (2006), Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. I (2008), and Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II (2010). Like an infernal sniper, every song on Blight Privilege hits straight on target. All the darkest elements, required and longed for, are there: harsh, rasping vocals, the fierce hum and whirr of guitars burning with an ice cold fire, moments of ecstatic and exalted beauty in hellish soundscapes. Yet there are still those fine details that the musically well-versed Judd has always cunningly hidden in the general sonic onslaught such as post-punk and wave elements, and now even a knife-tip of outlaw country.
Pre-order Blight Privilege here.
Blight Privilege connects Nachtmystium to its glory-days – not as a nostalgic reminiscence but as a forward-looking continuation and next evolutionary step. If anything, this ninth album is marked by a maturity derived from experience and learning. Judd's often diabolically catchy tunes are sharper than ever and have lost none of their bite. This might be due to the fact that it is the first album of the USBM spearheads which Judd composed in a fully sober state.
Blake Judd has been open about his drug addiction. With Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II the artist spelled it out clearly. This album came out in 2010 when Nachtmystium had already hit an artistic high. The Americans scored high praise in the international metal press. This opened the doors to the influential and prestigious festivals such as Inferno in Oslo, Norway and Roadburn in Tilburg, the Netherlands for them. Yet the cracks were beginning to show. The band was often plagued by internal trouble and line-up changes. Friendships, business, relations with fans, trust, and money also went down. People got burned, people got hurt, and few cared to ask themselves about their own role when dealing with someone who is suffering from addiction.
Blake Judd survived all of this, and kept coming back. Every downfall and relapse was countered by a fierce will to claw himself out of the hole again. Releases followed on announcements that the band was dead. The EP Resilient (2018) being the latest of these. Having gone through the crucible of sobriety and the pandemic, Judd added an element to Nachtmystium that he previously took great pains to stay in a safe distance away from: politics.
The album's title Blight Privilege is a deliberate and obvious take on the concept of "white privilege". Coming from rural America and in Judd's case the Midwestern regions in particular, this slogan has a different ring than in the big cities.
As the artist explains:
There are large sections of this country where impoverished whites are just as poor as impoverished black or brown or whatever color of skin you care to name. Poverty affects all people and all places in the same way. For many of these poor, the notion of 'white privilege' causes people to hate one another, instead of the billionaire pigs that are orchestrating the multitude of crisis' at hand.
The first half of the album is a somewhat unexpected reaction to the current affairs of the last five years. It's a warning to get prepared to live a different life in a different world and the coming fight to determine what that world will look like. What it is not, is taking any side on the partisan spectrum. The other half of the album is unrelated to this and describes Judd's life of the last decade, which includes his coming off the streets.
With Blight Privilege, Nachtmystium demand the throne of USBM back. This album clearly has the musical force and lyrical daring to do give credit to this claim. Love it or hate it, Nachtmystium have set a tall milestone with Blight Privilege!
The first single from the band in quite sometime, following the last break up in 2020, is now streaming. "Predator Phoenix" comes paired with an official music video, which features negative comments from fans and headlines from music news outlets such as Lambgoat. In fact, many of Lambgoat's headlines are featured in the video. Can you figure out which ones?
Pre-order Blight Privilege here.
Blight Privilege track listing:
1. Survivors Remorse
2. Predator Phoenix
3. A Slow Decay
4. Conquistador
5.Blind Spot
6. The Arduous March
7. Blight Privilege
32 comments
Post CommentAnyone who preorders this is an asshole and an idiot.
Nice pivot to being a post-leftist. I'd still guess that anyone who preorders his album will be disappointed if they expect to ever see it.
dude ran out of heroin music. I wonder if the dudes from Kroger and Leviathan f*ck w this POS anymore.
