Grivf - Yggdrasil (2007)

Desolate, neofolk-fueled, Danish Pagan funeral doom. Simple, mournful acoustic guitar melodies give way to crushing waves of distorted guitars, harshly growled vocals, and, on occasion, extremely minimal percussion consisting seemingly of a single, massive floor tom. This lack of percussion makes Yggdrasil feel even less propulsive than your typical funeral doom; the songs seem to hang there, suspended in some void deep within the earth.

Track listing:
1. Helfarer
2. Ash
3. Mimirs Visdom
4. De Gamles Ord
5. Naar Alt Fryser Ind

Everything freezes

If you dig this, check out Kauan. Their first two records also work with a Pagan, neofolk-y doom metal aesthetic, but with a more melodic approach that makes for much easier listening.

Negură Bunget - Om (2006)

The Holy Grail of Romanian black metal. Epic in scope and delivery, with a dynamic, seemingly limitless pool of sounds and musical ideas, Om gives the impression of having been channeled into our world via Negură Bunget from some unknowable, beautiful, sorrowful realm. I have, while higher than I am now, suggested that Om might be the #1 greatest black metal album, period, and though I don't really believe that, it certainly deserves consideration among the pantheon of greats. Like, it's definitely in the top 50.

Track listing:
1. Ceasuri Rele
2. fiesarul De Lumini
3. Primul Om
4. Conoas Terea Tãcutã
5. Inarborat
6. Dedesuptul
7. Norilor
8. De Piatrã
9. Cel Din Urmã Vis
10. Hora Soarelui
11. Al Doilea Om

The second human

Auburn Lull - Alone I Admire (1999)

Shimmering guitars, brushed drums, hypnotic basslines, and barely-there vocals, all positively drenched in reverb. Alone I Admire is one of my very favorite records of its kind, as it creates an instantly familiar atmosphere while defying easy categorization. It's too formless to be dream pop, too weightless to be shoegaze, and too massive to be slowcore. While I was on a particularly unpleasant tour in '07, this was my go-to "drown out the sounds of punk parties and fall asleep drunk" record.

Track listing:
1. Stockard Drive
2. Desert
3. Old Mission
4. Blur My Thoughts Again
5. Early Evening Reverie
6. The Last Beat
7. Tidal
8. Between Trains
9. Finland Station
10. Untitled

November's long shadows

Darsombra - Climax Community (2012)

Mystical drones from Baltimore, a.k.a. The City that Reads, a.k.a. The Greatest City in America. Darsombra make, for the most part, lush, major-key, guitar-based drone that's not unlike early Growing and, as I learned this past summer, makes for the perfect soundtrack to driving through beautiful but unfamiliar wooded lands. Those of you who found OPIUM HUM via my crust band's Facebook (I know there are a few of you!) might be interested to learn that the dude who makes this music is Brian Daniloski, (ex) vocalist for Meatjack.

Track listing:
1. Roaming the Periphery
2. Green
3. Thunder Thighs
4. [Untitled Bonus Track]

Freedom towards death

Spitehowling - Born to Die for Evil (2002)

A gem of epic, lo-fi black metal from the vast, frigid, empty expanse of Russia. Out-of-tune guitars, goblin-like rasps, programmed drums, some actually audible basslines, and some choice ESL lyrics.

Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Last Catastrophe of Humanity
3. Until I Die
4. Napalm Dance
5. Centuries of Silence
6. Steel and Flesh
7. Bleeding Mind

It's so shame to be a human

Tír na nÓg - Tír na nÓg (1971)

Great first LP from this Irish folk rock duo. Delicately picked acoustic guitars and gentle harmonized vocals, with hints of psychedelia dancing in the periphery. Lyrical concerns include seagulls, flowers, fairies, elves, cows, and milk.

