Patrick Gleeson - Rainbow Delta (1982)

Synths here, there, and everywhere from American composer Patrick Gleeson. I'll avoid using words like "arpeggiating," "pulsing," and the like (except I just did, shit!) and just say that as far as the synth-y stuff that I post goes, Rainbow Delta is juuust a bit on the more propulsive side.

Track listing:
1. Rainbow Delta A: Frank Stella by Starlight
2. Rainbow Delta B: Unacceptable Dance Styles
3. Rainbow Delta C: Take the 5:10 to Dreamland
4. Rainbow Delta D: La Grange Point Five
5. Draconian Measures A: Arrival Music
6. Draconian Measures B: Ravel Goes to Germany
7. Draconian Measures C: Hobbits Are Dancing
8. Draconian Measures D: Clouds / Blue Skies

Flowing forces

You will also like:

Ron Boots - Detachment of
Worldly Affairs (1994)

Waveshape -
Zyklus (1995)

Dark Sanctuary - Royaume Mélancolique (1999)

French ethereal darkwave/neoclassical. Acoustic and clean guitars, deep, lush keyboards and cellos, and vocalist Dame Padora masterfully unleashing the reverb-drenched drama like some kind of operatic Gothic goddess. Members of Dark Sanctuary are/were also in a number of great black metal bands, including Bekhira and Sacrificia Mortuorum.

Track listing:
1. L'Autre Monde
2. L'Ombre Triste
3. Night Rain
4. Le Reve de la Nymphe
5. Miserere
6. Valley of the Pain
7. The Final Battle
8. Maze
9. Anatheme

Black paradise

You'll also like:

Lisa Gerrard -
The Mirror Pool (1995)

Lycia - The Burning Circle
and Then Dust (1995)

Gloom - 撲殺精神破綻者 (2003)

Japanese noise-encrusted d-beat. Cacophonous, destructive anti-music.

Track listing:
1. I Believe in Way I Live
2. Answer = Chaos
3. Escape from Reality
4. Absurd System
5. Scum
6. Nuclear Annihilation
7. Disgust
8. Disturbing People, Disturbing Media
9. Defector
10. Morbid Education
11. Death Earth
12. Warning
13. Ugly Society
14. Narcissist
15. Future Never Show
16. Anti Straight Edge
17. Right for Left
18. Wargasm
19. Striken with Terror
20. Never
21. No Pose
22. The End
23. Decay

Final bloodbath

More along these lines:

The Shitlickers -
The Shitlickers (1982)

Decrepit - Tired of Licking
Blood from a Spoon (1999)

The Crack - In Search Of... (1989)

Anthemic, catchy British punk. I mean, I guess it's oi, but it's just so heartfelt and posi, and very much devoid of the tough-guy posturing and proud alcoholism (excepting the album cover, obv) that defines so much of the subgenre. Shit, I even hear a hint of Slade-esque glam rock in there.

Track listing:
1. My World
2. Take Me Away
3. You Keep Running
4. Hard Road
5. Don't Just Sit There
6. Don't You Ever Let Me Down
7. The Glory Boys
8. Everybody's Dreaming
9. I'll Be There
10. The Giddy House

Do something! Do something! Do something!

You'll probably also enjoy:

The Professionals -
I Didn't See It Coming (1981)

Peter & the Test Tube Babies -
The Mating Sounds of
South American Frogs (1983)

Chainsaw Dissection - Malodorous Decomposition (2005)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Chainsaw Dissection - Human Internecion (2004)

Last time, I called Chainsaw Dissection "the absolute pinnacle of death metal." I bet that some of you thought I was just being flip, or at least exaggerating. Well, you were wrong. Let's go down the list. Drum machine? Check. Slow blasts? Check. Unintelligible gutturals? Check. Homemade-sounding? Check. Gnarliest, heaviest guitar tone imaginable? Check. Ignorant caveman riffs that go on just a little too long? Check. Guaranteed to turn off over 99% of the population? You fucking know it's a check.

