The fun never ends when it comes to Roadburn updates, though I’m pretty sure by now there are enough bands on the bill to fill up five or six days. Hell, Roadburn should just make it a full week and be done with it. This time around we learn that Nachtmystium will play all of Instinct: Decay and Witch, Valient Thorr and Bong have joined the crusade.

Check it out:

Roadburn’s extremely pleased to report that Nachtmystium will be playing a very special show at Roadburn 2012′s Voivod-curated Au-delà du Réel event on Friday, April 13th. For the first and only time, Nachtmystium will play their landmark USBM album Instinct: Decay in its entirety.

“Nachtmystium is extremely honored to be a part of Roadburn again”, says Blake Judd, “The fact that we were picked by one our idols and perhaps the most forward thinking metal bands of all time, Voivod, makes it even more that extraordinary. We decided to do something hopefully just as equally special for everyone there. We’ll be playing our album, Instinct: Decay, from start to finish. We hope you enjoy it.” More info on Nachtmystium at Roadburn Festival 2012 / Au-delà du Réel event here.

Much to the mutual pleasure of Voivod and ourselves, Witch will be playing a one-off show at the Voivod-curated Au-delà du Réel event at Roadburn 2012 on Friday, April 13th, 013 venue, Tilburg, Holland. Founded in 2006, Witch churn out an punk-inspired style of psychedelic stoner doom that features Dave Sweetapple (Sweet Apple), Graham Clise (Annihilation Time/Lecherous Gaze), Kyle Thomas (Feathers), and marks the return of J. Mascis to drums (his first instrument, back in the Deep Wound days). More info on Witch at Roadburn Festival 2012 / Au-delà du Réel event here.

We’re elated to announce a very special one-off show at Roadburn 2012: A heavy jam by J. Mascis, Mario Rubalcaba (drums, Earthless), Mike Eginton (bass, Earthless) and Graham Clise on Saturday, April 14^th. This will be one epic jam session for fans of shredding psychedelia. More info on Heavy Jam at Roadburn Festival 2012 here.

Thorriors of the world rejoice, Valient Himself and his minions from Burlatia have been confirmed for Voivod‘s Au-delà du Réel event at Roadburn 2012 on Friday, April 13th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. For those who like high-energy speed rock-n-roll, sweat drenched heavy metal or ass-shaking punk gospel, Valient Thorr are here to give you what you need. More info on Valient Thorr at Roadburn Festival 2012 / Au-delà du Réel event here.

Once again, the Roadburn Afterburner scheduled on Sunday, April 15th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland, will be a full-on festival day with bands playing on the Main Stage and the Green Room. Technical thrash metal legends Coroner (headliner), along with YOB, Bongripper, Black Cobra, Internal Void, The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, Bong, Urfaust, Dragged into Sunlight, Fleshpress and Atlantis have been confirmed for the Roadburn 2012 Afterburner. More info here.

Bong, Farflung, Saturnalia Temple, Year of the Goat, Ancient VVisdom, Priestess, Danava, Conan, Atlantis and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell have also been confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2012.

Tickets for Roadburn 2012 will go on sale Saturday, November 26th, 10:00 Central European Time. There will be a 2 ticket limit (per order) for 3-day and 4-day passes and Afterburner tickets –the same goes for the Campsite Tickets. Please visit www.roadburn.com for more info.

 

I don’t know if it’s the same this time around because I’m way on the outs of the proverbial loop, but in 2008, when Chicago outfit Nachtmystium released their Century Media debut, Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1, the anticipation was rabid and the reaction was so saliva-laden it was comical. It occurred to me the other day I haven’t gotten the same kind of fever-pitch vibe surrounding the follow-up full-length, Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. 2, but I’m more than willing to allow that’s because, in the two years since the last album, I’ve almost entirely stopped paying attention. So the situation might be the same and I just don’t know about it. Hype doesn’t make a difference listening anyway.

As regards that (listening), Addicts is a curious case. While “High on Hate,” which follows a minute and a half of spell-it-out introduction, could easily fit into a black metal mold at least as established by the last album, much of Nachtmystium’s material on the second offering of their Century Media era finds itself pushing forcefully outside the lines of that genre. “Nightfall” begins with and maintains a spirit akin to Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows,” and the insistent/incessant keyboard runs of “No Funeral” (provided by producer Sanford Parker) would also seem to place the track elsewhere categorically. Yet, throughout these songs and later genre-benders, the production maintained is thoroughly black metal, by which I mean lo-fi and almost purposefully underproduced. A headphone session reveals more psychedelic complexities of sound that regular speaker listening glosses over, and though I personally find it harder to listen to Addicts because of this, it can only be on purpose, since with the likes of Sanford Parker and Nachtmystium main man Blake Judd at the helm of the recording, it’s not as though either party doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Rather, I think it’s a case of Judd and whoever in the rotating cast of Nachtmystium players with whom he wrote these songs having simply outgrown the style in which they began – namely black metal. I’m sure if you were to ask Judd what he thinks of black metal, he’d say either that he doesn’t play it or that he doesn’t give a shit (and both may be true), but if genre concerns weren’t on his mind at least on some level, they wouldn’t be acknowledged in the album’s title at all, let alone in the fucking-with pun manner they are. So what we get is “black meddle,” reshaping a genre the band would probably be better off leaving behind altogether, at least in terms of production. Hell, if you want to compare labelmates, look at the Triptykon CD Century Media released earlier this year. Every nuance of that album was up front and clear, whereas with Addicts I feel like something’s trying to hide from me while I listen, as though Judd is embarrassed by his creativity and sans-box songwriting. Push that to the fore. I don’t give a shit if it’s kvlt. I want it to kick my ass, and if the corpsepaint needs to go for that to happen, so be it.

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Peer pressure, I guess. Assassins Part I had some pretty good songs, including “Your True Enemy,” the chorus of which is still stuck in my head regularly (up to and including most of the day yesterday), so yeah, Chicago black metallers Nachtmystium make the cut. What the hell. Can’t be Kyuss clones all the time. Actually, it probably could. There’s enough of them out there.

Anyhoosier, Century Media via the PR wire has info on Assassins Part II. Looks to be a star-studded affair:

This vicious, uncompromising group, led by mastermind Blake Judd are currently recording with Sanford Parker (Minsk) at Volume Studios. They have also enlisted the talents of Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, Twilight) to record all drum tracks, as well as Will Lindsay (Wolves in the Throne Room, Middian) on bass for the much anticipated Assassins Part II, which was hailed by Decibel as “One of the 25 most anticipated albums of 2010.”

Nachtmystium kicks off their 2010 touring cycle by joining up with German thrash legends Kreator so head over to www.myspace.com/nachtmystium to view their complete touring itinerary.

Judd further describes his excitement over this upcoming album: “Our love for post rock and industrial (à la Ministry, Killing Joke, etc.) is even more present this time around. We’re hoping to make a record that will continue to push extreme music into uncharted territories. We hope to see you all soon.”