Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay
Battle Kommand Records
Black Metal
10 songs (42:55)
Release year: 2006
Nachtmystium, Battle Kommand Records
Reviewed by Daniel

Through the past few years the American Black Metal scene has been growing in size and quality, and even more importantly, in variety. New approaches are being adopted and many fresh ideas are being developed; and one of the bands that has taken very interesting paths is Nachtmystium.

Nachtmystium started like most bands do, imitating the music they loved, but with time Azentrius (main creative force behind the band) started to develop a style of his own, incorporating many different influences and constantly morphing his sound from record to record. In this occasion we find what I would consider Nachtmystium’s most aggressive sound to date as well as it’s most distinctive.

Instinct: Decay finds Nachtmystium at the top of their game, with great musicianship, brutal vocals (probably Azentrius’ best to date) massive energy, and a perfect combination of bold new ideas with pure Black Metal tradition.

The main highlight of Instinct: Decay is its unique atmosphere; dark, and -hold your breath- psychodelic, yes, that’s right, pyschodelic. Eerie synth created ambience combined with some twisted noise and some absolutely killer trippy guitar leads give Instinct: Decay a very hallucination-like sound; fuck, even Azentrius himself joked about the album being LSD Black Metal, and let me tell you that it’s not far from being a legitimate label.

The album contains songs with different tempos, allowing for a wider palette of variety. Everything from blast beat, tremolo picking frenzies to more slow/mid paced songs closer to the vein of Demise are present, making for a more dynamic listening experience. Production is rough and dirty, yet melodies are always listenable (although some Black Metal listening experience helps), and everything is mixed in the right level, so great job in that department as well.

Instinct: Decay presents a very interesting approach to Black Metal, which I would love to see further developed in the future. And while the “experiments” that go on in the album will attract the attention of new listeners, there’s enough of the Nachtmystium of old to keep fans satiated.

So, who knows if Nachtmystium will some day be to Black Metal what Pink Floyd was to Rock; heck, who knows if they even want that (although I'm sure as Hell they were influenced by them on this album). All I know is that Azentrius is eager to keep expanding musically and to deliver new and interesting music, and that my dear readers, is one of the most valuable things you can find in an artist. The future seems bright for this American band.

Killing Songs :
Daniel quoted 85 / 100
Other albums by Nachtmystium that we have reviewed:
Nachtmystium - The World We Left Behind reviewed by Goat and quoted 50 / 100
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine reviewed by Goat and quoted 84 / 100
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2 reviewed by Charles and quoted 88 / 100
Nachtmystium - Doomsday Derelicts reviewed by James and quoted no quote
Nachtmystium - Worldfall reviewed by James and quoted no quote
To see all 10 reviews click here
10 readers voted
Average:
 85
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 33 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:55 pm
View and Post comments