Mortician - Chainsaw Dismemberment (1999)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Mortician - Hacked Up for Barbecue (1996)
Mortician - Domain of Death (2001)

After careful deliberation, I've opted to stay home and watch horror movies, and I'm pre-gaming with this bloody meat hunk of sickness. God fucking damn this band is brutal.

Track listing:
1. Stab
2. Fleshripper
3. Drowned in Your Blood
4. Mass Mutilation
5. Mauled Beyond Recognition
6. Rabid
7. Bloodshed
8. Decayed
9. Final Bloodbath
10. Island of Dead
11. Brutalized
12. Slaughtered
13. The Crazies
14. Silent Night Bloody Night
15. Chainsaw Dismemberment
16. Psychotic Rage
17. Funeral Feast
18. Wolfen
19. Dark Sanity
20. Camp Blood
21. Tormented
22. Slaughterhouse (Part II)
23. Barbarian
24. Rats
25. Mater Tenebrarum
26. Splattered
27. Obliteration
28. Lord of the Dead (Mortician Part II)

Night of terror
Brutal murder

More murder-y sounds:

Sarcastic -
Macabre Human Mutilation (2000)

Psychotic Homicidal Dismemberment -
Haunted Catacombs (2007)

Atom Infant Incubator - Copula (1994)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the conclusion of a Very Special Opium Hum Trilogy that you had no idea was taking place, but nonetheless began four nights ago with Runes Order (aka Claudio Dondo) and continued the following night with Die Sonne Satan (aka Paolo Beltrame.) And now, it's Atom Infant Incubator, a collaboration between the two. Spacious dark ambient and drone for the embracement and exploration of inner voids. Meant to post this on Sunday night but am dumb. Happy fright night!

Track listing:
1. Segment 0-1
2. Segment 1-2
3. Segment 2-3
4. Segment 3-4
5. Segment 4-5
6. Segment 6-7
7. Segment 5-6
8. Segment 8-9
9. Segment 9-10
10. Segment 10-11
11. Segment 11-12
12. Segment 12-13
13. Segment 13-14

Unholy water
Sanguine addiction

You'll also enjoy:

Deathprod -
Treetop Drive (1994)

Chaos as Shelter -
In the Shelter of Chaos (2000)

Single Lash - Soft as Glass (2014)

[LINK FIXED, thank you!]

Cavernous shoegaze/post-punk from Xander Harris, who's known best for the excellent synth music that he makes under his own name. Our hero starts off in a pretty desolate place, and his situation doesn't really improve so much as he manages to accept it. Like The Boss, in one of his most under-appreciated songs, once said: "You get used to anything/Sooner or later it just becomes your life."

Track listing:
1. No Reaction
2. I Won't See You
3. Treatment
4. Nightcrawler
5. Soft as Glass
6. Dead Inside
7. Now and Always
8. Far from Home

Bury me

More along these lines:

A Place to Bury Strangers -
Worship (2012)

The Feeling of Love -
Reward Your Grace (2013)

Wyrd - The Ghost Album (2006)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Wyrd - Of Revenge and Bloodstained Swords (2001)

In which Wyrd almost entirely abandon the folk-infused Pagan black metal for which they're best known in favor of genuinely catchy, mid-paced melodic doom à la early Katatonia.

Track listing:
1. My Ghosts
2. Daughter of the Forest
3. They
4. Daylight Dies
5. Dark Water

Wherever my path may lead
My ghosts will always follow me
Trapped in the darkness of my mind
Never more than two steps behind

You might also like:

Forest of Shadows -
Six Waves of Woe (2008)

The Fall of Every Season -
Amends (2013)

Trifixion - The First and the Last Commandment (1995)

Austrian black metal. The First and the Last Commandment is pretty goddamn weird, starting with the fact that it's the work of a boyfriend-and-girlfriend couple, who go by the names Trifixion of the Horned God (formerly of Summoning) and Yog Sothoth, respectively.

