Monday, October 31, 2016

Brodequin - Instruments of Torture (2000)


US brutal death metal of the highest order. Listen loud, black out, wake up covered in other people's blood.

Track listing:
1. Spinning in Agony
2. Soothsayer
3. Ambrosia
4. The Virgin of Nuremberg
5. Duke of Exeter
6. Infested with Worms
7. Burnt in Effigy
8. Strappado
9. Hollow
10. Feast of Flesh
11. From the Anatomical Deeps [bonus]
11. The Garotte [bonus]

Pulsating under the skin
Shift and turn


You should also listen to:
Heinous Killings -
Hung with Barbwire (2006)
Guttural Secrete - Reek of
Pubescent Despoilment
(2009)

Steve Moore - The Henge (2007)


Expansive, synth-driven pieces by American composer Steve Moore, also known as one half (the non-drumming one) of Zombi. Moore also makes music for horror movies, but by the time "The Henge / Ascension" reaches its dramatic crescendo, you'd probably already have guessed as much.

Track listing:
1. Introduction
2. Infinite Resignation
3. The Henge / Ascension
4. Dead Tide
5. Cepheid

Treehouse

Heldon - Heldon IV:
Agnetta Nilsson
(1976)
Anna Själv Tredje -
Tussilago Fanfara (1977)

Kerovnian - Far Beyond, Before the Time (1999)


It's about quarter to 4, the morning of Halloween, and I'm high on kratom (which, as far as I can tell, is still legal.) Do the math: it's time for some unnerving, Lovecraft-themed dark ambient.

Track listing:
1. Those Beneath the Moaning Castle
2. Far Beyond, Before the Time
3. The Godless Keep
4. From the Lands Where the Winds Die
5. As They Dug Their Way Out into the Machinery of Death
6. Before the Oblivion

Cries from the maze

If you like this, you'll also enjoy:
Deutsch Nepal -
Deflagration of Hell (1991)
Vond -
Green Eyed Demon (1998)

Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Watchers - Demo 2016 (2016)


Atmospheric lo-fi US black metal. Two long, unsettling, cacophonous songs with an (I'm assuming) intentionally uneven mixdown that leads to significant changes in volume and recording quality, giving the whole thing an even more warped, disjointed feel. Thus far, this is the only thing that this band's put out -- stoked to see where they go from here. Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Fuck the Sun, the Night Belongs to Us
2. Subconscious Projections of a Vile Nature

Chaos reigns

If you like this, try:
Drowning the Light -
A Pact with Madness (2009)
Wormlust -
The Wormlust Collective (2012)

Black Devil - Disco Club (1978)


A lost masterpiece of spooky, horror-synth-fueled disco. This record is perfect in every way, and anyone who disagrees is definitely reading the wrong blog.

Track listing:
1. "H" Friend
2. Timing, Forget the Timing
3. One to Choose
4. We Never Fly Away Again
5. Follow Me
6. No Regrets

Witching hour

You will also like:
Padded Cell -
Night Must Fall (2008)
Dan Terminus -
The Wrath of Code (2015)

Aghast - Hexerei im Zwielicht der Finsternis (1995)


Haunting dark ambient from the brief-lived duo of Andria Haugen and Tania Stene. Cavernous keyboards, intermittent percussion, and ghostly, half-whispered vocals. Easily one of my top five dark ambient records.

At the time of recording, both members of Aghast were married to black metal royalty: Samoth of Emperor and Fenriz of Darkthrone, respectively. I'm not mentioning this because they need a cosign, I just think it's interesting. Also interesting is the fact that Hexerei im Zwielicht der Finsternis was supposedly recorded using Dead's (of Mayhem, whose dead body and splattered brains were already on an album cover) microphone.

Track listing:
1. Enthrall
2. Sacrifice
3. Enter the Hall of Ice
4. Call from the Grave
5. Totentanz
6. The Darkest Desire
7. Das Irrlicht
8. Ende

The demon flies in the blackened starless skies
And crawls in the bottomless depths of hell


More like this:
Forest Silence -
The Third Winter (1997)
IHVHLXXII -
Dtxenioutha (2003)

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Devils Whorehouse - Revelation Unorthodox (2003)


Heavy, metal-infused Swedish horror-punk. Sounds like early Danzig as recorded by World Funeral-era Marduk.

