The World They (Almost) Left Behind

They say the cold winters in Iceland make black metal bands. They obviously have never been to Illinois at Christmas. Hailing from Wheaton, Illinois, Nachtmystium has been bringing their brand of psychedelic/black metal to the masses since 2000. In late 2013 the band ended their 13 year run by having Blake Judd, the band’s founding member and overall creative force, make the announcement. However, a little more than a year later, he changed his stance and has since said that he will be bringing the band back together. Their newest release, The World We Left Behind was supposed to be their swan song. Century Media even publicized it as much, but you can tell that their creative process is alive and well.

The opening track, “Intrusion” is an instrumental track, and is as good as some of the post-punk instrumental metal coming out of the Chicago area. Bands like Russian Circles and Pelican could have easily written it. It’s almost symphonic in its delivery, and masterfully done. The second song on the album, “Fireheart,” has a disco style dance beat –not something you hear from black metal often. The vocal has that “sung in a church” reverb to it; this not only lends itself to giving the lyrics and vocal delivery lots of space, but also adds a bit of dramatic flair.

The next track on The World We Left Behind, “Voyager,” starts off much more slowly,  but still heavy with more of a groove metal feel. You can also hear the psych influence on Blake Judd’s writing. There are almost as many spacey moments as there are brutal black metal moments. The epic solo in this song is worth the listen alone with its European metal feel and dueling guitars abound.

The World We Left Behind would have been an excellent ending to an excellent career. Blake Judd should be proud. Although fans of the band are excited for the band’s future, they will most certainly be pleased with this release. It would have been a much darker world had they left us behind without this album.