Prolapse - Ghosts of Dead Aeroplanes (1999)

Psychedelic, abstract indie drawing from post-punk, post-rock, shoegaze, and Sonic Youth-ish noise rock. Easily the most experimental and my favorite of what I've heard of this band’s catalogue. One of this band's defining characteristics is the push-and-pull between their two vastly different vocalists; on one hand, Linda Steelyard has the kind of angelic, weightless voice that makes you think 4AD or Slowdive or something, while Mick Derrick pretty much just shouts in a thick Scottish accent. On previous Prolapse records, I've honestly found it kinda off-putting -- to be fair, it's probably supposed to be -- whereas here, both vocalists take on a more dreamlike, atmospheric quality.

Track listing:

1. Essence of Cessna

2. Fob.com

3. Adiabatic

4. Cylinders V12 Beats Cylinders 8

5. One Illness

6. After After

7. Government of Spain

8. Planned Obsolescence

What did the letter say?

You should also listen to:

Paradise Motel - Left Over Life to Kill (1996)

dEUS - The Ideal Crash (1999)

Burnt Skull - Sewer Birth (2014)

Nasty noise-sludge coated in industrial waste. Detuned caveman riffs, pummeling drums, black metal howls, and dark, distorted ambience.

Track listing:

1. Harm

2. No Eyes

3. Chain Mask

4. God Hole

5. Lords Prayer Underwater

6. Sewer Birth

7. Abduction (Lost Underground)

8. No Cross

9. Infinite Flesh

10. House of Suffering

Now I know there's something down there

You should also listen to:

Pain Teens - Pain Teens (1988)

HALO - Subliminal Transmissions (1998)

Zeni Geva - Desire for Agony (1993)

Got a request for some Dissecting Table, Zeni Geva, and Bastard Noise. The latter I don't really feel qualified to take on: I know Man Is the Bastard pretty well, and have heard (and even played a show with) Bastard Noise, but I really never took the dive on them, partially because I never knew where to start (hint, hint). Zeni Geva, though, is a very different story. Not only do I think they're one of the best bands to have ever graced this otherwise wretched thing we call human existence, but they've influenced my own music as much as any other band. Desire for Agony was the first record of theirs I ever heard, and it's still my favorite. If I ever finish working on this "my top 100 favorite albums" post I've been kicking around for 5 years or so now, you'll see this on it. Blunt, heavy noise rock with an undercurrent of Melvins-y sludge. I envy those of you who are about to hear this band for the first time, as there are bound to be at least a few of you. And here come the nerds to tell me why this is FAR from the best Zeni Geva record.

(A Dissecting Table post should be up soon as well; I'm having trouble picking an album.)

Track listing:

1. Stigma

2. Dead Sun Rising

3. Desire for Agony

4. Heathen Blood

5. Disgraceland

6. Whiteout

7. Love Bite

8. Autopsy Love

9. The Body

Total castration

If you like this, you should hear:

Tad - God's Balls (1989)

Creeps on Candy - Wonders of Giardia (1999)

Dope Body - Nupping (2011)

Baltimore noise rock. False-harmonic-heavy anti-riffs, spastic but in-the-pocket drumming, and shouted, chant-like vocals. If Lightning Bolt is a fistful of uppers, Dope Body is a speedball.

Track listing:

1. Enemy Outta Me

2. The Shape of Grunge to Come

3. Bangers & Yos

4. Chain Link

5. Falling Down

6. City Limits

7. Mr. Black

8. 100 Mile

9. Loner Stoner

10. Force Field

Ash toke

Also listen to:

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon (1998)

Roomrunner - Ideal Cities (2013)

GOD - The Anatomy of Addiction (1994)

Related:

Final - One (1993)

The Bug - Tapping the Conversation (1998)

The Blood of Heroes - The Waking Nightmare (2012)

GOD was, as far as I know, the project that first put Kevin Martin (The Bug) on the map. The project's sludgy, noise-rock-by-way-of-industrial-metal core sound was certainly indebted to Godflesh, and this similarity was not lost on Justin Broadrick, who produced the first GOD record and played guitar on the rest of them. However, they're no clones, as GOD occupied a generally more expansive, out-there space that also encompassed free jazz, experimental psych, and more.