Track listing:
1. Death from Beyond
2. Swallow Your Soul
3. Howling
4. The Raven
5. Bondage Goddess
6. Revelation Unorthodox
7. Funeral Dream
8. Pentagram Murder
9. Blood Angels Recital
10. Erotikill
11. Blood Nymphoman
12. Deathwish
13. We Live Again

Dead by dawn

Combine these two and you're on the right track:
Mourning Noise -
Dawn of the Dead (1982)
Eternal Elysium -
Spiritualized D (2000)

The Vampires of Dartmoore - Dracula's Music Cabinet (1969)


Got a full-size Snickers for ya today, kids. Feast your ears on this fucking weird, campy, sexually disturbing, SFX-packed, horror-themed psych rock delight, and thank your lucky stars for your place, however small, in this beautiful thing we call "life."

Track listing:
1. Die Folterkammer des Dr. Sex
2. Crime and Horror
3. Der Feuerdrachen von Honkong
4. Mord im Ohio Express
5. Tanze der Vampires
6. Hallo, Mister Hitchcock
7. Der Henker von Dartmoore
8. Ende eines Killers
9. Die Wasserleiche
10. Eine Handvoll Nitro
11. Dr. Caligaris Gruselkabinett
12. Frankenstein Grüßt Alpha 7
13. Petting Party 1
14. Petting Party 2

In one minute, you will be dead

You should also give these a spin:
Sam Gopal -
Escalator (1969)
Bulbous Creation -
You Won't Remember Dying (1971)

Friday, October 28, 2016

Skeletal Spectre - Tomb Coven (2011)


Crushing, groove-heavy death/doom, with members located in Sweden and the US. Tomb Coven is, without a doubt, straight-up Celtic Frost worship, but it's so fucking heavy, the riffs are so fucking good, and the guitar tone is so fucking gnarly, originality is completely beside the point.

Track listing:
1. The Decapitress
2. Amulet of Impurity
3. Wrath of Corrupta
4. Burial Ground
5. Cursed Ancestry
6. Tomb Coven
7. Eerie Bones

Destined to suffer a deliciously well-deserved doom

You will also be into:
Fleshcrawl -
Impurity (1994)
Black Priest of Satan - We,
as Shadows of Satan
(2010)

Paul Horn - Altura do Sol (High Sun) (1976)


Vivacious, Afro-Cuban-inspired jazz fusion helmed by flautist/saxophonist Paul Horn. A collection of dynamic, highly engaging compositions for a lush, colorful instrumental palette.

Track listing:
1. Danca das Cabecas
2. Bodas de Prata
3. Altura do Sol
4. Carmo
5. Tango
6. Quarup
7. Parque Laje
8. Salvador

You should have known

You might also wanna listen to:
Mulatu Astatke -
Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972)
Gato Barbieri -
Bolivia (1973)

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Serpent Venom - Carnal Altar (2011)


UK stoner doom. Riffs, bong-smoke, bubbling cauldrons, reanimated skeletons, a procession of black robed figures shuffling up the side of a mountain, etc.

Track listing:
1. Carnal Altar
2. Blood of Serpents
3. Four Walls of Solitude
4. Conjuration
5. Under the Compass
6. Devilshire
7. The Outsider

The knife is risen
To cut at the throats of those waiting


You'll also be into:
Horrors of the Black Museum -
Gold from the Sea (2008)
Soom -
Ніч на полонині (2014)

The Black Heart Procession - 1 (1998)


Haunting tales of heartbreak, desperation, isolation, and death. Creepy instrumentation abounds -- wheezing accordion, chiming glockenspiel, pounding piano, droning organ, and the always-ghostly sound of singing saw.

