Melek-Tha - Astrum Argentinum (1996)

French occult industrial/dark ambient. The first of approximately 1,000,0000 albums by this project. Dense clouds of droning synths, hellish choirs, distant drums, cursed incantations, Lovecraftian horrors, and Satanic black magick. Doesn't really sound like a horror soundtrack so much as it sounds like you're actually listening to a horror movie.

Track listing:

1. Evil Conjuration

2. Hymn for the Dead

3. Black Wizard

4. Midian Graveyard

5. Slava Tchortu

6. Kabbalistic Flames

7. Tabernacle of the Hatred

8. Supreme Evil

9. Templis Infernalium

He has his father's eyes

If you like this, listen to:

Black Funeral - Moon of Characith (1998)

Apoptose - Nordland (2000)

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)

Witches - 3.4.1 (1994)

Ripping, fantastical, progressive French thrash. The band's ambitious songwriting is balanced by decidedly unadorned production and frontwoman Sibylle Colin-Tocquaine's hoarse howls, which give the whole thing a raw, almost crusty veneer.

Track listing:

1. Horror Museum

2. Crystal

3. Mirror of Memories

4. Black Sorcerer

5. And Then Came the White Lords

6. High History

7. Three Heroes...

8. ...For One Goal

9. The Eye

10. Lords of the Precious

11. Wind of Time

12. Eternal Heroes

13. Cod Name Experiments

A giant clock reaching all the dimensions

If you like this, try:

Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal (1991)

Acrimony - In Unknown Direction (1992)

Present - Le Poison Qui Rend Fou (1985)

Discordant Belgian RIO led by Univers Zero cofounder Roger Trigaux. Anxious, driving, pointedly scattered pieces fueled by queasy, jazz-informed guitar-piano interplay. Wouldn't sound at all out of place soundtracking a semi-coherent giallo flick.

Track listing:

1. Le Poison Qui Rend Fou, Part 1: Ram Ram Ram Va Faire "Pif Paf"

2. Ersatz

3. Le Poison Qui Rend Fou, Part 2: Didi, Dans Ta Chambre!

4. Samana

They must lie awake and watch themselves die

Also listen to:

Maneige - Les Porches (1975)

Art Zoyd - Berlin (1987)

Morpheusz - Days of Delirium & Nocturnal Nightmares (2010)

Related:

Ron Boots, Eric van der Heijden, & Friends - By Popular Demand (1993)

Ron Boots - Detachment of Worldly Affairs (1994)

The Berlin school synths of Ron Boots and Eric van der Heijden, colored by the soaring, Floyd-ian guitars of Frank Dorittke; Eric's brother Harold's drumming; and some cinematic, symphonic elements.

Track listing:

1. Between the Barriers of Reality

2. Daylight in a Nocturnal Scarescape

3. Prophecies of a Pagan

4. Sandman's Journey Through Sanity

5. Drowse at Dawn

6. Fearful Awakening

Architects of the astral

You'd also like:

Earthstar - French Skyline (1979)

Gert Emmens - Wanderer of Time (2003)

Spire - Spire (2010

An excellent EP of drugged-out Australian atmospheric black metal. Somewhat in the realm of fellow countrymen Midnight Odyssey, with whom they have a split, and a touch of the ghostly sounds of other fellow countrymen Moon. And maybe it's the guitar tone, or the vocal effects, or I don't know what, but there's just a hint of something synthetic/industrial in there. Ultimately, though, it's really not that deep; it's just really great ambient black metal. From here, they'd flesh out their sound considerably, and it's all great, but this EP feels special to me.

Track listing:

1. Gum Twelve

2. Unknown

3. Ci Zerozero Twentyfour

4. M Thirty One

5. NGC Five Four Two Six and NGC Five Four Two Seven

6. Star Trails

7. Cassini

Necrotic procession yoked in black spells

Also listen to:

Absonus Noctis - Penumbral Inorgantia (2005)

Finster - Existenz (2012)

Nate Young - Blinding Confusion (2013)

Creepy-ass sounds from Michigan artist Nate Young. Somewhere adjacent to synthwave or dungeon synth, but too dissonant/experimental/singular to fall in with either one. If synthwave is the Winkie’s, Nate Young is the evil hobo behind the dumpster.

Track listing:

1. Forever Day

2. Beneath the Mist

3. When Nothing Works

4. Worlds Behind

5. Escape with Nothing

6. Only Fallen Heads

7. Between

8. The Bastard Gums

To get rid of this god-awful feeling.

Also listen to:

Jay Chattaway - Maniac (1980)

Runes Order - No Future (1993)

Easy Going - Fear (1979)

10/1. It's been pretty spooky around here anyway, but I'm officially kicking off OPIUM HUM's annual celebration of all things spooky with this absolute masterpiece of queer-horror-fueled Italo-disco featuring horror soundtrack luminary/former Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti. Why are you still reading this? Get the damn album.

Track listing:

1. I Strip You

2. Fear

3. To Simonetti

4. Put Me in the Deal

I strip you, I touch you

Your clothes are full of sparks

I catch you, I lose you

I chase you in the dark

Similar vibes:

Black Devil - Disco Club (1978)

The Creatures - Expansion / L'altro Mondo Studios (1983) 

The Wizar'd - Infernal Wizardry (2008)

Australian occult stoner doom. Unpolished, Satan-worshipping riff-worship, with some dusty organs and surprisingly beautiful harmonized guitars. I feel like I'm cleaning house around here because I keep on posting shit that I've been meaning to post for years.

Track listing:

1. Horned Lord

2. Witchwither

3. Infernal Wizardry

4. Depressive Holiday

5. Crushing Gothic Slime

6. Gloomwing

7. Plague Ship of Doom

8. The Megalomaniac

We are gathered here tonight to worship Satan, the ruler of hell.