Beyond those factoids, the vocals have the same demonic high-and-low effect that you've heard in practically every possession-based horror movie you've ever seen, landing -- along with the keyboards, which are plentiful and prominent -- right in that sweet spot between cheesy and convincingly evil.

Track listing:
1. Prologue
2. Prince Lucifer Here I Stand
3. Dreams of Burning Churches
4. Faceless Souls
5. From Far Beyond This Land
6. Let the Feast Begin
7. Ascending of the Empire
8. The First and the Last Commandment

Fields of blood and tears

If you like this, try:

In the Woods... -
Isle of Men (1993)

Nahual -
Mysteries of the Cosmic Serpent (2001)

Art Zoyd - Berlin (1987)

A dark, dense, dissonant cacophony generated by a big ol' pile o' instruments, including synths, strings, horns, organ, piano, and percussion, with structurally ambitious, experimental compositions to boot. Someone please explain to me how it's possible that this is the first time I've posted Art Zoyd on here?

Track listing:
1. Epithalame
2. Baboon's Blood
3. Petite Messe a l'Usage des Pharmaciens - Offertoire
4. Petite Messe a l'Usage des Pharmaciens - Kyrie
5. A Drum, a Drum
6. Petite Messe a l'Usage des Pharmaciens - Introit
7. Unsex Me Here

Don't lose your head

You'd probably also like:

Univers Zero -
Ceux du Dehors (1983)

Un Festín Sagital ‎-
Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum (2012)

Die Sonne Satan - Fac-Totum (1993)

More Italian dark ambient/industrial. The empty, anti-musical sounds of dying machines.

Track listing:
1. Razor Cut
2. Regerminated 1 (Airport Music)
3. Regerminated 2 (Knife Dance)
4. Radiation
5. Res Inferna
6. Shadows from the Past
7. Purity
8. Dismal Chant
9. Hic Cum Apostuli Sui (Experiment in Pop)
10. A Cosmic Mantra (Birth of a Star)

An opening in obscurity

You'd also like:

raison d'être -
Residuality (1993)

Urna -
Lares (2003)

Scrambled Defuncts - Catacomb Abattoir (1998)

Russian brutal death metal -- that's a pretty rare thing as far as I know. Surgically precise performances emphasized by professional-sounding but totally unadorned production. Welcome to the slaughter.

Track listing:
1. Intro / On Dividing Conveyers
2. Carnage in Catacomb
3. Derelicated Knackery
4. Unboned Remnants
5. Infants Skinning
6. Ripped with Hooks / Outro
7. Impalemented Mouths Sodomy

Blood dripping from hacked chunks

Also listen to:

Skinless -
Progressions Towards Evil (1998)

Unaussprechlichen Kulten -
Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis (2005)

Warning - Warning (1982)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Warning - Electric Eye (1983)

Bizarre, creepy, monstrous synth pop from another dimension. You know what? Warning are simply too awesome for one of my tossed-off descriptions, so either go to the above link to read what I wrote last time, or just imagination the greatest music ever made.

Track listing:
1. Why Can the Bodies Fly?
2. Magic Castle
3. Wild Roses for the Exit
4. Darkness
5. Out of Tune
6. The Door, Part I
7. The Door, Part II
8. Message
9. Warning
10. Lost in Time
11. In Crowd

There was a magic castle with life and death in it

You should also check out:

Holy Toy -
Panzer & Rabbits (1984)

Deine Lakaien -
Deine Lakaien (1986)

Runes Order - No Future (1993)

[LINK FIXED]

Italian dark ambient. Eerie, trance-inducing synth motifs for late-night consumption. Possibly my favorite thing about Halloween is that, for one month, my favorite things -- listening to music like this, watching horror movies all the time -- become socially acceptable. It's like, I can almost imagine what it would be like to not be a weird nerd.

