Band: Nachtmystium
Title: Addicts Black Meddle Pt. II
Label: Candlelight Records
Distribution: Plastic Head Distribution
Release date: 07/06/2010
Review: CD

To be honest, I wasn’t that crazy about Nachtmystium’s latest releases (even though I didn’t dislike these efforts at all), yet Azentrius, also known from sessions / guest / full membership assistance to bands and projects as Mortifera, Krieg, Twilight, Ezurate etc, strikes back with vengeful fury.

Addicts Black Meddle Pt II brings a rather original and open-minded form of ultra-dark melodic Metal, having Black Metal balanced on an avant-garde edge. The songs sometimes are slightly progressive, a few times even sweetly and subtly touching the border of Post-Metal / Post-Rock, yet without the nowadays over-popular and over-populating ‘Post’-approach in the vein of, let’s say, Porcupine Tree, Anathema or Symphony X. On the contrary! This material completely differs from most Black Metal ‘generalities’. Comparisons have to do with the atmosphere and sound, but the details are different. This American project has always been standing ‘apart’ from the grey masses, yet (almost) never they did it with such splendour and grandeur. At the same time, intense and obscure-sinister energetic aggression goes hand in hand with introvert yet deep-dark subtlety, at the same time this album sounds natural, post-natural and unnatural. Yet never the whole drops down.

Damn, even after listening to Addicts … more than ten times, I get impressed and surprised time after time, discovering new elements, undergoing new feelings and emotions. I’m sure the rough sound makes it all look better too, but… it is a fact, this sound. And it does lift the whole up, just like that.
But as (tried to) mentioned before: it isn’t only the sound or the refreshed energy that makes this album the best Nachtmystium album to date; it all has to do with the totality: atmosphere, performance, approach, production and song writing.

86/100

Ivan Tibos.