Its from an overseas label so I think if you pre-order this aside from being gay you'll get your record. He's not handling them. Lol at lambgoat basically posting quasi racist rhetoric propaganda from a known heroin addict, thief and con but will censor their mb like were posting I a nicktoons forum
Hey this junkie didn't mail me my t shirt I think I'll go cry on Reddit for 10 more years. I can't believe the black metal scene would stand for such evil behavior
Metal/hardcore is about promptly mailing merch orders and making merch and selling me merch. I need merch so that I can wear it and people will know that I'm metal/hardcore. When something this essential is ignored, the result is excommunication. Oh, you're addicted to drugs? Just get that merch to me and I'll support you. But if you so much as fail to communicate expected delivery date so help me God I will ruin you. You will rue the day you did not treat me with the respect a customer deserves. You will never play in this scene again. Apologize. Now.
Wasn't dumb enough to order from Judd in the past, but I don't really get the whole junkie thievery cope happening now. By all means, let's put the contrarianism to the test. Have an open house for crackheads to pilfer your shit, just don't complain about it!
Man who suffers from many self inflicted wounds, stands. (Retard face) (Retard clap)
Next up: Justin Sane redemption tour You mean, Anti Flag quietly reforming once the shitstorm dies down
anonymous 3 hours ago Lol at lambgoat basically posting quasi racist rhetoric propaganda Ah yes, it's literally racist to point out that some European Americans are in fact poor.
Wow this isn't even an article you legit just let the artist write directly to the site about how great they are
I was going to buy Bitcoin for ¢25 cents a piece. Instead I ordered a Nachtmystium shirt to wear to the Gorgoroth show. The shirt never came. I will not forget.
"...and few cared to ask themselves about their own role when dealing with someone who is suffering from addiction." Yeah, all those people who attempted to "exchange money for goods" like every homo sapien has done for millennia should have taken a few minutes to consider whether their desire to receive said goods after the transaction was actually rooted in selfishness and evil, I guess. Our bad bro.
"Their own role" yeah every single stranger who ever listened to this band or even read their name is complicit in this guy's shitty narcissistic decisions got it?
Good song, much better production than the past stuff. It's been like 15 years guys, forgot about that $10 you lost and just bang your f*cking heads.
NorthFromHere 10 hours ago anonymous 3 hours ago Lol at lambgoat basically posting quasi racist rhetoric propaganda Ah yes, it's literally racist to point out that some European Americans are in fact poor. f*ck Europe. This is America. White privilege is an American term. It has nothing to do with Europe you f*cking retard. Good one tho. I guess your screen name lives up to its name.
NorthFromHere 10 hours ago anonymous 3 hours ago Lol at lambgoat basically posting quasi racist rhetoric propaganda Ah yes, it's literally racist to point out that some European Americans are in fact poor. f*ck Europe. This is America. White privilege is an American term. It has nothing to do with Europe you f*cking retard. Good one tho. I guess your screen name lives up to its name White privilege is American? Lol, so Britain wasn't going around enslaving black people and trying to own India and Hong Kong? France wasn't running roughshod over Vietnam? You gotta be dumber than rocks.
Yeah, all those people who attempted to "exchange money for goods" like every homo sapien has done for millennia should have taken a few minutes to consider whether their desire to receive said goods after the transaction was actually rooted in selfishness and evil, I guess. Our bad bro. ^^^you gotta remember most of the windowlickers here grew up in a "everything bad that happens to you is your fault" household rife with fetal alcohol syndrome and neglect
White privilege is American? Lol, so Britain wasn't going around enslaving black people and trying to own India and Hong Kong? France wasn't running roughshod over Vietnam? You gotta be dumber than rocks. Someone's a simpy leftist crybaby pvssey history major. Go suck a history textbook h0m0
Good song, much better production than the past stuff. It's been like 15 years guys, forgot about that $10 you lost and just bang your f*cking heads. Did you really just say, "Just bang your f*cking heads?" Did your mom have any kids who weren't deprived of oxygen at birth??
The tolerant left will forgive him, right? Grow up and stop baiting. No one in the black metal scene likes or respects this dude. Even the "leftists." Every collectively knows he's a scammer. If anyone falls for his bullshit again, it's on them.
Obviously this junkie's project band SEVER on Iron Bonehead Productions wasn't paying the bills! Get f*cked Blake! How's those cheeseburgers hands doin'?
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