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Nachtmystium/Leviathan - In the Valley of Death, Where Black Metal is King: An Homage to the Roots (Ascension Monuments Media, 2018)

What the fuck is that title. Okay I get the first part is a Judas Iscariot tribute, but did we really need "an homage to the roots" in there? Hey wouldn't it be funny if these were actually covers of the band The Roots? Anyway. This album was supposed to come out 10 years ago, but it was blocked by the bands' respective labels. Now I guess they've figured out a way, or Blake Judd needs money for drugs so he's figured out a way, to put this out. The Bandcamp version has 8 tracks, 5 from Nachtmystium and 3 from Leviathan, but I've seen a 10-track tracklisting elsewhere. On the version I have, we have Nachtmystium covering Judas Iscariot, Ildjarn (twice), Von and Burzum. Leviathan tackles Ildjarn (twice) and Von once. I seem to be missing Leviathan's Judas Iscariot cover ("Where the Winter Beats Incessant") and one of Nachtmystium's Von covers ("Von"). Weird. Wonder if there were some licensing issues or something. All four Ildjarn covers here appeared on the Ildjarn tribute Gathered Under the Banner of Strength an Anger from 2003. Nachtmystium's Von cover is pulled from their 2004 release Eulogy IV. The Judas Iscariot and Burzum tracks are new, dating from 2018. And Leviathan's Von cover is from 2002. So not a ton of unheard music before if you've been collecting scraps from these guys. On Nachtmystium's side, despite being recorded in 2018 with (seemingly) a full band, "An Eternal Kingdom of Fire" (Judas Iscariot) sounds almost painfully floopy, with a horrible drum sound. The two Ildjarn cuts "Kronet" and "Bak To Lysende Oyne" on the other hand are absolute buzzsaws to the face - harsh and sharp as hell. "Satanic Blood" (Von) is thicker-sounding, a little more muddy, and not as interesting and seems to cut out before it's over. Their instrumental take on "Dunkelheit" (Burzum) is fantastic: the drums have an industrial bent that works so well and, let's face it, it's hard to fuck up a track as killer as "Dunkelheit". But the twist they gave to the percussion is a stroke of genius. Leviathan - "Dark December" (Ildjarn) is also awesome - the drums are so muffled and pounding it creates the effect of the volume of the track constantly dipping. Super disorienting in a good way, intentional or not, although it also seems to cut out. "Nocturnal Gathering" (Ildjarn) is bass-heavy, so slow and sludgy it almost sounds like, uh, sludge metal. Brutally evil instrumental. "Blood Angel" (Von) is super short (natch) and to the point. It's hard to know what to call this - it's not really a reissue, it's not all new, it's not all old, and it's not a compilation...but I guess it's nice to have this stuff all in one place and there's some real good moments here.

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