Nachtmystium was an American black metal band formed by Blake Judd, formerl… Read Full Bio ↴Nachtmystium was an American black metal band formed by Blake Judd, formerly known as Azentrius, and Pat McCormick. The band's name is derived from the German word Nacht meaning "night", and the made-up term mystium which resembles the Latin adjective mysticum. Judd and McCormick combined the words to create the band's name, which they state means "Encompassing Darkness". Nachtmystium released multiple critically praised albums between 2005 and 2012, including Instinct: Decay (2005), Assassins: Black Meddle, Part I (2008), and Silencing Machine (2012). Controversy marred the band's success in 2013 when Judd was arrested for theft charges and publicly admitted he had a severe drug problem. After nearly four years of inactivity, Nachtmystium returned in 2017 and released a new EP, Resilient, in 2018. However the band would be disbanded in June 2020 by Blake after a lengthy final post on the official Facebook page.

Nachtmystium's line-up has frequently changed since its formation. Furthermore, while the band originally started as a black metal band, and even toured with black metal acts such as Angelcorpse, Goatwhore and Watain, Judd has frequently stated that the band should not be considered black metal per se. In an interview with DEAF SPARROW Zine, Judd stated, "What separates us from your average black metal band is that we're NOT a black metal band, we're a 'do-whatever-the-fuck-we-want' metal band and black metal happens to be what we build our foundation off of (in the case of Instinct: Decay and its predecessors), if you must categorize the rhythm sections of our music (rhythm guitars, bass and drums — the core of any album)." J. Bennet of Decibel Magazine described the band's sound as "Blackadelia". Jason Bracelin, of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, compared the band's latter work to Pink Floyd, claiming, "[Assassins] is what happens when Pink goes black." Since the release of Assassins, the band has received additional press-coverage and attention from media outlets, including Metal Maniacs, Terrorizer, CMJ New Music Monthly, and Metalkult.com. Despite their departure from the black metal genre, Carlos Ramirez of IGN.com listed Assassins as one of the ten greatest black metal albums.

Judd recruited Chris Black to produce Nachtmystium's later albums and compose lyrics. Black's themes and lyrics from Addicts: Black Meddle, Part II were inspired by Judd's heroin addiction. Judd assumed songwriting duties for Nachtmystium's final studio album, The World We Left Behind, and included many lyrics about his personal struggles with addiction.

Assassins
Nachtmystium Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We feel nothing
And are nothing
Traveling elitists
Rejecting weakness
We stand alone
Pride does not die
Kings in your dreams
Slaves to this nightmare

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Nachtmystium's "Assassins" depict a sense of individuality, superiority and detachment from society. The first two lines "We feel nothing, and are nothing" express the nihilistic attitude of the traveling elitists, who believe in nothingness and detachment from emotions. The next two lines "Traveling elitists, rejecting weakness" convey the idea of superiority and elitism, where these travelers deny the existence of weakness and vulnerability to the point of rejecting and condemning it.

"We stand alone, pride does not die" implies that the elite group stands independently and values its pride more than its own lives. In contrast, "Kings in your dreams, slaves to this nightmare" seems as though they see the societal norms and customs as a nightmare, yet they choose to abide by them, thereby, becoming slaves to it. This last sentence also suggests that the elites may be conscious of their detachment, but are unable or unwilling to escape from it.

Line by Line Meaning

We feel nothing
We are emotionally numb and unable to experience any sense of feeling or emotion.

And are nothing
Our existence appears to be futile and pointless, devoid of any real purpose or substance.

Traveling elitists
We are a privileged group of people who travel around, feeling superior to the rest of society.

Rejecting weakness
We refuse to acknowledge or accept any form of weakness or vulnerability within ourselves.

We stand alone
We do not form strong bonds or connections with others, and prefer to remain isolated and independent.

Pride does not die
We take great pride in our lifestyle and beliefs, and refuse to let anyone or anything bring us down.

Kings in your dreams
Our aspirations and ambitions are so lofty that they are only achievable in the realm of dreams and fantasies.

Slaves to this nightmare
Despite our outward appearance of strength and superiority, we are actually bound by a sense of oppression and misery, unable to escape from our own personal hell.

Contributed by Hailey B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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