Nachtmystium

Worldfall

Written by: EW on 03/03/2009 00:53:39

Odd request for review this one, given it was released nigh on a year ago, but I'm not complaining because this EP preceded by a month my album of 2008: Nachtmystium's "Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1". So what relevance or connection does it have to the said full-length? Not much to be honest but I lap up recent Nachtmystium work like a junkie does crack and the opening title-track in 7 minutes and 10 seconds shows why: a song of delicate blackened craftsmanship, built upon intimate feeling, passion and a desire to move forward where others do not dare. Given "Assassins" appeared a few weeks after "Worldfall" similarities in style should be expected and the song "Worldfall" is cut from the same cloth as the album's title track. It's latter half draws a distinct comparison to the "Seasick" trilogy which magnificently closed last year's album via a stunning, swirling, spacey lead solo riff which has the quality to produce chinks of light in the darkened armour of the song in which it sits. One could happily argue it was this solo alone that peaked my interest in Nachtmystium last summer before "Assassins" grew on me, so I hold it in high stead.

Like any EP it is a hodge-podge of songs: "Depravity" and "Solitary Voyage" are commendable if nothing special with a drumsound that is most worthy of attention for sounding more like a real drumkit anyone this side of lo-fi kings Darkthrone. Death In June cover "Rose Clouds Of Holocaust" draws parallels with the more ambient reflective moments of "Assassins" and I'm sure was partly chosen given his distance from the usual harshness of raw, cold black metal. Album closer, "IV", covered from American doomsters Goatsnake, is brilliant. Recalling a doom vibe that harks back to the early period of Cathedral, it is both heavier and I'd say better than the original, sounding for all the world like a genuine doom band.

And that's it folks. Nothing grand or flashy about it, "Worldfall" is a stopgap EP. What followed in "Assassins" was a mind-sweltering journey and that is what really mattered, hence rating is fairly nonsensical here but for the excellence of tracks 1 and 5 it earns itself an EP score of

7
.

Download: Worldfall, IV
For The Fans Of: Goatsnake, Secrets Of The Moon, Enslaved
Listen: Myspace

Release date 16.03.2009
Candlelight Records

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