Track listing:
1. Floating Frames
2. Attack / Infernal Trial
3. Bridges Over Europe
4. No Future
5. Ruins Theme
6. Un Passaggio Nel Cielo
7. Volo (Dream Sequence)
8. A Nightmare (Is Coming)
9. Media Lies
10. No Future (Ending Sequences)

Return of the shape

More along these lines:

Ain Soph -
I (1984)

Attrition -
Death House (1982)

Holocausto Canibal - Sublime Massacre Corpóreo (2002)

Raw, grind-y Portuguese brutal death. Chaotic, gross, and with lots horror movie samples to keep the murder-y vibes front and center. The last four tracks, each of which is named for a different line from Dead Alive, are weird electro remixes by another Portuguese group called Stealing Orchestra.

Track listing:
1. Psicótico Prelúdio
2. Cadavérica Ejaculação Espasmódica
3. Canzana Blenorrágica
4. Necro-Felação
5. Sádica Flagelação Hiperbólica
6. Micose Cotovelar
7. Embrio Progéria
8. Vilolada Pela Moto-Serra
9. Reinfecção Clitórica - Septicémia Vagi-Anal 2001
10. Sufocada Pelo Sémen
11. Porno Hard-Gore
12. Paradigmas Sub-Cutâneos - Verborreicas Incursões Pela Terminologia Forense
13. Purulento Climax Chill Out
14. Necro-Felação Invertida
15. Faixa 15
16. Your Mother Ate My Dog!
17. Zingayah! You Got the Bite!
18. I Kick Ass for the Lord!
19. What! Pudding

(gurgling sounds)

You'll also wanna hear:

Natron -
Hung Drawn & Quartered (1997)

Regurgitate - Effortless Regurgitation...
The Torture Sessions (1999)

Pagan - Svarte Vinger (1995) + Magilny Klicz (1996)

Esoteric, lo-fi Belarusian black metal. Two cassette demos of blown-out, obfuscated ritual hate.

Track listing:
-Svarte Vinger-
1. Spirit of the Ancient Warrior
2. City of Fullmoon
3. Dance of the Shadows
4. Svarte Vinger
5. Journey Under the Fulmoon
-Magilny Klicz-
1. Cold Dance with the Shadows in the Wings
2. Nocturnal Rites
3. Magilny Klicz
4. Dark Path in the Forest Unknown

Cult of darkness

You'd also like:

Rundagor -
Stronghold of Ruin (1996)

Katharsis -
Into Endless Chaos (1997)

Drowning the Light - Catacombs of Blood (2010)

Related:
Drowning the Light - A Pact with Madness (2009)
Drowning the Light - Oceans of Eternity (2011)
Wolfblood - A Victory to Echo Through Time (Demo I) (2012)
Harvest - Forgotten Vampyres of the Melancholic Night (2013)

More eerie atmospheric black metal courtesy of Australia's Drowning the Light. To me, Catacombs of Blood is the most complete representation of this project, and not because it does anything particularly different from his/their other albums -- it's the same ghostly guitars, distant drums, hissing vocals, and general atmosphere of evil ethereality -- but simply because it all comes together so immaculately, in a way that's hard to quantify. It certainly doesn't hurt that the piano intro sounds like it was lifted straight out of a 70s-era Fulci film; and need I mention the album art? Honestly, probably one of my all-time favorite BM records.

Track listing:
1. Fragmented and Unrealizable
2. As Plague upon the Sheep (Poison in Redemption)
3. Torn Away by the Shadows
4. Entrance to Illumination
5. Autumn Mourning
6. Such Cruelty Never Rests
7. Burial in the Rain
8. Pact of the Black Templars
9. Eyes of Onyx (Carrion for the Worms)
10. This Darkest Hour
11. Requiem of Honor and Glory

He lived in the same manner he died
Bitter, cold, and unrelenting

Also listen to:

Vampyric Blood -
Ordo Dracul (2012)

Blood Stronghold -
From Sepulchral Remains... (2014)

The Days of the Trumpet Call - I Saw No Temple in the City (2001)

Synth-based, neofolk-y neoclassical. This band may or may not be fucked up, especially depending on your level of tolerance for this type of thing -- for instance, they're associated with Von Thronstahl -- so I'm really hoping none of this German contains socially or politically vile messages. 'Cause musically, it mostly just sounds like a less campy Creepshow soundtrack.