Track listing:
1. Time Is Like a Promise
2. Mariner Blues
3. Daisy Lady
4. Tír na nÓg
5. Aberdeen Angus
6. Looking Up
7. Boat Song
8. Our Love Will Not Decay
9. Hey Friend
10. Dance of Years
11. Live a Day
12. Piccadilly
13. Dante

When you're looking up
I see the sun's reflection in your dark blue eyes

Kitaro - Oasis (1979)

Synth-y new age bliss. Managed to pick myself up a nice case of acute bronchitis in Minneapolis, and am now attempting to simulate happiness using music and codeine cough syrup. Good night, sweet blogosphere.

Track listing:
1. Morning Prayer (Asa No Inori, Rising Sun)
2. Moro-Rism
3. New Wave (Aratanaru Tabiji)
4. Cosmic Energy (Uchu Enerugii)
5. Eternal Spring (Inochi No Izumi, Aqua)
6. Moonlight
7. Shimmering Horizon (Hikari To Kage)
8. Fragrance of Nature (Shizen No Kaori)
9. Innocent People (Mujaki)
10. Oasis

Dawn of the astral

Heldon - Electronic Guerilla (1974)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Richard Pinhas - Rhizosphere (1977)

Debut album from this stellar French electro-prog outfit. Warm, fuzzy synthesizers, oscillations, and grainy, lush guitars. I've been stuck in a Minneapolis airport for the past 10 hours -- it's -9 degrees out BTW -- and this is helping me to stave off total physical and mental collapse.

Track listing:
1. Zind
2. Back to Heldon
3. Northernland Lady
4. Ouais, Marchais, Mieux Qu'en 68 (Ex : Le Voyageur)
5. Circulus Vitiosus
6. Ballade Pour Puig Antich, Révolutionnaire Assassiné En Espagne

Cries of the electronic baby

Trauma - Imperfect Like a God (2003)

Impeccably performed and produced Polish death metal. Precise, punishing riffs and drumming, with some tech-y, almost prog-y flourishes and atmospheric elements -- a clean guitar over a blast beat here, a dissonant, reverb-soaked lead there -- that, like a nice rug, really tie the room together.

Track listing:
1. Blade Under Your Throat
2. The Hidden Seed
3. The Madness Here
4. Beyond the Perception
5. Imperfect Like a God
6. Make Me Blind
7. Spiritual Disorder
8. Perplexity of Truths
9. Outrage to Fools

Planes like missiles in the name of God

Black Wreath - A Pyre of Lost Dreams (2009)

If you, like me, think that Of the Wand and the Moon's The Lone Descent set a new, as of yet unmatched standard for neofolk, you'll probably be pretty stoked to hear that Kim Larsen, that project's mastermind, has a funeral doom band. Yup. A Pyre of Lost Dreams is the band's only release so far, and it is mesmerizing, achingly beautiful, and crushingly heavy, even in the sections lead by clean guitars. Larsen's neofolk tendencies pop up here and there -- most noticeably, in the strings that creep in during the latter half of "The Black Holes of Your Mind" -- but the real ace in the hole is Larsen's gift for composition and melody, which allow these songs to unfold slowly and carefully, but with a sense of clarity and direction.

Track listing:
1. The Black Holes of Your Mind
2. Nocturnal Dominion
3. Solitude Rising (Missing All Exits)
4. Nidstong

Behold the nightsky of a thousand stars
Falling to earth in dark procession,
Infinite solitude rising in all its splendor

Harold Budd - The Serpent (In Quicksilver) / Abandoned Cities (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder (1986)
Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - The Moon and Melodies (1986)
Harold Budd - The White Arcades (1988)
Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - After the Night Falls (2007)

Issued in 1989, this record collects two of Budd's early albums: The Serpent (In Quicksilver),  originally recorded in '81 (on a 4-track, no less) and Abandoned Cities, which consists of two long pieces composed in '84 for an art installation. The Serpent is very much in line with the piano-driven, synth-saturated ambient music for which he'd eventually become known, while Abandoned Cities offers an enticing glimpse at a darker, more experimental approach at which he proved quite proficient.

