Biography
Founded by Chicago musician Blake Judd with help from a shifting lineup of supporting musicians, Nachtmystium steered black metal’s raw aggression toward more psychedelic directions through frequent experiments with arrangement, recording techniques, and overall style. Between the project’s launch in 2000 and its breakup in 2014, the music moved away from conventional raw black metal toward increasingly progressive and exploratory ground, advancing step by step across a steady stream of releases while strengthening its audience through key albums such as 2006’s Instinct: Decay and 2010’s Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. II. During the band’s early years Judd battled heroin addiction and earned a poor standing for accepting payment for Nachtmystium records without shipping copies or returning funds. Those problems peaked in 2013 with his arrest for theft after widespread accusations from the metal scene over unpaid orders. Judd declared the group would dissolve before the appearance of 2014’s The World We Left Behind, yet revived the project in 2017.
Nachtmystium originated in the late ’90s when Judd and drummer Pat McCormick started tracking demos in the basement of Judd’s parents’ house. Still teenagers at the time, the pair had previously performed together in other groups but drew fresh motivation from black metal bands like Darkthrone while creating the unpolished, lo-fi recordings that eventually prompted them to establish a permanent band. Judd coined the name “Nachtmystium” by combining the German term for “night” with the invented word “mystium.” Across the group’s entire history Judd remained its sole constant participant, enlisting a constantly changing roster of additional musicians for both studio work and live performances. The band began performing concerts around 2000, and its first widely available recordings arrived with 2002’s Reign of the Malicious. At that stage the project closely followed traditional black metal conventions, featuring deliberately rough production, an unreadable logo, and a corpse-paint-wearing Judd performing under the stage name Azentrius. 2004’s Demise continued along the same stylistic route, yet 2006’s Instinct: Decay introduced greater psychedelic influences and more unconventional production choices. A longtime admirer of studio innovators Pink Floyd and road-tested adventurers the Allman Brothers, Judd used this album to broaden Nachtmystium’s sound with those touchstones in view. 2008’s Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. I pushed the departure from black metal still further. This release marked the first time Judd received credit under his actual name; beyond stylistic shifts toward stoner metal and the addition of saxophone and electronic textures, he referenced Pink Floyd both in the album title—drawing from their 1971 album Meddle for the Black Meddle concept—and in the opening track “One of These Nights…,” composed as a direct response to Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days.” By then Nachtmystium had reached peak popularity, touring worldwide and regarded by many observers as one of the more significant black metal-associated acts to emerge from the United States. 2010’s Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. II sustained the exploratory approach, tilting further toward industrial elements and incorporating programmed drums and electronics inside an extreme-music setting. A deliberate return to black metal origins shaped 2012’s Silencing Machine. Judd’s struggle with heroin began after he became dependent on opioids prescribed for a 2009 leg injury. Addiction problems and Judd’s worsening reputation for questionable dealings soon tarnished the Nachtmystium name, as numerous fans paid for records that never arrived and received no refunds. Public criticism intensified until 2013, when Judd was arrested for stealing his roommate’s guitar and selling it to purchase heroin. This event coincided with a flood of complaints about the fan scams, leading Judd to announce in late 2013 that he would disband Nachtmystium once work on the next album concluded. That album, The World We Left Behind, appeared to mixed critical response in 2014; afterward Judd turned to other projects while attempting to address his addiction. In 2016 Earache Records obtained the rights to the band’s studio catalog and issued a 2017 collection of rarities, demos, and remixes titled Retox. Also in 2017 a sober Judd reformed Nachtmystium for two one-off concerts and started recording a new EP called Resilient, scheduled for release at the end of 2018.
Nachtmystium originated in the late ’90s when Judd and drummer Pat McCormick started tracking demos in the basement of Judd’s parents’ house. Still teenagers at the time, the pair had previously performed together in other groups but drew fresh motivation from black metal bands like Darkthrone while creating the unpolished, lo-fi recordings that eventually prompted them to establish a permanent band. Judd coined the name “Nachtmystium” by combining the German term for “night” with the invented word “mystium.” Across the group’s entire history Judd remained its sole constant participant, enlisting a constantly changing roster of additional musicians for both studio work and live performances. The band began performing concerts around 2000, and its first widely available recordings arrived with 2002’s Reign of the Malicious. At that stage the project closely followed traditional black metal conventions, featuring deliberately rough production, an unreadable logo, and a corpse-paint-wearing Judd performing under the stage name Azentrius. 2004’s Demise continued along the same stylistic route, yet 2006’s Instinct: Decay introduced greater psychedelic influences and more unconventional production choices. A longtime admirer of studio innovators Pink Floyd and road-tested adventurers the Allman Brothers, Judd used this album to broaden Nachtmystium’s sound with those touchstones in view. 2008’s Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. I pushed the departure from black metal still further. This release marked the first time Judd received credit under his actual name; beyond stylistic shifts toward stoner metal and the addition of saxophone and electronic textures, he referenced Pink Floyd both in the album title—drawing from their 1971 album Meddle for the Black Meddle concept—and in the opening track “One of These Nights…,” composed as a direct response to Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days.” By then Nachtmystium had reached peak popularity, touring worldwide and regarded by many observers as one of the more significant black metal-associated acts to emerge from the United States. 2010’s Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. II sustained the exploratory approach, tilting further toward industrial elements and incorporating programmed drums and electronics inside an extreme-music setting. A deliberate return to black metal origins shaped 2012’s Silencing Machine. Judd’s struggle with heroin began after he became dependent on opioids prescribed for a 2009 leg injury. Addiction problems and Judd’s worsening reputation for questionable dealings soon tarnished the Nachtmystium name, as numerous fans paid for records that never arrived and received no refunds. Public criticism intensified until 2013, when Judd was arrested for stealing his roommate’s guitar and selling it to purchase heroin. This event coincided with a flood of complaints about the fan scams, leading Judd to announce in late 2013 that he would disband Nachtmystium once work on the next album concluded. That album, The World We Left Behind, appeared to mixed critical response in 2014; afterward Judd turned to other projects while attempting to address his addiction. In 2016 Earache Records obtained the rights to the band’s studio catalog and issued a 2017 collection of rarities, demos, and remixes titled Retox. Also in 2017 a sober Judd reformed Nachtmystium for two one-off concerts and started recording a new EP called Resilient, scheduled for release at the end of 2018.
Albums
