Bestial Mouths - Bestial Mouths (2013)

Propulsive, synth-heavy post-punk/darkwave with droning, tribal-industrial percussion and a lo-fi, horror-fueled aesthetic that was clearly influenced by the short-lived but sorely missed Witch House scene. The vocals -- trembling, reverb-drenched, Siouxsie-esque incantations -- really tie the room together. 

Track listing:

1. Ceased

2. Reunion

3. Faceless

4. Vatic Vision

5. In Empathy

6. Earth

7. Cloaked

8. Movement

9. Death Rattle

Hell is behind that door

Also listen to:

Death Ride '69 - Death Ride '69 (1989)

The KBV - Subjection/Subordination (2011)

Instincts & Bustum - The Mystery Visions (2002)

Ritual dark ambient with traces of neofolk and ethereal darkwave. The physical release of The Mystery Visions was a collaborative effort with visual artist Bustum, and it was probably really cool, but you obviously won't be getting any of the visual components from me. Thankfully, the music is more than able to stand on its own as an effective portal to the realms of pitch-black hallucinatory madness. Ten untitled tracks.

Abyssal gaze

You should also hear:

Black Seas of Infinity - Within Daathian Chasms (2005)

Aymrev Erkroz Prevre - Noir Voyage Obstrué de Rencontres Difformes (2006)

Tears ov Blood - Infinite Winter (1994)

Lo-fi ethereal darkwave/dungeon synth from Matthew Davis, who I believe is best known/remembered for his work as Secret Stairways. I am still new to Davis' music, but to my ears, these are some of the most haunting, compelling recordings of their kind.

Track listing:

1. Into Glamis Castle

2. Serenade

3. Our Winter Infinite

4. So Far Away

5. Falling

6. Something Scary

7. Reprise

Distant screams in fading dreams

Also listen to:

Trance to the Sun - Ghost Forest (1984)

Psychosis - Death in Utero (1992)

Nothing - The Grey Subaudible (2000)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Nothing - The Spine Overshadowed by the Rope (2001)

Black industrial ethereal-wave. Whispered vocals and mournful synths over funereal martial rhythms and a reverberating industrial atmosphere.

Track listing:

1. To Draw the Things...

2. Working Through the Nail

3. In Command of the Constellations

4. The Precision in Drowning

5. Explosive Chain of Lethal Transmission

6. An Intimate History of Insignificance

7. ...That Come to Corpses

The surface of existence turns black

Also listen to:

Lycia - The Burning Circle and Then Dust (1996)

Dernière Volonté - Les Blessures de l'Ombre (2003)

Emit - Spectre Music of an Antiquary (2012)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Emit - A Sword of Death for the Prince (2005)

Real haunty-boi hours. Dissonant, reverb-drenched, blackened ethereal darkwave -- spectral synths, skeletal drum machines, and moaning, rasping, wailing vocals.

Track listing:

1. Haunter of Benighted English Summers

2. Mors Wher Devels Are Abrod

3. The Dusk Gardens of Translucent Mansions

4. Shades Over the Mere

5. Trees Once Adorn'd with Severed Heads

6. Sylvan Old Enchanter

7. The Meadow Reapers (A Field Recording)

8. Emanations from Beneath Far Hills, Beyond Far Moons

A lunatic hermit dies in his woodland home

You should also hear:

Shadowseeds - Dream of Lilith (1995)

Belzebuth - Belzebuth (2007)

Screaming for Emily - Scriptures (1987)

Synth-y goth-rock for heartbroken ghouls that's almost punk in its theatrical angst and lyrical bluntness. Makes me want to grab my Discman and pack of Camel Lights and go cry in a graveyard.

Track listing:

1. The Love

2. Too Late for Prayer

3. Last Goodbye

4. Another Girl

5. From Your Heart

6. Just a Lie

Get ready for the last goodbye

Get ready for a real long cry

More like this:

The Essence - Ecstasy (1988)

Maskull - Maskull (1997)

Autumn Tears — Love Poems for Dying Children - Act I. (1996)

Ethereal darkwave with an ample helping of goth cheese. Organs creek, keyboard-strings weep, and male-female vocals soar through the night sky like lost spirits.

