You know I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that pun used in the metal world. I’m probably wrong but I don’t feel like googling to see if I am. Century Media did themselves a solid and picked up a band that doesn’t sound like it was lifted straight from the ’70s playbook of metal/hard rock which seems to be the latest fad circulating the metal community these days. Unlike so many of their brethren in the black metal world, Nachtmystium forgos the tradition of muddy recordings on 4-tracks for something this Chicago-based outfit can truly be proud of, that ironically sounds more raw and unhinged than a thousand DIY recordings. Sanford Parker (Minsk) lends his Volume Studios and producing skills (not to mention some groovy atmospheric keyboards) to the “Assassins” effort reaching boundaries that were unseen and unheard of prior on dankly produced Nachtmystium albums. Aggressive, bold, and sickly twisted, “Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1″ is the beginning of what I hope to be a trilogy of brutal new school black metal.