Blake Judd
Encyclopedia
Blake Judd is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 and co-founder
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 of Battle Kommand Records
Battle Kommand Records
Battle Kommand Records is an American underground record label founded by Blake Judd and Rebecca Clegg in 2004, based in St. Charles, Illinois...

. He previously performed under the stage name "Azentrius".

Biography

Judd was raised in Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...

, and took an early interest in music due to his parents' taste in classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

. He saw The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...

 perform live when he was in the second grade, and cites it as a major influence on his musical career. Judd took up the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 when he was twelve years old, and began to listen to heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 shortly later. He began playing in bands in his late teens, and served as the vocalist and guitarist for Ezurate and in the now-defunct thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 and black metal band Helms Deep. In his spare time, he worked at Metal Haven, a heavy metal record store in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Judd eventually founded Nachtmystum with a friend as a side-project, which he originally operated out of his parent's basement. He started to become more involved in Nachtmystium, then a raw black metal band, after receiving positive feedback from his audience. Judd eventually shaped the band into a psychedelic band, influenced by his love for progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

 and The Allman Brothers, while also using various black metal elements.

Outside of Nachtmystium, Judd founded an independent record label, Battle Kommand Records
Battle Kommand Records
Battle Kommand Records is an American underground record label founded by Blake Judd and Rebecca Clegg in 2004, based in St. Charles, Illinois...

, with Rebecca Clegg in St. Charles
St. Charles, Illinois
St. Charles is a Chicago suburb in Kane and DuPage counties of Illinois, United States, and is roughly west of Chicago on Illinois Route 64. According to a 2004 census estimate, the city has a total population of 32,134. The official city slogan is Pride of the Fox, after the Fox River that runs...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. In 2005 he was commissioned by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...

 label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 Total Holocaust Records to create the black metal "supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

" Twilight
Twilight (band)
Twilight is an American black metal band formed in 2005 and originally commissioned by the Swedish underground label Total Holocaust Records. Members of the band all go by pseudonyms: "Azentrius" , "Hildolf" , "Imperial" , "Malefic" and "Wrest" .Although Twilight has so...

. Additionally, he was session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 on Krieg
Krieg
Krieg is a black metal band from Somers Point, New Jersey in the United States of America. They play a low-fi, "raw" style, drawing influence from the Darkthrone-esque style of black metal and did not use synthesizers or folk instruments, in their recordings. The band formed in 1995, initially as...

's final album Blue Miasma (2006). Judd for many years performed under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 "Azentrius." Also, Judd played guitar on Obscurus Advocam's 2007 album Verbia Daemonicus.

Judd has often voiced critical opinions towards modern black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

. In an interview with MetalReviews.com, he claimed, "most bands are just carbon copies of each other, musically, lyrically, image-wise, and ideologically although I question how big and evil half these maggots are." Judd voiced a similar opinion in an interview with The Metal Crypt, stating "Fuck modern black metal. There are a few good bands, but there are millions of horrible clones and over rated bands that are doing nothing new." However in a 2008 interview with The Daily Herald, he claimed to respect what he viewed as "real" black metal, and added "as a fan of black metal, I'm offended by someone who calls their music black metal and incorporates outside elements." While Nachtmystium was originally founded as a black metal band, Judd insisted the band had "left the black metal scene" after 2004. In an interview with Thrashpit.com, Judd stated, "It was cool at first but we're really not a traditional 'spikes and paint
Corpse paint
Corpse paint or corpsepaint is a style of black-and-white makeup, used mainly by black metal bands during live concerts and photo shoots. The makeup is used to intensify the bands' imagery of evil, inhumanity, and corpse-like decay. It is most commonly used just on the face, but also on arms and...

' band."

Equipment

  • Gibson SG
    Gibson SG
    At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...

     Standard (D tuning)
  • BC Rich Mockingbird
  • Sunn Model T reissue
  • Emperor 6 by 12 cab w/ vintage 30s Celestion Speakers

With Nachtmystium

  • Reign of the Malicious (2002)
  • Demise (2004)
  • Instinct: Decay
    Instinct: Decay
    -Production:*Produced By Azentrius & Chris Black*Recorded, Engineered & Mixed By Chris Black*Mastered By Scott Hull-Personnel:*Azentrius - lead & rhythm guitar, vocals*Sinic - rhythm guitar*Lord Imperial - bass*Wargoat Obscurum - drums...

    (2006)
  • Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1
    Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1
    Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1 is the fourth full-length album by Chicago band Nachtmystium. It was released via Century Media Records in the United States on June 10, 2008, and by Candlelight Records in Europe on June 23, 2008. The record was recorded in December 2007 at Sanford Parker's Volume...

  • Addicts: Black Meddle, Part II
    Addicts: Black Meddle, Part II
    -LP release:-Production:*Produced by Chris Black and Nachtmystium*Engineered and mixed by Sanford Parker*Mastered by Collin Jordan at BR Mastering, Chicago, IL-Nachtmystium:*Blake Judd – Lead and rhythm guitars, vocals...


External links

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