Track listing:

1. On All Fours

2. Body Horror

3. Tunnel

4. Lazarus

5. Voodoo Head Blows

6. Bloodstream

7. White Pimp Cut Up

8. Driving the Demons Out

9. Gold Teeth

10. Detox

You wake up screaming

Similar listening:

Cable Regime - Kill Lies All (1993)

Painkiller - Execution Ground (1994)

Uzi - Sleep Asylum (1986)

This mini-LP is the only release by Uzi, a short-lived band featuring a young Thalia Zedek (Live Skull, Come, others). A great mix of no-wave, art punk, and the drone-y alt rock dirges that Zedek would perfect with Come, with disorienting tape loops courtesy of Phil Milstein. All things considered, it's surprisingly accessible.

Track listing:

1. Criminal Child

2. Pale Light

3. Gabrielle

4. Ha-Ha-Ha

5. Collections

6. Underneath

Would you let me inside your house?

Would you like to push me inside out?

If you like this, listen to:

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

Lungfish - Artificial Horizon (1998)

Total Abuse - Mutt (2010)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Total Abuse - Prison Sweat (2011)

Gnarly-ass hardcore with strong noise rock leanings that sometimes completely take over. One of my first posts on here was this band's next LP, and I have no idea why I went with that one, as I have always been way more into Mutt. Time to right yesterday's wrongs.

Track listing:

1. Eunuch

2. Buried

3. Caligula

4. Discipline

5. Secret Passage I

6. 14 Years Old

7. Fluid Exchange

8. Pure

9. Flashing

10. Mutt

11. Secret Passage II

The same mistake since birth

Also listen to:

Creeps on Candy - Wonders of Giardia (1999)

Organized Sports - I'm So Proud of Him (2011)

Twin Stumps - Seedbed (2010)

Blown-out, draining Brooklyn noise rock. Burly bass, feedback-drenched guitars, plodding drums, a pure harsh noise source, and strung-out, distorted vocals. Very gnarly.

Track listing:

1. Landlord

2. Missing Persons

3. Pigs at the Trough

4. Lungs

5. Child Republic

6. Drainage City

7. Business Class

8. Caged Emily

9. Pope's Nose

10. Body Plan

11. Lust Murder

Painted in blood

More bad vibes:

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules (2007)

Creeps on Candy - Wonders of Giardia (1999)

Killer noise rock with hardcore tendencies from some dudes who've been involved with a whole bunch of Bay Area hardcore/punk bands over the years. Lands a bit on the more melodic side of the equation without sacrificing intensity or nastiness.

Track listing:

1. Nectar of the Gods

2. Her Song

3. Trial

4. Arena

5. Fish People

6. Porn Habit

7. Apples from Eden

8. Gravity's Angel

9. Truth-Truth-Lust

10. Life War

11. Descent

12. Dr. O

13. Bobby Ray

14. Scorpion Dance in the Floating World

I remember crawling

More nasty sounds for nasty folks:

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules (2007)

Gorch Fock - Lying and Manipulating (2005)

Texan noise rock. Barely-controlled chaos with blaring horns, unhinged vocals, and the occasional synth dropping in like a goddamn U.F.O. 

Track listing:

1. Prologue: Mexia Creek Crossover

2. Scott Jernigan

3. Bono

4. (Untitled)

5. Tap Is Crack

6. Message of Counter-Cultural...

7. Brazilian Whack Job

8. Penance / Giant Mast

9. Operational Thetan

10. Tampa Pentagram

11. Michael Kolhaas

12. Jefferson Davis Pinkus

13. Ohio

14. (Untitled)

Come on, baby, shake that ass

More insanity:

Milk Cult- Burn or Bury (1994)

The Armed - Only Love (2018)

Clockcleaner - Babylon Rules (2007)

Philly noise rock with extremely dark, Tom Antona-sounding vocals, and anchored by rumbling, sludgy bass.

