Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Nachtmystium Doomsday Derelicts Company: Battle Kommand Records Release: 2009 Genre: Heavy Reviewer: Raising Iron

For those repulsed with the band's latter efforts, this may be right up your alley

For regular readers of Maximum Metal, you no doubt know how enthralled I was with Nachtmystium's "Assassins" from 2008. For those who aren't aware, it made number two on my top ten of '08 bested only by Opeth's Watershed. Now, in the middle of 2009, the band has given us a new, four-song EP to sate those of us thirsting for more of the same, or is it?

Of note, Nachtmystium have quickly found themselves in the love 'em or hate 'em camp; having significantly diverged from their black metal beginnings into an amalgam of psychedelic, black, and crustily dark, traditional metal. This latest EP, entitled Doomsday Derelicts, is actually a throwback of sorts to styles that influenced the guys to begin with, so for those repulsed with the band's latter efforts at stretching into prismatic and multi-textured territories, this may be right up your alley.

Opening up with "Bones", the brash boys give you a quick, thrash-based thrashing that's somewhat along the lines of early Celtic Frost or Venom, yet with more of a mid-ranged virulence and a little less heaviness. Following up is "Life of Fire", a bit more epic and mid-paced in scope, recalling budding Mercyful Fate, but as crusty and blackened as ever. The best track comes next, entitled "Hellish Overdose", which will have you reminiscing bands like Omen, Manilla Road, Armored Saint, et al, with its riffs and compositional approach rooted in all things traditional heavy metal. Finally, the disc ends with "Pitch Black Cadence", a song that with its ringing, dissonant guitar layered above the driving riff brings back a bit of the psychedelia the band is now known for, ending with a speeded out bang.

So there you have it, Nachtmystium turn in a quick dose of pestilent poison for the posers, leaving them lying for the rest of us to feast upon their decrepit and dissolved remains.