Blimey, another Nachtmystium EP?
It seems like only a few weeks ago I was reviewing their masterful
Worldfall
release. Assassins
was released just over a year ago at the time of writing, and despite
glowing reviews from sources far outside the black metal underground
(including the insanely trendy Pitchfork Media) and gaining the band
a tour with Opeth,
arguably the biggest extreme metal band on the planet right now, it
hasn't quite been the breakthrough release you'd expect. Indeed, 2009
has been a frustrating year, with the band being thrown off the Scion
Rock Fest for ludicrous allegations of fascism, and an injury to
frontman Blake Judd resulting in the need to drop out of a tour with
The Haunted.
Although the songs on Doomsday
Derelicts were
probably written long before the band's run of misfortune, it's
fitting that the EP is the band at their most monstrously pissed-off.
The record may have gained criticism for dropping the psychedelia,
but upon closer inspection that's a somewhat hollow complaint.
Assassins
was never all that
trippy in the first place, and indeed, the straightforward blasts of
Ghosts Of Grace
and
Your True Enemy
were where the record hit hardest, and even without the Floydian
facade it would still have been a great heavy metal album. As shown
by the cover, Doomsday
Derelicts
is a more primitive, aggressive band, Bones
storming out of the gate with pounding drums and Judd's bestial roar.
The record doesn't let up throughout its (admittedly brief) run-time,
a blistering response to those who lamented the band going soft.
There's perhaps a more noticeable thrash presence this time out, even
the pounding, mid-paced Pitch
Black Cadence
bursting into Slayer-ish
soloing and the kind of riffs that could have come off the last Toxic
Holocaust album.
Elsewhere, Hellish
Overdose sounds
like Nocturno Culto fronting Metallica,
the song being nothing less than the band's very own Seek
And Destroy,
and by rights should be a fixture in any future live dates the band
may play.
Although
Worldfall
felt like, and very much was a stopgap release (being mostly covers
and a reworking of old material), Doomsday
Derelicts is
all new, and feels very much like a cohesive collection of new
material that just wouldn't fit in with the band's new sound. It
definitely shouldn't be seen as simply something to tide die-hard
fans over until the release of the next album. Indeed, the punchy
nature of this release makes it an ideal starting point for
newcomers. However, if this is meant to concentrate on the heaviest,
most metallic side of Nachtmystium,
it'd be nice to see the next release showing the band at their most
genuinely psychedelic and experimental (A whole album of stuff like
the Seasick
suite of Assassins
would be incredible). Let's hope whatever comes next from the
Nachtmystium
camp is every bit as experimental and forward-thinking as this is
straightforward and aggressive.
There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:22 pm
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