Track listing:
1. Oh Trost der Welt
2. ... I Saw No Temple in the City
3. Die Sehnsucht So Gross (Meine Stunde Ist Noch Nicht Gekommen I)
4. Oh Tiefe Ohne Grund
5. Bereit Zum Fluge in die Sterne
6. In Demut, in Ewigkeit
7. Epilog (Meine Stunde Ist Noch Nicht Gekommen II)

The horseman held a sword

You should also hear:

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas -
Die Verbannten Kinder Evas (1995)

Moon Far Away -
Sator (2000)

Nattsvargr - Vinterblod (2010)

Swedish (previously US) black metal. There's no way around it, this is total Transilvanian Hunger-worship. Just nonstop tremolo-picking and blastbeats, with slightly-too-loud rasps. And apparently you fuckers don't like generic black metal as much as I do, as those are the links that are always dying on me, but it's been a staple of my listening for most of my adult life -- not to mention since I started doing this blog four and a half years ago (!) -- so it's anyone's guess as to whether or not I'll stop posting this shit now.

Track listing:
1. Winter's Final Breath
2. Frozen Ritual
3. Under the Cold Moon
4. Beyond the Withering Light
5. In the Eye of Solitude
6. The Dark Awakening
7. Vinterblod

Night of the undead

If you like this, you'll surely like:

Cultus -
A Seat in Valhalla (2004)

Sapthuran -
... In Hatred (2005)

The National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear (2007)

So if you put this on and kinda tune-in-tune-out, The Dead Will Walk, Dear comes off as a series of sweet, homespun indie folk love songs, with fingerpicked guitars, pedal steel, and lovely vocal harmonies. But lines like "I was eating your body and bones" may start jumping out at you, and you'll realize that it's actually a collection of often quite grisly, occasionally heartbreaking (see "Riverbed") murder ballads, sung and performed with a perverse preciousness and wistfulness.

Track listing:
1. Better for It, Kid
2. Mess Around
3. The Dead Will Walk
4. O, Ohio
5. Riverbed
6. Buried Treasure
7. Midwest Town
8. The Water Is Wide
9. Swimming in the the Swamp
10. Killing Swallows

Let me cover you up
In my buttoned flannel shirt
Your skin's so cold without a skirt on
Let my tongue cut your cheek
And catch the blood before it falls
Cause it'll dirty up your feet

You should also hear:

Mojave 3 -
Ask Me Tomorrow (1995)

The Black Heart Procession -
1 (1998)

Arkona - An Eternal Curse of the Pagan Godz (1994)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Arkona - Imperium (1996)

Polish black metal excellence. Can't tell if the vocals are double-tracked or it's just a really well-executed slapback/distortion combo, but they sound fucking fierce. As I mentioned the last time I posted an Arkona record, keyboard factors heavily into their sound, but never in a distracting or bombastic way -- just some dark strings or organ for added depth and spookiness.

Track listing:
1. From the Depths of Hell-Fire into the Infinited War
2. Only True Belief
3. Long Hard Winter
4. In the Shadow of Dying Willows
5. Under the Arms of Lucifer
6. Frostwind from the Land of Immortal Hatred
7. Barbarian-Fire on the Whirlwind Hills
8. An Eternal Curse of the Pagan Godz
9. The Infinited War

No blood in my body

You'd also like:

Arckanum -
Fran Marder (1995)

Manes -
Under Ein Blodraud Maane (1999)