If you've downloaded a bunch of stuff from my blog, and find yourself thinking, "My god, this guy has profoundly changed my life in so many ways, if only there were some way I could possibly repay him without offering him sex cause I'm pretty sure he's happily married," then here's what you do: send me a DL link for Repugnant Obsession, Exhuming the Mephitic Deceased, Sanguinary Disseverance, or Obliteration. Or anything by any one of this dude's 5,000 other solo projects.

Track listing:
1. Homicidal Fascination
2. Bury My Victims
3. Morbid Executioner
4. Comical Disembowelment
5. Whore Slaughtering
6. Gruesome Feast of the Insane
7. Me and My Chainsaw
8. Backwoods Butcher
9. Infant Autopsy
10. Violent Abduction
11. Murder Every Nine Months
12. Farmhouse of Hacked-Up Harlots

Grinding humans into dog food

Also of interest:

Mortician -
Hacked Up for Barbecue (1996)

Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition -
Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition (2001)

Martin Denny - Forbidden Island (1958)

This is what working at a record store does to you. Try as you might, you end up saying things like, "Martin Denny is way better than he'll ever be given credit for," and mean it. I'm definitely a sucker for vibraphone, marimba, and the like, and those are all over this record, but it's more than that. I mean, who could resist such laid-back, oddly mysterious sounds? Not this guy.

Track listing:
1. Cobra
2. Port-Au-Prince
3. Exotica
4. Little China Doll
5. Bali Ha'i
6. Narcissus Queen
7. Goony Birds
8. Sim Sim
9. Primitiva
10. March of the Siamese Children
11. Sukara
12. Forbidden Island

Paradise found

Nagual - Active Side of Infinity (2003)

Related:
Ulvegr - Arctogaia (2012)

Atmospheric, epic, keyboard-heavy Ukrainian black metal with elements of folk and doom metal.

Track listing:
1. Violet Fire
2. To Defy Death!
3. Discipline of Warrior
4. Ярость
5. Song of the Warrior-Traveller

Death tomorrow

More along these lines:

Helheim -
Jormundgand (1995)

Atritas -
Where Witches Burnt (2004)

Phil Flowers and His United Family - Alpha and Omega (1973)

A lost psych gem helmed by Phil Flowers, who is better known, if he's known at all, as a right-down-the-middle sort of pop vocalist and songwriter (his first record is a collaboration with Nat King Cole.) As far as I can tell, this far-out psychedelic funk/soul explosion, chronicling the Biblical story of the creation of the universe and the rise and fall of man, came more or less out of nowhere, and had little to no commercial impact. In other words, it's the stuff that music blogs are made of.

As always, if anyone has further relevant information, please illuminate me.

Track listing:
1. God's Creation, First Movement
2. God's Creation, Second Movement
3. First Man (Adam)
4. Adam and Eve's Love Song
5. First Man (Tag)
6. Devil's Theme
7. Prostitution (Hooked)
8. Abortion (It's Too Crowded)
9. I Can See the Sunlight
10. Fire, Fire
11. Will You Be There
12. Gabriel's Gonna Blow
13. Alpha and Omega

And God said, "Yeeeah, that's good."

You'll also wanna hear:

Chubby Checker -
Chubby Checker (1971)

Angelo Bond -
Bondage (1975)

Hermóðr - Vinter (2014)

Swedish depressive black metal. Arpeggiating, melancholic chord progressions slowly unfold into simple, mantra-like, ever-so-slightly folk-ish leads, as ghostly vocals melt into the fog. Effortlessly beautiful, goosebump-inducing stuff.

Track listing:
1. Frostfödd
2. Den Mörkaste Dagen
3. Då du Lämnade Mig
4. Månen & Skogen
5. Sorg
6. Vinter

A place of eternal twilight

If you like this, listen to:

Veil -
Dolor (2005)

Hinsidig -
I en Tidløs Høst (2010)

The Rhythm Makers - Soul on Your Side (1976)

Flawless NYC disco/funk, erring on the funk side of things. I swear, every single goddamn track is mixtape-worthy, and "Zone", the first Rhythm Makers song that I heard (due to its inclusion on this comp) is about as close to heaven as music gets.

