Déçu - ..Whirlwind (2024)

French raw DSBM. ..Whirlwind is a great example of how production can absolutely make or break a black metal record. It's compositionally minimal, often to an extreme -- there are songs made up entirely of cycling back and forth between a pair of two-chord 'riffs' -- and with big, polished production, they'd probably drag. And yet, the warm, distorted, analogue wall of sound makes it feel like it's the end of the fucking world. When it first hit, it honestly reminded me of the first time I heard "Only Shallow" -- not so much in sound but pure, visceral impact.

Perhaps most importantly, though: you can just feel how real it is. No one makes a track like "Glacial Décadence des Lamentations." unless they're really going through it.

Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Track listing:

1. Être dans tes bras.

2. Dors, ne souffre plus.

3. Morose Regret & Malheur Éternel.

4. Dormir sous les sanglots. (Berceuse I)

5. Today I realized how much destruction reminded me of you.

6. Glacial Décadence des Lamentations.

The ecstasy of drowning

You should also listen to:

Animus - Poems for the Aching, Swords for the Infuriated (2005)

Wrath of the Weak - Alogon (2008)

Twelfth Night - Fact and Fiction (1982)

Weird, dystopian prog rock for creeps. Like early Marillion but with a lower budget and a darker worldview.

Track listing:

1. We Are Sane

2. Human Being

3. This City

4. World Without End

5. Face and Fiction

6. The Poet Sniffs a Flower

7. Creepshow

8. Love Song

If every time we tell a lie, a little fairy dies

They must be building death camps in the garden

You should also hear:

Horrific Child - L'Étrange Mr Whinster (1976)

Planet P Project - Pink World (1984)

Funereal Moon - Beneath the Cursed Light of a Spectral Moon (1996)

Black metal as ritual dark ambient as scary sounds tape. The album starts as a fog of synth figures, haunted house sound effects, and rasping vocals. Midway through, the fog begins to intermittently morph into the more identifiable shapes of queasy, droning black metal filth. The rest of the album's runtime is spent back, forth, and on the line between these two realms. Supplicate yourself to true underground goblin supremacy.

Track listing:

1. Revelation (Intro)

2. Where Shadows of Decadence Dwell

3. Beneath the Cursed Light of a Spectral Moon (An Ancient Incantation)

4. Funeral Litanies from the Graves

5. The Howl of the Black Witch

6. Death, War and Hate (Extermination of All Forms of Life)

7. Vrykolkas

8. Lucifer's Throne of Temptation

9. I Came from Darkness to Conquer

10. Werewolf Nightmare

11. The Sign of the End of Time (Outro)

Those who resist will be tamed by terrible blows and sufferings.

Similar vibes:

Satanicum Tenebrae - Til Helvete (1994)

Udumbal - Sarcis (1998)

Klaus Schulze - Angst (1983)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972)

Richard Wahnfried - Time Actor (1979)

Michael Shrieve with Kevin Shrieve and Klaus Schulze - Transfer Station Blue (1988)

Klaus Schulze - Shadowlands (2013)

Synth legend Klaus Schulze's excellent soundtrack to the supremely dark Angst, which, hey! You can watch it right now if you fancy a slow-burning portrait of a psychopath on a bad day.

Track listing:

1. Freeze

2. Pain

3. Memory

4. Surrender

5. Beyond

6. Silent Survivor [Bonus]

Some would surely die of fear. They couldn't stand being tortured that way.

Similar listening:

Jay Chattaway - Maniac (1980)

Biosphere - Insomnia (1997)

Dimensional Psychosis - Magical Matrix of Dimensional Continuum (2002)

It's black metal. Not trance, not techno. Despite what that album cover is telling you, I swear to god, it's black metal. It's dense, hyper-speed, industrial-powered cosmic black metal from a time before that had become a fully-formed micro-genre unto itself. This shit fucking rules. I hope to get my ass in gear and do some Spooky Season posting in the coming weeks, but who knows if I will; I am a dumb piece of shit, after all.

Track listing:

1. Matrix Mindscan Transition (Wormed Beyond)

2. Psychedelic Blackish Psychosis (Eternal Magick Unfolds)

3. Paradoxal Hologram from Sirius I AM (Universal Symbiosis)

4. Eerie Spiritual Vulture (Disconnected from Gravity)

5. Trapped in the Infinity of Limbo-Dimensionism (Humanoid Limits Erased)

6. Virtual Spectrum of Extensive Transparency (Visualize Transcendental Dreamscapes)

7. Choronzonic Evilution of Genius Dementia (Futuristic Intelligence of Ancientness)

8. I Am the Cosmic Storm Raging (Ultimate Chaos in Infinity)

9. Intermezzo & Mensenhaat (Remix)

10. End

Euphoric turbulence // Imploding nerves // Adrenaline bombardments // Neurotic death-ride // Chemical reactions // Overwhelming shivering thrills // Launched through the spine // Mental orgasm

You should also hear:

(V.E.G.A.) - Cocaine (2002)

Abigor - Fractal Possession (2007)