Track listing:

1. They Watch with Closed Eyes

2. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 1. Spring

3. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 2. Summer

4. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 3. Autumn

5. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 4. Winter

6. The Eloquent Sleep

7. And Then the Whispering...

8. One Tender Kiss (The Lost Seasons) - Prelude to the Garden of Crystalline Dreams

9. Carfax Abbey

My children of sadness

I welcome thee into my arms forever

You might also like:

Arcana - Dark Age of Reason (1996)

Dargaard - Eternity Rites (1999)

Psychosis - Death in Utero (1992)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Stillbirth (1995)

Fantasies About Illness (1996)

Garden of Remembrance (1999)

DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile) (2002)

Forever Is Forgotten (2006)

Sentient (2008)

Last Halloween-ish, on my post about Forever Is Forgotten, I wistfully mentioned that it would probably be the last time I posted something by Oneiroid Psychosis, "barring the remote possibility of my finally tracking down a rip of Death in Utero [...] or the even more remote possibility of a new album." Within 24 hours, I had tracked down a copy of Death in Utero, and they had released a new album. Apparently they'd been crowdfunding for it and I missed the whole damn thing. So what I'm trying to say is: I am God.

Oh, the music? It's very much in line with their first two records -- driving, synth-y, and grim -- but the horror theatrics are less over-the-top, and, as one might expect from a demo cassette, it has that fuzzy, lo-fi distortion that we all love. Released before they added the “Oneiroid” part.

Track listing:

1. Dejected Recollection

2. Taint of Blood

3. Impressions

4. Assuage

5. Lies Within

6. Pleasant Dreams

7. For One to Go Insane

8. One Very Young

9. Existence

Do you feel like hurting other people? Do you feel like hurting yourself?

Also listen to:

Twilight Ritual - The Ritual (1982)

Antoni Maiovvi - Shadow of the Bloodstained Kiss (2009)

Diary of Dreams - Bird Without Wings (1997)

Synth-heavy German darkwave/goth rock. A fatalistic baritone over punchy horror synths, chorus-drenched guitars, and a mixture of programmed and live drums. 72+ minutes of a pretty consistent, morose sound might mean that Bird Without Wings overstays its welcome a bit, but the quality doesn't lag so I'm not complaining.

Track listing:

1. Stimulation

2. Bird Without Wings II

3. Dissolution

4. June

5. Aphelion

6. But the Wind Was Stronger

7. A Sinner's Instincts

8. Ex-île

9. Legends

10. Flood of Tears

Others cry for help

Just like it would change anything

For more like this, try:

The Frozen Autumn - Fragments of Memories (1997)

Oneiroid Psychosis - Sentient (2008)

Maskull - Maskull (1997)

A total gem of low-budget, synth-driven, outsider darkwave with a croaking ghoul of a vocalist who sounds like he's constantly on the verge of either tears or death; think a more fully goth Xiu Xiu. There's very little information to be found on this project -- this article for Dangerous Minds is as rich a source as I've found, and it's pretty much just a glowing retrospective review that mentions that Maskull is a one-man LA-based project by some dude named Troy Maskull who may or may not be dead now -- but maybe bizarro projects like this are better without context.

Track listing:

1. Hollywood Gypsy

2. 2000 AD

3. Passenger in Time

4. In a Paradise

5. Sacred

6. Working Hard for Your Love

7. Dream City

8. Fantasy

9. Potion of Love

10. To Be or Not to Be

Where are all the rainbows?

You might also enjoy:

Sixth Comm - A Nothing Life (1987)

Nosferatu - Prince of Darkness (1996)

Der Nebel nur in klarer Luft - Gezeiten des Lebens (1993)

German ethereal gothic rock. Ghostly, minor-key guitars that sound like they're lifted directly from an atmospheric black metal record, but instead of shrieks and blastbeats, it's sedate male-and-female singing and simple, sporadic drumming.

