En 2010, Malefic a mis un terme à l'existence de Xasthur, projet à l'identité bien marquée, rapidement devenu culte dans la scène black metal, principalement son pendant dépressif. Malefic, de son vrai nom Scott Conner, s'est alors lancé dans un nouveau projet baptisé Nocturnal Poisoning (titre également du premier véritable album de Xasthur en 2002) dans un registre musical très éloigné, acoustique et intimiste. Scott a alors sorti 3 albums : Other Worlds Of The Mind en 2012, A Misleading Reality en 2013 et Doomgrass en 2014. Scott a décidé en mars de rebaptiser Nocturnal Poisoning et de lui redonner le nom de Xasthur dont il était la continuité. Un premier concert de de Xasthur sous forme de trio sera ainsi donné lors du Thirst for Light festival - Cascadian Summer Solstice, du 18 au 22 juin dans l'Etat de Washington.
Scott s'en explique : "Xasthur has returned. For five years, Nocturnal Poisoning was locked out and denied every opportunity or open door that Xasthur used to have, or would've had. I worked hard at building up both projects, starting both of them from nothing and nowhere, but I'm taking back what's mine. Xasthur doesn't belong to the greedy hipsters that milk the metal business; it belongs to me and it's mine to take back. The music could've always changed, but the name never had to. I've made a lot of mistakes in my years of music and that was one of them. The music will not be compromised though. I lost interest in black metal a long time ago, so I'm not going to do some kind of music that I don't give a shit about or doesn't mean anything to me; is that bizarre? Trust me, if I was able to do that kind of music, if I didn't get burned out on it, if I didn't learn something new or find other ways of making music, then I would still be doing it, but I can't, so I won't. There's no need to rehash old xasthur songs, the acoustic ones are plenty dark, and sometimes they're not. If you've been listening, reading, thinking and getting it, we could call it Xasthur acoustic/unplugged with, whatever, a country, blues, "folk", bluegrass, doomgrass or singer/songwriter style and technique in it. That's the way it'll be, because that's what keeps the songs coming and keeps them thorough, real, clearer, cohesive and not forced."
