Necromandus - Nightjar

Sunday, time for a classic. "Nightjar" is a tune by the English rock band NECROMANDUS, hailing from Cumberland, United Kingdom.

They were formed in 1970 and were discovered by Tony Iommi of BLACK SABBATH in 1972. After recording one album in 1973, they split up. The album was not released until 1999. In 2007 they were mentioned by Classic Rock magazine as a "lost pioneer" of heavy metal. Author Ian Christe has cited the band as one of the earliest doom metal groups.

"Nightjar" is found on the only album "Orexis of Death", recorded in 1973 under the supervision of BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, but was shelved due to Barry Dunnery's departure from the band and wasn't released until 1999. The album was re-released in 2005 under the name "Orexis of Death Plus..." and included two unreleased bonus tracks. It was also reissued in 2010 in its standard form, but with their Live album included.

The only surviving member of NECROMANDUS is Frank Hall. Dennis McCarten (born 1950) died of a kidney illness in December 2004, and Barry Dunnery (the elder brother of Francis Dunnery) died on 29 May 2008 from cancer, at the age of 56. The date of Bill Branch's death is currently unknown (William J Branch was born 21 Mar 1950, died Jun 1995).

In 2016 the band has been reformed with a new line-up to record a new album, that is based on some recordings band made in 1975. It is was released 2017.



In 1984 Frank & Bill from NECROMANDUS joined HAMMERHEAD in the studio to record a deliberately simplified version of "Nightjar"(originally entitled "Don't Look Down Frank"), they still enjoy including this song in their set, this version was filmed in June 2012 at the Snooty Fox in Wakefield.




More info @

Official Necromandus Bandcamp

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