Track listing:
1. New in Town
2. Vomiting Mirrors
3. When My Ship Comes In
4. Caliente Queen
5. Human Pigeon
6. Man Across the Street
7. Daddy Issues
8. Out of the City

The birds and bees won't save you now

If you like this, listen to:

Fudge Tunnel -
Hate Songs in E Minor (1991)

Drunk Dad -
Ripper Killer (2014)

No Trend - A Dozen Dead Roses (1985)

Probably my favorite No Trend record. A confrontational mess of a breakup record, encompassing post-punk, warped funk, no wave, garage punk, and goth-rock, with Lydia Lunch providing backing vocals, plus some skronking free-jazz sax to round it all out.

Edit: I accidentally deleted someone’s comment instead of approving it. It just said “Thank you” I think. Sorry if that was yours.

Track listing:
1. Karma Nights
2. Your Love
3. Tear You Apart
4. Never Again
5. All of Nothing
6. Good Day Mrs. Hamm
7. For the Fun of It All
8. The Curse
9. Heartache
10. Who's to Say

Your love takes the shape of a puddle on the floor

You should also hear:

Alice Donut -
The Untidy Suicides of Your
Degenerate Children (1992)

Cows -
Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Gob - The Kill Yourself Commandment (1999)

Chaotic, dissonant, misanthropic hardcore. You see, back in my day, you couldn't just go to a Youtube comments section if you wanted a stranger to tell you to kill yourself -- you had to track down the right obscure hardcore record.

Track listing:
1. Inside the Nexus Phase
2. Smoking the Hanta Virus
3. Home Self-Communion Kit
4. Bring Me the Head of Gob
5. Re-Freezing Psychorium
6. Anatomy of a Broken Nose
7. Atrocity Simplex
8. Encoded Information Entitled: Untitled
9. Northern Nevada Methlab Wars
11. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
12. 21st Century Shit for Brains

I'm your man

More like this:

Discordance Axis -
The Inalienable Dreamless (2000)

pg. 99 -
Document #5 (2000)

Skin Yard - Hallowed Ground (1988)

OG Seattle grunge. Hallowed Ground treads in the same psychedelic waters as early Soundgarden, but they're overall looser and more abrasive -- not to mention bizarre.

Track listing:
1. Stranger
2. Open Fist
3. G.O.D.
4. Needle Tree
5. Burn
6. Hallowed Ground
7. In the Blackhouse
8. Throb
9. OP4

Don't you know they all are dead?

Also listen to:

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Fatso Jetson -
Stinky Little Gods (1995)

Cows - Sexy Pee Story (1993)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Cows - Sorry in Pig Minor (1998)

Probably my favorite Cows record, and definitely some of the best noise rock in existence. Noise-fucked guitars, a beefy rhythm section, and a vocalist who sounds somewhere between pissed-off, dejected, terrified, and bored.

Track listing:
1. Blown
2. Shitbeard
3. Doing the Obvious
4. Ch
5. 39 Lashes
6. Uptown Suckers
7. Sexy Pee Story
8. The Ouch Cube
9. Mrs. Cancelled
10. You Owe Me
11. Sugar Torch

It cuts me right in half
It does it just for laughs
It's got me in its claws
It's my one true applause

Similar energy:

The Flesh Eaters - A Minute to Pray,
A Second to Die (1981)

Alice Donut - The Untidy Suicides
of Your Degenerate Children (1992)

Roomrunner - Ideal Cities (2013)

Possibly because I'm headed back there on Sunday, I've been on a bit of a Baltimore trip for the past week or so. With that in mind, I give you the only full-length from the best grunge band of the decade. Ideal Cities hits hard and leaves a trail of noisy little earworms. You can play spot-the-influence -- I hear a bit of Helmet, Hot Snakes, and yes, much to the band's chagrin, Nirvana -- but really, they don't sound exactly like anyone but themselves.

