Final Rating: 8.5/10
This review is not going to reflect on the controversies surrounding Blake Judd. I have already written an article that touches upon that, and thus, this will be left to being strictly about the album.
“No more pain” is screamed at the end of the album on the final track Epitaph For A Dying Star. Nachtmystium’s music has been inflicted by hurt since the start of the band, with many lyrics depicting sorrow or self destruction. An earlier song of theirs called High on Hate (off of 2010’s Addicts: Black Meddle Part II) begins with the lyrics “We are not your leaders. We are not your friends. We are thieves and cheaters. We live at the end”. In the eyes of Blake Judd, the villains usually surpass the heros in the real world. With what is meant to be their final album, The World We Left Behind, Nachtmystium send off with an album that battles itself as much as one can battle their inner demons. There are many discussions about one’s inevitable doom, but even the idea of an endless legacy are brought up: Into the Endless Abyss brings forth the idea that one will remain alone forever if their reputation is a bad one. With the lyrical themes correlating, the feuding sounds may not blend as well as they do on past Nachtmystium releases, but this kind of calamity adds a sense of danger to the album: Death is quickly approaching and everything must be gathered.
I’ve read a few reviews of this album so far, and while it has garnered some praise, a lot of people feel it is the weakest Nachtmystium album and even a lousy conclusion. I am fully aware that I am in the minority with this release, but I feel it would be wrong if I put away the immediate emotional connections I’ve had with this album. It is clear that this conclusion has songs that are much stronger than others, but the “inferior” songs are still songs I appreciate highly and find little wrong with (tracks like Fireheart and Tear You Down, for instance). The better tracks are easily some of the best in Nachtmystium’s catalogue, including the title track that hangs on a cliff over hell, the relentless Into The Endless Abyss, and the gorgeous swan song Epitaph For A Dying Star. These better tracks have small details that truly craft a beautiful structure covered by rust: The xylophone dings in The Endless Abyss, the clean vocals in the final track that reflect on The Great Gig in the Sky (Nachtmystium’s last Pink Floyd throwback), and the suffocated backing vocals on the title track resembling a choir in a church engulfed in flames.
The disagreement with this album people may be having is that it is easily Nachtmystium’s most basic album musically. To me, just like the imbalanced flow, this somehow works in this album’s favor for me. There aren’t any smokes or mirrors here: The emotions are real. The album is a final say and not a piece that will speak ifs, ands or buts. It is full of guilt, self awareness and even self anger. There isn’t a battle against the listener here; The album sits with its head bowed and ready to be decapitated by the guillotine. It’s this vulnerability that makes me the onlooker that finds it hard to dismiss what is in front of me. With Blake Judd’s most emotional vocal performance yet, these are the words and ideas of a man who is shunned by almost an entire community (read my article, again, for my thoughts on this). At this point, he probably isn’t asking for forgiveness because he knows it won’t come easily.
We are just left this final product, with feuding tracks, far-from-clear production, and heaps of music conventionality mixed with black metal inaccessibility. It is far from Nachtmystium’s best, but this is a rare instance where something noticeably ugly has appeared beautiful within its own shambles. Like Harmony Korine’s Gummo, The World We Left Behind is swamped in its own atrocities and disorganization, but there is something clinging to me with both pieces that I cannot shake off. There’s a lyric in the final song that sums the album up for me: “The ride is coming to an end and you’re ready to transcend to escape into the distance again.” Perhaps I will dislike this album in the future. Maybe I will like it even more later on. Maybe it’ll change for other people as well, for better or for worse. At this present time, I am attached to the self destruction this burning angel exudes, and I am fixated by its imperfection.
