A Few Words on Nychts

Nychts, for the uninitiated, is a Swiss atmospheric black metal band formed in 2003.

Unlike many of the other bands I plan to speak on in my new column, “A Few Words On”, Nychts is probably not for the general metal audience. Narrowing it down some more I would be willing to bet that even within the already small subset of metal listeners that enjoy atmospheric black metal, very few of them will enjoy .

I say this, of course, because as those of you familiar with the band know, the vocals may take some getting used to.

Comments like these are all over Nychts' videos on Youtube.

It’s sad; really, because I think more than anything they just take some context (read: listen to more than a few seconds) and getting used to.

I was almost immediately turned off to them myself but I resolved to sit down and listen to an entire song before abandoning ship. Little did I know at the time that the majority of Nychts tracks are well over thirty minutes with one stretching well over an hour.

One track.

Thirty or forty minutes in to my first listening of the track above, playing in the background as I worked, I stopped what I was doing let out an audible ‘Whoa’. The majority of atmospheric black metal I’ve been hearing lately (dozens of demos and press releases) is stale. Not necessarily bad or without some merit but...stale. Nychts is a breath of fresh air. This is how it’s meant to be done.

This band makes some of the most haunting, gamut running, unique, and heart-wrenching atmospheric black metal I’ve heard. This band deserves a once -ver from each and every one of you that reads this.

Then go tell a friend too.

Those vocals though…

If you have a hard time getting over them I can’t say I blame you. I thank you for indulging me and having a listen at any rate.

Nychts is currently signed to Nebelstern Records through which they released their latest album, "Nebelstern Des Nichts", a sort-of split with Mortualia.

The track above is the entirety of their 2008 self-released demo “Und So Gehen Wir…”