US Black Metal pioneers Nachtmystium release the first single ‘Predator Phoenix’ taken from their forthcoming ninth full-length “Blight Privilege”. The album has been slated for release on November 1, 2024.
The visualiser ‘Predator Phoenix’ is now available via this link: https://youtu.be/rWo3ff7cyhA
Nachtmystium comment: “The pandemic, along with the many insane riots during 2020 opened my eyes”, mastermind Blake Judd writes. “I thought, as a canceled person with nothing to lose, I’ll point out things with fearlessness and total conviction. It was that which this track became the point of origin.”
Tracklist: 1. Survivors Remorse 2. Predator Phoenix 3. A Slow Decay 4. Conquistador 5. Blind Spot 6. The Arduous March 7. Blight Privilege
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.
“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”!
Nachtmystium line-up: Blake Judd – vocals, guitars, keyboards, all compositions, lyrics
Guest contributions: Matt Thomas – console steel guitar, additional guitar solos / Ken Sorceron – bass guitar / Francesco Miatto – drums / Andrew Marksuzewski – about half of the lyrics
Recorded & engineered by Blake Judd at House in the Desert, Barrego, CA (US) / Assistance by Andrew Markuszewski / Drum engineering & recording by Jacopo Pettini at Virus Studio, Siena (IT) / Mix & mastering by Ken Sorceron at Sorceron Sound, Seaside Coast, OR (US) / Artwork by Alex Trinkl, Irrwisch Artdesign / Layout by Alex Trinkl, Irrwisch Artdesign
Available formats: “Blight Privilege” is available as a 60-page hardcover CD artbook, as a Gatefold black vinyl LP, a ltd. Gatefold black & transparent green marble vinyl LP, and as a Digipak CD.
Pre-sale link: http://lnk.spkr.media/nachtmystium-blight