Track listing:
1. Can You Feel It (Part 1)
2. You Better Believe It
3. Soul on Your Side
4. Zone
5. Funk-n-You
6. Street Dreamin'
7. You're My Last Girl
8. Monterey
9. Can You Feel It (Part 2)

Just another teardrop on the face of the earth

You should also listen to:

Brass Construction -
Brass Construction (1975)

Wayne Henderson -
Emphasized (1979)

Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument (2011)

Mindblowing Finnish psychedelic black metal. Haunting, layered passages of chiming guitars and atmospheric sounds lead to thorny, dissonant catharsis, in enveloping, hypnotic, curiously beautiful splendor. And don't sleep on their new album, Värähtelijä, because it's one of the best records of the year.

EDIT: A commenter just pointed out that 20 Buck Spin has reissued all of Oranssi Pazuzu's LPs, and that's super-rad; get 'em here.

Track listing:
1. Sienipilvi
2. Komeetta
3. Uusi Olento Nousee
4. Luhistuva Aikahäkki
5. Maavaltimo
6. Siirtorata 100 10100
7. Andromeda
8. Loputon Tuntematon
9. Kaaos Hallitsee
10. Aareton

Necrocosmic apparitions

You should also check out:

Gigan - Quasi-Hallucinogenic
Sonic Landscapes (2011)

Progenie Terrestre Pura -
U.M.A. (2013)

Sasha Matson - Steel Chords, I-5 (1993)

Two gorgeous pieces by American composer Sasha Matson, the first of which transports the shimmering, etherial sounds of pedal steel guitar to a sharp, high-minded classical setting. This combination is completely new to me, I absolutely love it, and I have a customer who sold a large pile of classical and jazz CDs to my store to thank for inadvertently introducing me to it. Readers who miss my ECM posts would do well to check this out.

Track listing:
1. Steel Chords (Triple Concerto for Pedal Steel Guitar, Violins and Strings): I. Steel Chords
2. Steel Chords: II. Steel Songs
3. Steel Chords: III. Steel Dances
4. I-5 (String Quintet and Harp): I. Windmills
5. I-5: II. Slaughterhouse
6. I-5: III. Lost Near Bakersfield
7. I-5: IV. Grapevine
8. I-5: V: City Limits

Ithaca is gorges

You might also enjoy:

Bill Connors - Swimming with
a Hole in My Body (1979)

Ketil Bjørnstad & David Darling -
The River (1997)

Nyogtha - Origin of "I" (2011)

UK ritualistic, ethereal drone-doom. Beautiful, heavy, cosmic sounds. Makes me think of a more ambient Menace Ruine.

Track listing:
1. Turns to Dust...
2. Feedback from the Human Void
3. The Third Eye
4. The Birth of Consciousness

Hands of ruin

More you might enjoy:

Aun -
VII (2010)

Sailors with Wax Wings -
Sailors with Sax Wings (2010)

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather (1985)

Oppressively dark first album from UK gothic post-punk greats Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Pretty much as good as this stuff gets.

Track listing:
1. Talk About the Weather
2. Hand on Heart
3. Feel a Piece
4. Hollow Eyes
5. This Today
6. Sometimes
7. Strange Dream
8. Happy

You should've seen them

More like this:

The Sound -
Jeopardy (1980)

Rowland S. Howard -
Teenage Snuff Film (1999)

Obscure Burial - God's Abomination (2012) + Epiphany (2014)

Related:
Inferi - Shores of Sorrow (2006)

Two raw demos of ass-kicking, crypt-born Finnish black/death. This is everything they've put out thus far, so hopefully we have an extensive discography to look forward to, so that we can all just shrug and say, "Meh, the demos are their best stuff."

Track listing:
-God's Abomination-
1. Intro / God's Abomination
2. Darkness Spawns
3. Necrophagous Ritual
4. I Spoke to Darkness (Black Deserts Divine)
-Epiphany-
1. Night Queen
2. Dweller in the Abyss
3. Daemonic Incantation
4. Epiphany

Black sorcery of desecration and death

More like this:

Betrayed -
Apocalyptic Salvation (2007)

Necrowretch -
Rising from Purulence (2009)