Somewhat relevantly: the main dude from this band played bass in my high school screamo band, and the one time he left his CD wallet at my house after practice, it resulted in me finding out about My Bloody Valentine, Drive Like Jehu, and Unwound all at once. So you can thank him for helping to point me in the right direction, taste-wise.

Track listing:
1. Bait Car
2. Vaporize
3. Bowlth
4. Wojtek
5. Weird
6. Duno
7. May
8. Apse
9. Snac Error

Nobody gives a fuck what you go do with your life

You'd also like:

Magic Dirt -
Friends in Danger (1996)

Drunk Dad -
Ripper Killer (2014)

Ramleh - Hole in the Heart (1987)

Old-school British power electronics. Echoing, distorted vocals, industrial drones, screeching feedback, and grainy, mournful synths.

Track listing:
1. Spear Flowers
2. Hole in the Heart
3. Product of Fear
4. Grazing on Fear 2

Thou art my god

You'd probably also like:

Schloss Tegal -
The Grand Guignol (1993)

Atrax Morgue -
Spasmosynthetics (1997)

White Zombie - Make Them Die Slowly (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
White Zombie - Gods on Voodoo Moon (1985) Pig Heaven (1986) Psycho Head Blowout (1986) + God of Thunder (1989)

White Zombie's second full-length, the Bill Laswell-produced Make Them Die Slowly was, as they say, a transitional record. It splits the difference between Soul-Crusher's noise-sludge trash-art and La Sexorcisto's psychedelic groove metal, landing in territory that didn't really make anyone happy -- including White Zombie, who were dissatisfied with it before it even came out. Except for a 13-year-old me, of course, who bought the cassette under the false assumption that it contained the song I'd heard on the radio, then nonetheless listened to it on repeat all summer.

Track listing:
1. Demon Speed
2. Disaster Blaster
3. Murderworld
4. Revenge
5. Acid Flesh
6. Power Hungry
7. Godslayer

Doomsday for all the beautiful people

You might also enjoy:

Fudge Tunnel -
Hate Songs in E Minor (1991)

Therapy? -
Suicide Pact - You First (1999)

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

Creepy experimental rock. Surrealist darkwave through a lens of psych, drone, and noise rock. Or, as they put it in their bio: "Avant-garde children’s music for children who prefer rusty toys and moldy candy, bringing you back to a time when you still believed monsters lived under your bed." First track sounds like it could've been the inspiration for Menace Ruine's entire sound.

Track listing:
1. St. Dymphna
2. Bleeding on Her Wings
3. Fragile Toy
4. Show Me My Insides
5. Broken Toy
6. Persephone Is Scratching

Paranoid mess

If you like this, check out:

Beyond Dawn -
Pity Love (1995)

Monumentum -
In Absentia Christi (1995)

The Armed - Only Love (2018)

Colorful, dense, ecstatically heavy, spastic-hardcore-based sounds from Detroit. Love the way this album is structured -- more and more melody starts seeping in as it goes on, but without sacrificing an ounce of intensity, then they burn it all down in a glorious, atonal, yet somehow beautiful inferno. But I'm just another voice in a large choir of people around the internet currently singing this record's praises, so let's not waste any more of your time or mine -- if you haven't already, go read what someone else has to say about it. Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Witness
2. Role Models
3. Nowhere to Be Found
4. Apperception
5. Parody Warning
6. Fortune's Daughter
7. Luxury Themes
8. Heavily Lined
9. Middle Homes
10. Ultraglass
11. On Jupiter

Sparks fly from their eyes
Birds fly from their mouths

You'd also enjoy:

Gasp - Drome Triler
of Puzzle Zoo People (1998)

Wildildlife -
Six (2007)