According to No Clean Singing, Nachtmystium are dunzo… and have been since March, when the news somehow failed to spread.

Last month, Nachtmystium mastermind Blake Judd told Stereogum that his Hate Meditation project ” is my main focus currently as Nachtmystium is on somewhat of a hiatus for the time being.”

Somehow, most, if not all, major metal media outlets seemed to have missed this, until the following statement was released over the weekend:

“We are sorry to inform you that NACHTMYSTIUM have decided to cancel all their live activities in the foreseeable future. The band has parted ways with their long time lead guitarist, Andrew Markuszewski, and their recording engineer/synth player, Sanford Parker. The remaining three bandmembers of NACHTMYSTIUM as of today are going to bring the band to a state of hiatus.”

This is the kind of news that makes me go, “HUH?” Markuszewski only has a credit on the band’s most recent release, 2012’s Silencing Machine, and they’ve worked without Parker before. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, Judd has been the single consistent in Nachtmystium since its inception. I don’t think most people would argue with the assertion that Blake Judd IS Nachtmystium the way Dave Mustaine IS Megadeth, Michael Keene IS The Faceless, etc. In other words, it seems odd to blame Nachtmystium’s demise on line-up changes.

I’m guessing that what Judd really felt he needed was a fresh start — this Pitchfork interview promoting Silencing Machine‘s release certainly suggests as much — and consequently wanted to be free of whatever preconceptions or expectations he believes come with the Nachtmystium brand.

And in any case, Hate Meditation sounds pretty damn good to me:

So while I’m bummed I may never get to hear those Nachtmystium tunes live again, I’m excited to hear more from Hate Meditation (I keep accidentally typing “Hate Mediation” — I have no idea why).

And I don’t really believe Nachtmystium is done. After all, Judd could revive it pretty much any time he feels like it.

Hate Meditation’s debut full-length, Scars, comes out May 24.