Warthur
In retrospect, the cry for help at the heart of this fusion of black metal and progressively-inclined psychedelic rock is obvious. When Blake Judd stated, in the wake of the disintegration of his personal life, work projects, and general well-being last year, that he'd been struggling with drug addiction for years and had directly addressed the subject in his music, it should have come as no surprise to anyone, for on Addicts he had presented a stark concept album which presents a mature (I'd say "sober", but we all know that wouldn't be accurate) take on the subject of addiction.
Not just drug addiction, mind, though certainly that's the major image here; Judd's tortured lyrics seem just as applicable to any situation where someone is in the grip of a destructive fixation which they know is doing them no good but which they see no way out of. Ranging in style between blackened progressive rock and black metal hysteria, it's a cautionary tale that offers up a genuinely original aesthetic. Don't listen to naysayers put off by Nachtmystium's incorporation of more popular, accessible musical styles here; this might go down smoothly, but I have no doubt that this is the hard stuff.