NACHTMYSTIUM — Silencing Machine (review)

NACHTMYSTIUM — Silencing Machine album cover Album · 2012 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
adg211288
Silencing Machine is the sixth full-length album by US black metal act Nachtmystium. The album was released in 2012. The band’s line-up has seen some re-working in the couple of years since the release of Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II (2010) with only band leader Blake Judd remaining a full band member between both releases, although Will Lindsay performed on both albums it’s only Silencing Machine where he is a band member opposed to a guest. Nachtmystium has never had a stable line-up so I’m sure anyone familiar with the band won’t be surprised that Silencing Machines features yet another line-up of the group.

While remaining black metal at heart, Nachtmystium’s music is very much experimental in nature, particularly with psychedelic influences although the group doesn’t explore these anywhere near as much as a vaguely similar and much younger act called Hail Spirit Noir, who released their debut album Pneuma earlier in the year which resulted in what seemed to me that black metal was only a secondary driving force beside the psychedelic sound. Silencing Machine never leaves room for doubt though that it is black metal at its core and anything else the band throws in, be it psychedelic or even progressive parts, are just building on that template in order to make the album stand out from the more straightforward of black metal acts.

The result isn’t as far removed from the original black metal template as some artists I’ve come across, but enough so that it’s also never in doubt that Nachtmystium break the black metal mould, although there are a lot of subtleties to be found during Silencing Machine that could be easy to miss unless you fully invest yourself into the music. It wasn’t surprising to me that Blake Judd has said in the past that Nachtmystium isn’t a black metal band. The music, or at least my comprehension of it, tells a little bit of a different story on Silencing Machine, which is my first encounter with the group so I can’t really compare the album in terms of direction or quality to anything the band has done previously, but I have to say that I’d still call Silencing Machine is a black metal album. The purist out there may disagree, and I can’t help but wonder if Judd himself holds purist views towards the genre, but whatever you consider the album to be at the end of the day, it’s a damn fine work with many moments of pure genius to be found. Tracks like the title track along with And I Control You and I Wait in Hell are top quality compositions that stick with me long after the album’s near one hour running time comes to a close. A great album tier rating is deserved.

83/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

… And the Universe Keeps Silent Death Metal
MAERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Le bannissement Atmospheric Black Metal
CANTIQUE LÉPREUX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 8 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 8 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 8 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 11 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 11 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed