Warthur Veering dizzily between black metal, psychedelic hard rock, and everything in between, in retrospect we should have known something was up with Blake Judd when he opened this album with an ugly, suicide-themed take on Pink Floyd's One Of These Days and spent most of the album singing about drugs. But despite the now well-publicised opiate addiction which had Judd in its grip by this point and would lead to the collapse this year of the Nachtmystium project, this is still an intriguing piece of blackened psychedelia which bridges the gap between cutting edge black metal and 1960s proto-metal. Ever wanted to hear Darkthrone jam with Hendrix?

UMUR "Assassins: Black Meddle Part I" is the 4th full-length studio album by US black metal act Nachtmystium. The album was released in June 2008 by Century Media Records. A vinyl version of the album was released by Back in Black.

The music on the album is black metal with some anthemic heavy metal elements. There´s a progressive touch to some of the tracks but it´s mostly the ending trio of tracks ( "Seasick, Part I: Drowned at Dusk", "Seasick, Part II: Oceanborne", "Seasick, Part III: Silent Sunrise") that I would label progressive. Tracks like "Ghosts of Grace", "Your True Enemy" and "Omnivore" are more "regular" black metal/ heavy metal tracks.

The band´s basic black metal sound is boosted by synths, keyboards and effects courtesy of Sanford Parker ( Minsk, Buried at Sea, Behold! The Living Corpse, Twilight, The High Confessions, Circle Of Animals) and there´s even some saxophone playing in the ending trio of tracks which also gives the album a nice varied touch. The inclusion of guest lead guitarists on several tracks is also a really good idea, as the solos on the album generally are very well sounding and add atmosphere to the songs.

"Assassins: Black Meddle Part I" was recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker at Volume Studios and produced by Sanford Parker and Nachtmystium. They´ve created a powerful and professional production, that suits the music well, but could have prospered from a slightly more raw sound if you ask me.

My fist listen to this album didn´t impress me much, but I´d advice you to take further listens before passing judgement, because repeated listens have revealed a lot of details and interesting ideas that I didn´t hear the first time around. I´ve come to the conclusion that Nachtmystium have quite a unique sound and while their basic songwriting might not be that interesting, if it weren´t for all the added effects, I´ve ended up pretty impressed. I´d say a 3.5 - 4 star rating isn´t all wrong for "Assassins: Black Meddle Part I".