Track listing:
1. The Waiter
2. The Old Kind of Summer
3. Release My Heart
4. Even Thieves Couldn't Lie
5. Bluewater Blackheart
6. Heart Without a Home
7. The Winter My Heart Froze
8. Stitched to My Heart
9. Squara Heart
10. In a Tin Flask
11. A Heart the Size of a Horse

Blood flows black from your heart

If you like this, try:
Damien Jurado -
Ghost of David (2000)
Boduf Songs - How Shadows
Chase the Balance
(2008)

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Blood Red Fog - Blood Red Fog (2006)


Finnish raw depressive black metal. Torturous sounds of self-destruction.

Track listing:
1. Bloodthirsty Soil
2. Ruins
3. Follower
4. Morbid Sleep
5. Visions of Destruction
6. Kingdom of Death
7. Frozen

I can hear them walk away

You should also listen to:
Empty - The Last Breath of
My Mortal Despair
(2006)
Karg -
Scherben (2011)

Wilt - M Y T H O S (2016) + Funeral Song (2016)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:
The Rita & Wilt - Werewolf in the Black Space (2008)

Chicago-based dark ambient duo Wilt have been making bleak, formless aural pathways to the void since the late 90s, and, as far as I'm concerned, they've gotten better and better as time has passed. Each of these releases consist of a single piece that's a little under 16 minutes, and under the proper conditions, are probably capable of erasing all traces of the listener's existence from this time line.

Autophagia - Postmortem Human Offal (2003)


Vomit-inducing Greek goregrind. Raw, chaotic, sloppy, and disgusting.

Track listing:
1. Intro (Prophecy of Gore)
2. Screaming with Shit in Mouth
3. Dexterous Mutilation of Pneumothorax
4. Asphyxized with Entrails on His Neck
5. Black Pus
6. Intro (Hymn of Bizarre Atrocities)
7. Postmortem Human Offal
8. Vomit Yourself
9. Self Disembowelment
10. Liquid Puke from the Nose
11. Remove the Organs Through Your Mouth
12. Genitals on My Face
13. Obey to Get Independence [Filthy Christians cover]
14. Intro (Septicemia of Deformed Remains)
15. Cut My Throat
16. Mayhemic Abortion of a Pregnant Carrion
17. Pyuria
18. Laryngas Aimorrhagia
19. Congenital Tympanum Catastrophe
20. Purulent Pollution of Eczema
21. Miasma Cadaver
22. Intestinal Massaker from the Rectum
23. Asepsiophago Thanatosis
24. Anal Psoriasis
25. Third World Genocide [Extreme Noise Terror cover]
26. Intro (Macabre Noise Holocaust)
27. Spastic Gore Grind

Burned body

More like this:
Regurgitate -
Effortless Regurgitation...
the Torture Sessions
(1999)
Last Days of Humanity -
Putrefaction in Progress (2006)

Monday, October 24, 2016

Vampyric Blood - Ordo Dracul (2012)


Finnish raw, vampire-themed black metal. Conceptually and musically, Ordo Dracul definitely reminds me of early Black Funeral (just so we're clear, this is a good thing) and has the kind of thin, ghostly production that I am a total sucker for.

Track listing:
1. Ordo Dracul (Introduction)
2. Black Sorcery of Wallachia
3. Gloom of the Eternal Night
4. Satanic Wraith of the Night
5. Vulgar Desires of Immortality
6. The Sanguinary Scent at Dusk
7. Devotion and Despair

Bleeding moon

More like this:
Bekëth Nexëhmü -
De Dunkla Herrarna (2011)
Harvest - Forgotten Vampyres of
the Melancholic Night
(2013)

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Blood Fountains - Floods (2009)


Graceful, etherial drone led by Stephen Kasner. Deeply layered, textural guitars, weightless synths, and angelic singing swirl together into shimmering eternity. He's best known for his work as a visual artist whose darkly evocative paintings have graced many an album cover, including Chaos Is My Name by Khlyst, which I posted two Halloweens ago. Who would've thought that he'd have such beautiful musical ideas, too?

Track listing:
1. Cold Flood/In
2. Head Founds in Aptos
3. Spiritless
4. White Wax Blood
5. Hemming
6. Picture of Time and Space/Out

Empty spaces between filaments

More music for crossing over to the other side:
Constance Demby -
Sunborne (1980)
Nyogtha -
Origin of "I" (2011)