BLAKE JUDD SAYS NACHTMYSTIUM IS NOT DEAD; NEW ALBUM TO BE RELEASED IN 2013

Yesterday I reported that Chicago’s Nachtmystium had called it quits, deciding to go on hiatus for the foreseeable future after parting ways with its longtime lead guitarist Andrew Markuszewski and recording engineer/synth player Sanford Parker. My post was picked up by a lot of other on-line metal outlets. It appears I was wrong. This morning, Blabbermouth reported that Blake Judd had posted the following statement on his personal Facebook page:

“Apparently, some metal news sites have reported today that NACHTMYSTIUM has either ‘broken up’ or is on ‘indefinite hiatus’. Neither of these things are true. The band has gone through some personnel changes in the last few months and I’ve made the decision to cancel all of our summer tour / festival plans while the band regroups. Instead of touring, we will be writing and recording our next full-length album in the coming months, to be released on Century Media worldwide sometime in late 2013. Also, we have pulled our Facebook page offline to revise and update it (giving it a full overhaul with new photos from the past and the present, scans of interviews from magazines throughout the band’s 13 years of existence, etc.) … For the last time and for the record, NACHTMYSTIUM has NOT disbanded and is only on a hiatus in regards to playing shows.“

I make it a point not to report rumors on this site; we’re not into gossip or band drama. I based what I wrote yesterday on a statement Blake Judd had made to Stereogum in March (saying that Nachtmystium was “on somewhat of a hiatus for the time being”), on an “official statement” from the band that appeared on the Facebook page of the Belgian metal festival Metal Méan (stating that “The remaining three bandmembers of NACHTMYSTIUM as of today are going to bring the band to a state of hiatus”), on the fact that Nachtmystium had pulled out of a number of European festivals and other concert appearances scheduled for this summer, and on the fact that Nachtmystium’s Facebook page had disappeared without explanation.

I obviously misinterpreted these events, since the “hiatus” apparently referred only to playing live shows — though there was nothing in the “official statement” from last week about Nachtmystium regrouping to record a new album in 2013. Maybe I’m just feeling defensive, but it seems like that would have been a worthwhile piece of information to include in an official statement about the band going into “a state of hiatus”.

Well, lesson learned, the lesson being that it’s best to get confirmation straight from the horse’s mouth before reporting that a band is kaput. Mea culpa for generating confusion about Nachtmystium’s future.

And as for Nachtmystium’s future, we are stoked to hear there will be a new Nachtmystium album before the end of this year.