Track listing:

1. Erledigung

2. Leid von Ewigkeit

3. Risse im Konstrukt

4. Monument

5. Nichts gewesen

6. Realitätsschock

7. Entstehung

8. Ausgesucht

9. Uniatavismus

Forest abyss

You might also enjoy:

Arcana - Dark Age of Reason (1996)

David Galas - The Cataclysm (2006)

Pressurehed - Sudden Vertigo (1993)

Related:

Farflung - The Belief Module (1998)

A killer, industrial/punk/darkwave-informed take on Hawkwind-style space rock. Jittery, Suicide-esque drum machines, analogue synths, thick guitars, and FX-drenched vocals. There's also a sampled, incoherent racist rant on "Dead Air" that the band clearly isn't endorsing -- just thought I'd mention it.

Track listing:

1. Sudden Vertigo

2. Red Delta

3. Dead Air

4. God's House

5. Shockneck

6. The Right Stuff

7. Majestic 12

8. Man in Static

9. Time Slip

10. Conscious Controll

11. Wet Engines

12. Slo Blo

Don't you wanna be one of the dead?

Also listen to:

Alien Sex Fiend - "It" The Album (1986)

Death Ride '69 - Death Ride '69 (1989)

The Arms of Someone New - Susan Sleepwalking (1985)

Enveloping, lo-fi sounds that land somewhere between a minimal, narcotized take on jangle rock, dream pop, early Cure, and ethereal darkwave. Metronome-like beats, chiming guitars, simple keyboard lines, and reverb-drenched vocals. Quiet appropriately, Susan Sleepwalking was eventually reissued by Projekt. This one's pretty new to me and I seriously can't recommend it highly enough.

Track listing:

1. St. Catherine

2. The Fisherman

3. Song for Krista

4. With Louise

5. The Turning

6. Seven Days from Now

7. Karen Said

8. Rainbows

9. Susan Slept Here

10. A Turner Sky

Faith I have a memory of

You should also hear:

This Kind of Punishment - A Beard of Bees (1984)

Steve Kilbey - Unearthed (1987)

Theologian - Some Things Have to Be Endured (2013)

Dense, heavy death-industrial-rooted sounds wrapped in a dark, ethereal shroud. Within the confines of death-industrial, Some Things Have to Be Endured manages to cover a great deal of stylistic ground -- I hear traces of darkwave, noise rock, and power electronics -- and demands to be listened to as one piece. Seriously jaw-dropping stuff. So glad they gave it that fucked-up album art (and released it in a DVD case) or I might never have stumbled across it while sifting through the stacks at my old work.

Track listing:

1. Black Cavern Myopia

2. The Conjoined Deviant Procession

3. Writhing Corpus Landscape

4. Gore-Stained Ramparts

5. Like Love, Only Real

6. Grand Guignol

7. Ectothermism

8. Welcome to the Golden Age of Beggars

Worship our grave

Cherish our mother

Also listen to:

Brighter Death Now - The Slaughterhouse (1993)

Combative Alignment - Everlasting Sun (2003)

Cindytalk - Camouflage Heart (1984)

Experimental post-punk/other from two ex-members of The Freeze (UK not US). Songs of sheer dread vomited into existence as if by The Birthday Party playing in a pitch-black industrial cavern.

Track listing:

1. It's Luxury

2. Instinct (Backtosense)

3. Under Glass

4. Memories of Skin and Snow

5. The Spirit Behind the Circus Dream

6. The Ghost Never Smiles

7. A Second Breath

8. Everybody Is Christ

9. Disintegrate...

Some language of love gets me down on the floor
All arms flailing
It was a violent kind of sex
And some fucked up baby lies staring at me

You should also hear:

Pain Teens - Pain Teens (1988)

Death Ride '69 - Death Ride '69 (1989)

Marc Almond - Violent Silence (1986)

Murderous vocal ballads from the great Marc Almond (Soft Cell). A dark, gothic sonic palette of piano, horror synths, and synthetic orchestral sounds, with Almond's voice echoing front and center. If your only exposure to Almond has been via Soft Cell, you're in for a shock.

Track listing:

1. Blood Tide

2. Healthy as Hate

3. Things You Loved Me For

4. Body Unknown

5. Unborn Stillborn

I was dragging your face 'round the floor

If you like this, listen to:

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps with the Fishes (1987)

The Hope Blister - ...Smile's OK (1998)

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps with the Fishes (1987)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Michael Brook - Cobalt Blue (1992)

Excellent one-off collaboration between Pieter Nooten (of Clan of Xymox) and ambient composer/guitarist Michael Brook. Drifting synths, mournful strings, murmured singing, heartbreaking songs. Very 4AD.