Track listing:
1. Afar
2. Wanderer
3. Rub with Ashes
4. Children on the Hill
5. Widows Charm
6. The Serpent (In Quicksilver)
7. Dark Star
8. Abandoned Cities

Totems of the red-sleeved warrior

Lambert & Nuttycombe - At Home (1970)

Contemplative acoustic folk rock from an exceptionally talented duo who somehow never quite made it. At Home is a beautifully sparse, appropriately homemade-sounding record, consisting entirely of the two men's guitars and voices, and songs that are alternately breezy, melancholy, playful, wistful, and peaceful.

Track listing:
1. Morning
2. Time
3. Bird Song
4. My Own Beat
5. Something on My Mind
6. Mouse
7. Ode to Drugan
8. Putting Myself Together Again
9. Mr. Bojangles
10. Country Song
11. Heaven Knows (Where I've Been)
12. Clover

Make a dive towards what you want
Fill your throat with laughter
If it's sorrow that you want
Save the laugh for after

Amon Düül - Psychedelic Underground (1968)

Well, I'm on winter break, and my girl's out of town, so you know what that means: it's 5:16 AM and I'm about to get higher while the pounding, trance-inducing drums, ramshackle guitar grooves, and unintelligible vocals of Amon Düül's debut melt my brain into a pile of warm, multi-colored goo.

Track listing:
1. Ein Wunderhubsches Madchen Traumt Von Sandosa
2. Kaskados Minnelied
3. Mama Duul Und Ihre Sauerkrautband Spielt Auf
4. Im Garten Sandosa
5. Der Garten Sandosa Im Morgentau
6. Bitterlings Verwandlung

Toxicological whispering

Roy Harper - HQ (1975)

Roy Harper has put out many, many great albums, of which HQ is one of the very best. Although previous records such as Stormcock (another full-fledged masterpiece) had explored innovative, prog-like strong structures, HQ is the closest he'd come to full-on prog rock, a move Harper emphasizes with the roaring guitar solo that closes out multi-suite album opener, "The Game, Pts. 1-5". The rest of the album maintains a sharp sonic cohesion while covering an impressive amount of stylistic ground. There's spaced-out boogie rock, throwback 50s rock, Zeppelin-esque drama, and lysergic acoustic folk, all bolstered by Harper's reliably evocative, heady lyrics.

Track listing:
1. The Game, Pts. 1-5
2. The Spirit Lives
3. Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children
4. Referendum (Legend)
5. Forget Me Not
6. Hallucinating Light
7. When an Old Cricketeer Leaves the Crease

The minds of the tortured perpetuated patron saints of crime

Mistress of the Dead - I Know Her Face from the Tombstone (2006)

Mistress of the Dead is a one-man funeral doom project from the Czech Republic. If you're familiar with the subgenre, you know exactly what to expect -- extremely slow tempos, sparse drumming, drawn-out guitar chords, clean guitar leads, ghostly keyboards, and guttural growls -- as MOTD adheres strictly to the guidelines set years ago by Skepticism and Thergothon. But c'mon, when it comes to metal, innovation is overrated. Everyone knows that 99% of the best metal bands work well within the established limits of a chosen subgenre (Incantation didn't invent death metal, y'all.) And MOTD's stubborn refusal to innovate is precisely what makes I Know Her Face from the Tombstone so great: it's the ugly, desolated face of funeral doom, completely unadorned.

If you dig this, you should go to the Lost Soul blog, where you can score the entire MOTD discography.

Track listing:
1. I Know Her Face from the Tombstone
2. Embracing Silent Death
3. Only Ashes and Remembrance
4. Tragical Smell of Grave Flowers (... Is Weeping for Your Death)

Rounded
In the emptiness
Rushing collapsed surreality
Falling through