More like this:

Raven Black Night - Choose the Dark (2004)

Mephistofeles - ( ( ( I ' M H E R O I N ) ) ) (2017)

Gary Bartz - The Shadow Do! (1975)

Some of that sweet, that funky stuff from jazz saxophonist (and Baltimorean!) Gary Bartz. In addition to handling all vocals and playing synth, he brought in (among others) Michael Henderson, the Mizell brothers, and several members of Mtume, and the results are lush, smooth jazz-funk of the highest order.

Track listing:

1. Winding Roads

2. Mother Nature

3. Love Tones

4. Gentle Smiles (Saxy)

5. Make Me Feel Better

6. Sea Gypsy

7. For My Baby

8. Incident

I'm gonna get ya

More like this:

Dave Valentin - Land of the Third Eye (1980)

George Howard - Asphalt Gardens (1982)

Lake of Tears - Forever Autumn (1999)

Melodic, rock-leaning gothic metal from Swedish institution Lake of Tears. Forever Autumn still has one foot planted in the band's epic doom origins, but it's swept up in a more accessible whirl of ethereal keyboards, neofolk-y acoustic guitars, harmonizing violins, and mid-paced autumnal melancholy. Honestly, it's really melodramatic, and the slightly yarl-y, crooning vocals are a bit reminiscent of James Hetfield, which effectively put me off this record initially, but after a few listens I got really into it, and now it's one of my absolute favorite gothic metal records. (Also, get the new album, it's really good.)

Track listing:

1. So Fell Autumn Rain

2. Hold On Tight

3. Forever Autumn

4. Pagan Wish

5. Otherwheres

6. The Homecoming

7. Come Night I Reign

8. Demon You / Lily Anne

9. To Blossom Blue

The only way goes down

If you like this, try:

Diabolique - Wedding the Grotesque (1997)

Funeral - From These Wounds (2006)

All in the Golden Afternoon - Magic Lighthouse on the Infinite Sea (2011)

Generally laid-back psych/dream pop/shoegaze. The kind of album that reminds me how much I, contradictory as it may seem, loathe music-writing, as it forces the lazier writers among us to trot out, over and over again, the same list of tired adjectives (see: "laid-back", also could have been "hazy", "heavy-lidded", etc.) to stand in for that beautiful, rejuvenating, and possibly indescribable feeling that we all get when we hear a great record. Or I could say something dumb like: this sounds like a really nice, lazy summer day spent laying on blankets in the sun, high on mushrooms. But that doesn't capture the emotional nuances at work here, as it's certainly not all sunshine, smiles, and highs. Don't listen to me, listen to this record.

Track listing:

1. Advice from a Caterpillar

2. Tidal Wave

3. Symphonies of Spirits

4. 30th and Sanchez

5. Gulf Coast Highway

6. Up All Night

7. In the Sky

8. Less and Less

9. The Pool of Tears

10. In a Box

11. Beneath the Setting Sun

12. Up All Night - Western Arms Remix [bonus]

The sun is up, the sky is blue

It's beautiful and so are you

If you like this, listen to:

Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine) (1992)

Astrobrite - All the Stars Will Fall (2012)

Mythos - Pain Amplifier (1995)

Finnish blackened death. While most black/death takes a more head-banging, ass-kicking route, Mythos' approach was slightly unorthodox. They tapped into the murkier realms of death metal while retaining generally faster, blast-heavy tempos that at times lean towards grind -- which they ultimately embraced with an early Carcass cover -- and injected it with black metal's tendencies towards ritualism and grim melody. 

Track listing:

1. In the Beginning... (Of the Outro)

2. Hung on the Wings

3. Unreal Moon

4. In Veiled Language (True Version)

5. The Pain Amplifier

6. A Song by the Way

7. Verses in the Fire (Heavy Version)

8. The Last Orgy

9. Strange Things Happen at Night

10. ... The End (Of the Outro) / Reek of Putrefaction

No sanctuary is eternal

Also listen to:

Thou Shalt Suffer - Into the Woods of Belial (1991)

Abhorer - Zygotical Sabbatory Anabapt (1996)

Isengrind - Golestan (2007)

Haunting ambient-psych-folk-drone from French musician Solange Gularte. Guitars, cello, jangling percussion, various woodwinds, keyboards, wordless vocals.

Track listing:

1. Morgenstern

2. Virgin Rain Fog

3. Cum Mortuis en Langua Mortua

4. All Tiny Animals

5. Perseid Meteor Shower

6. Convicta et Combusta

7. N'ed'el'a

8. With Its Mouth to the South & Its Tail to the North

9. Path of Ice

10. How Deep Is the Mud?

11. Golestan

12. Perchtmilk

Dead horses by the sea

You should also hear:

Ginnungagap - Remeindre (2004)

Elm - Bxogonoas (2008)

Povl Dissing & Burnin Red Ivanhoe - 6 Elefantskovcikadeviser (1971)

Collaboration between two Danish acts: singer Povl Dissing and prog band Burnin Red Ivanhoe. It's essentially a folk rock album with an air of psychedelia and some light touches of jazz and prog, it's beautiful, I have no idea what any of it is about, and I love it. Psych fans: stick around for "Tingel-Tangelmanden". 

Track listing:

1. Introduktion

2. Wallifanten

3. Narrevise

4. Snehvidekys

5. Kometen

6. Ta' fri ta' fri

7. Et samfund

8. Tingel-Tangelmanden

9. Introduktion til Medardus

Maybe it's about elephants?

Also listen to:

Jerry Berkers - Unterwegs (1972)

Sergius Golowin - Lord Krishna von Goloka (1973)