Track listing:

1. Several Times I

2. Searching

3. The Choice

4. After the Call

5. Finally II

6. Instrumental

7. Suddenly II

8. Suddenly I

9. Clouds

10. Finally I

11. Several Times II

12. Equal Ways

13. These Waves

14. Time

15. Several Times III

Colors above me

Arise high above despair

Also listen to:

Trance to the Sun - Ghost Forest (1984)

The Hope Blister - ...Smile's OK (1998)

Sink - Ark of Contempt and Anger (2016)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Sink - The Process (2008)

In which Sink leave behind blackened drone-doom for a strange, unsettling concoction of avant-garde, neofolk-infused darkwave and vintage Goblin-esque psychedelia. It's starting to look like this might be Sink's last record, and if so, it's a fucking bummer that we'll never get to know where they might've gone from here.

Track listing:

1. Hunger

2. Pilgrimage

3. Dream Map

4. Consolation

5. Crystal Ship

6. Enchant

7. Terminal

8. World Asthma

9. So We'll Go No More A-Roving

GHGHGH

Also listen to:

Ordo Equilibrio - The Triumph of Light... and Thy Thirteen Shadows of Love (1997)

Snowman - Absence (2011)

Oneiroid Psychosis - Forever Is Forgotten (2004)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Stillbirth (1995)

Fantasies About Illness (1996)

Garden of Remembrance (1999)

DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile) (2002)

Sentient (2008)

Well, boys and girls, this is it. Every Halloween since I started this dumb blog -- aside from 2017 and 2019, for some reason -- I've posted an Oneiroid Psychosis record. But this is the last piece of their discography that I have to post. Barring the remote possibility of my finally tracking down a rip of Death In Utero, their first cassette -- or the even more remote possibility of a new album -- this is all I have for you. Let us rejoice in the synth-y horror, the eerie pianos, the ghoulish crooning, the pure spookiness of it all, one last time. I'm pretty sure I'm among this band's biggest fans, and I hope that I've managed to convert a few of you over the years.

Despite it being the last album of theirs I've gotten around to posting, Forever Is Forgotten is for sure one of their best records. It's probably their most serious, or least cheesy, in that it often sounds closer to The Cure than to Nightmare on Elm Street, and lyrically, he's talking about serious stuff like heartbreak and mortality, as opposed to vampires sucking his blood while he's asleep. Plus, there's a full-on doom metal breakdown.

(Y'ALL. Between starting this post and getting to this point in it -- and after over a decade of periodically searching -- I fucking tracked down a rip of Death In Utero. It's 192kbps, but still, what a goddamn Halloween miracle. It really is a wonderful life.)

Track listing:

1. Mysterium Tremendum

2. Birth and Death

3. The Room

4. The Devil's Tongue

5. As Leaves Fell

6. Never Forgive, Never Forget

No thought worth thinking

No life worth living

Also listen to:

black tape for a blue girl - Mesmerized by the Sirens (1987)

Eerie Von & Mike Morance - Uneasy Listening (1996)

Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls (2000)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Miranda Sex Garden - Iris (1991) + Sunshine (1993)

Fourth and final album by the eternally underrated Miranda Sex Garden. Carnival of Souls was a reunion album, but despite the four and a half years of downtime and a few new band members, it's the sound of a band working at the height of their powers. The towering walls of sound and haunting vocals are all intact, but it's all even bigger and more crushing than ever, and with some welcome expansions of style -- for instance, the cinematic noir-jazz of "Tonight". It's been seven years (!) since that first Miranda Sex Garden post, and in the interim, Carnival of Souls has become my favorite MSG release, hands-down.

Track listing:

1. Are You the One?

2. Sleeping Beauty

3. Tonight

4. All There Is

5. Broken Glass

6. Escape from Kilburn (Instrumental)

7. Token (Incidental)

8. Without Trace

9. Caravan

10. Thrusty Bob's Hardcore Lounge (Incidental)

11. Close to the Sky

12. Ever & Ever

All we ever knew was music and laughter

You should also listen to:

Canaan - Blue Fire (1996)

Fear of Dolls - When the Organ Played at Twilight (1999)