Nachtmystium Frontman’s Alleged Online Scams, Drug Use + More Exposed by Ex-Bandmate

For some time, Nachtmystium fans have accused frontman Blake Judd of scamming them. Judd would apparently put up rare albums and Nachtmystium pre-order bundles (which never existed) for sale, leaving fans with nothing after taking their money. Judd has even been accused of selling the rights to his own creative library to record labels, even when the frontman did not actually own the rights. In a new, must-read article on Noisey, the Nachtmystium frontman's longtime Twilight bandmate Neill Jameson has opened the book on Blake Judd, telling a story of drug addiction, theft and personal downfall.

Nachtmystium have created some of the most acclaimed black metal of the 21st century. Releasing albums such as 'Instinct: decay,' 'Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. I' and 'Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II,' Nachtmystium (and especially Blake Judd) have received great praise, but the story Jameson tells of Judd is far from glorious.

Neill Jameson, one of Judd's longtime bandmates and friends, exposed the Nachtmystium frontman's many scams and struggles. Jameson's Noisey article comes shortly after Century Media Records dropped Nachtmystium in the process of honoring 'The World We Left Behind' pre-orders which were supposed to be handled exclusively by Judd.

Citing Blake Judd's arrest and incarceration for stealing a friend's guitar, Jameson cut into the darkest parts of his former bandmate:

In 2010 I was in Chicago recording Krieg’s “comeback” record. I had tried my best to avoid him during this trip, but on the night I was meant to leave there was a terrible snowstorm. Blake offered to put me up at his place until the weather cleared and I could fly back home, so I decided to stay in and get some sleep. He woke me up around three in the morning by sitting on my chest and holding me down. I was aware he was f---ing around with heroin under the misguided idea that it would help him with his music.

His idolatry of Kurt Cobain was very well known among his friends. He told me when I woke up that we were going to take a cab (in a f---ing blizzard) to the ghetto to buy heroin. He told me that I was a “poser” for covering the Velvet Underground without ever shooting up. We got into a somewhat physical altercation, and he told me “You need this. It’s time you had another tragedy in your life” before calling me a “fa-got” and leaving. By the time he got home with the drugs I was asleep on the floor of O’Hare. That was the last time I saw him in any kind of good physical shape.

Jameson also details an altercation Judd had with his then-wife:

I decided to do the third Twilight record simply because of the other musicians in the band. By this point, I was fed up with the Blake-circus-s--tshow but went ahead anyway. The night before I was to fly out to record, Blake called me in tears. He told me that the money that was sent to cover my expenses and my cut of the publishing advance (totaling around $1500) was gone. He told me that his wife had left him (no s--t, Helen Keller saw that coming) after they got into a fight; he threw her, and she broke her leg in several places. When he took her to the hospital they would only accept cash because they didn’t have insurance. He f---ing sobbed and said everyone in Chicago wanted to kill him and he couldn’t leave his house, and he hoped I didn’t hate him. What the f--- was I supposed to do? I already had paid for the flight and was in the hole from the “tour” a few weeks before.

Later on, Jameson details how Blake Judd scammed fans out of their money:

Blake posted, on both his personal and the Nachtmystium page, a list of rare records he was selling, some for upwards of $300. He did not own these records, as I personally purchased the entirety of his record collection some time earlier. And people also started noticing this when their order for hundreds of dollars of rare items never showed up. Instead of dealing with it like a man, Blake would hide behind his computer and ban people from his page when they inquired about their purchased goods.

Then Blake made the move that would prove to be his largest public fuckup: the “bundle” packages. He claimed to sell a preorder for the vinyl and/or CD of his new record with an exclusive shirt. He began this preorder campaign two months before his record was set to hit shelves. Enough people realized they were out money, and they took to his pages—where other Nachtmystium fans would defend their idol until Blake would ban whomever was complaining they never received their merch. During this fiasco someone on behalf of Xasthur contacted me regarding the split. Apparently Blake had contacted the label and told them to send Xasthur’s copies to him and he would send them right over. This was discovered quickly enough that it was blocked. And then all went silent. Blake removed his internet presence. The “Blakecrush” page grew to almost a thousand people, who all began to file Paypal complaints. He moved to Western Union, but then talk of wire fraud came up. The money ceased flowing in. Blake vanished.

The full article details Blake Judd's various incidents in much greater detail, so be sure to check out Noisey to read the entire story.