It's been so, so long

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted. I was gonna do running reports on the world cup, but then decided against it (though I may have some commentary/conversation in the upcoming issue of Binge & Purge). So basically between that and starting a new job I haven't had much time to write reviews. Oh, and I've been lazy and had to review some crap that's not worth posting here. But finally I've got some stuff for you. And, time permitting, will have more soon since some great records were picked up recently. Anyway, here's to football (the real kind) and bicycles!!

Nachtmystium - Instinct : Decay
Battle Kommand Records
30 May 2006
4 stars

I am by no means a Black Metal specialist and I won't claim that I am even that particularly knowledgeable about the genre. However, I almost always dig it as well as material that was influenced by it. Particularly I'm a fan of black metal vocals and guitar tones. On these accounts Nachtmystium's latest release definitely does it for me. From what I've gathered (from reputable sources, of course) Instinct:Decay is their strongest effort and, as far as I'm concerned, they've taken black metal to a new place.

Actually, I should say Nachtmystium have brought a new sort of black metal from a completely different place (as in, not Scandinavia). To put it bluntly, they're an American band, but it sounds like they made this album somewhere beyond Alpha Centauri. Okay, I think that sometimes black metal keyboards can be a little hokey, and that was my initial impression on a few of the tracks here. I think, though, that I wasn't paying close enough attention, because on subsequent listens the cheeze factor was totally absent and I realized that this was just music imported from some far edge of the galaxy. Seriously, I mean, like traditional black metal this has guitars raw and dirty with thick, grating distortion alongside vocals that will scrape the wax out of your ears, but it also possesses keys and electronics straight out of a shuttle cockpit. The best part is that it totally works.

I liked Instinct:Decay when I first put it on, but it has continued to grow on me over the past week or so. Good signs that this album will stand up over time.