Ithdabquth Qliphoth - Demonic Crown of Anticreation (2002)

Russian raw depressive black metal. Mostly mid-tempo, with beautifully sorrowful guitar work, agonized screams, and a buried drum machine. When I hear the words "raw depressive black metal," this is what I want to hear.

Track listing:
1. Mundi Vesper
2. Paroxysm of Spiritual Chaos
3. Succubus' Black Tongue
4. Nyarlathotep
5. Demonic Crown of Anticreation
6. Lux Tenebriis

Rotting genitals of Pazuzu

You'll also like:

Saatkrähe -
Of Ravens and Graves... (2009)

Kringa -
Total Mental Desecration (2013)

Hermóðr -
Vinter (2014)

Jamaaladeen Tacuma - Renaissance Man (1984)

Excellent second solo album by bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who famously joined Ornette Coleman's band at the young age of 19. Renaissance Man consists of playful, funky fusion with strong elements of free-jazz, and features contributions from Coleman and Bill Bruford, among others.

Track listing:
1. Renaissance Man
2. Flash Back
3. Let's Have a Good Time
4. The Next Stop
5. Dancing in Your Head
6. There He Stood
7. In Four Movements
8. Sparkle

Sunk in the funk

You'll also like:

Herbie Hancock -
Thrust (1974)

Sam Rivers -
Sizzle (1975)

Alignak - Triptych Vision 1 (2016)

Alignak is one of the best kept secrets in US black metal. Since 2005, they have released seven stellar albums of hypnotic, psychedelic black metal, each one even better than the last, and very few people seem to have noticed. Let's fix that, shall we?

Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Visions in Dreams (Intro)
2. Mother Lycanthropy
3. Coils of Shadows
4. Night Walker (Interlude)
5. Owls Breath - Spirits Voice
6. Ascending the Tomb
7. Rites of Daeshavos
8. End of Transmission

Mainlining goats' blood

You should also hear:

Kozeljnik -
Deeper the Fall (2010)

Omega Centauri -
Universum Infinitum (2012)

Daniel Menche - Together We Shall Melt Mountains with Our Blood (2005)

Intense drone from Portland, OR experimental musician Daniel Menche. A single piece of dissonant, rumbling drone whose sonic depth, volume, and intensity slowly ebb and flow over the course of 49-plus minutes.

One track, titled "Together We Shall Melt Mountains with Our Blood"

Wings on fire

You should also listen to:

Coil - Constant Shallowness
Leads to Evil (2000)

Nothing - The Spine
Overshadowed by the Rope (2001)

Wormlust - The Wormlust Collective (2012)

Icelandic black metal. The Wormlust Collective is a compilation of three previously released demos, each consisting of one long track. Dissonant waves of guitar and blastbeats envelope hoarse, reverberating growls, from within a larger void of formless dark ambient and shimmering clean guitars. There's beauty to be found here, too -- you just have to dig through a lot of filth.

Track listing:
1. Svarthol
2. Seven Paths
3. The Opium Sleep

Larvean inauguration

You should also check out:

Khthoniik Cerviiks -
Heptaëdrone (2014)

Skáphe -
Skáphe² (2016)

Wildildlife - Six (2007)

Heavy, inventive psychedelia. Catchy, upbeat indie, art-sludge, ritualistic psych, sound collage, and ambient music all play roles in these awesomely dynamic, vivacious, balls-tripping tunes. A severely underrated record and band.

Track listing:
1. Things Will Grow
2. Tuungsten Steel (Epilogue)
3. Whooping Church
4. Magic Jordan
5. Feed
6. Kross
7. Nervous Buzzing

Stormbringer

Also of interest:

Mammatus -
Mammatus (2006)

Grails -
Doomsdayer's Holiday (2008)

Black Goat - Opus Diaboli (2010)

Filth-encrusted Russian black/death metal. Raw, bestial, sloppy, and completely disgusting.

Track listing:
1. Oscularum Infame
2. Underground's Pain
3. Pestisholocaust
4. Black Wind of Doom
5. Down There... [Beherit cover]
6. Cultus Ut Cornu Deus
7. Pray for Death

Descend from blackened skies to spread the words of Satan

You'll also like:

Vociferian - On Angelbones
Blood Altarized (2009)

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

Software - Digital-Dance (1988)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Software - Chip-Meditation (1987) + Electronic-Universe I (1987)

Lush, sparkling synth-based compositions, filled out by saxophone, nature sounds, drum machine, guitar, and more. If you're fan of synth music -- and based on the fact that you're here, I'm guessing that you are -- Software should be at the tippy-top of your list.

Track listing:
1. Oceans-Breath
2. Magnificent-Shore
3. Waving-Voices
4. Island-Sunrise
5. Magic-Beach
6. Sea-Gulls-Audience
7. Digital-Dance
8. Magicians-Song
9. Percussion-Island

Air stream

You'll also like:

Manuel Göttsching & Michael
Hoenig - Early Water (1976)

Peter Seiler -
Flying Frames (1986)

Pitch Shifter - Industrial (1991)

British industrial sludge. The fact that early Pitch Shifter sounded almost exactly like Streetcleaner-era Godflesh is both their greatest weakness and their greatest strength. Sure, PS were derivative as fuck, but Godflesh is the greatest industrial metal band of all time, and who doesn't want more music that sounds like that? (Apparently, this what amounts to a moral quandary for me. This is my life.)

Track listing:
1. Landfill
2. Brutal Cancroid
3. Gravid Rage
4. New Flesh
5. Catharsis
6. Skin Grip
7. Inflammator
8. Eye

You give me a reason, I'll give you spite

You should also hear:

Skin Chamber -
Wound (1991) + Trial (1993)

Meathook Seed -
Embedded (1993)

Experimental Audio Research - Mesmerised (1994)

Sublime, gently euphoric, textural drone from Peter Kemper (aka Sonic Boom), founding member of the immortal Spacemen 3. Though S3 is one of my all-time faves, I somehow managed to sleep on both this project AND Spectrum (expect a post on them sometime real soon) until just a few weeks ago. The shame!

Track listing:
1. DMT Symphony (Overture to an Inhabited Zone)
2. Mesmerise 4901
3. California Nocturne
4. Guitar Feedback Manipulation

Then I just drifted away

If you're feelin' this, check out:

Wrath of the Weak -
Solace (2010)

Darsombra -
Climax Community (2012)

Blood Stronghold - From Sepulchral Remains... (2014)

Epic atmospheric black metal. Distant, reverb-saturated production gives what would be raging melodic black metal a haunting, ambient feel, turning tremolo-picked guitars and etherial keyboards into a single, washed-out haze.

Track listing:
1. Eternal Wrath of Dark Gods
2. Ancient Mystery of the Moon
3. Stronghold of Forgotten Blood
4. From Sepulchral Remains...
5. Lost upon the Nameless Wind (Sign of the Forgotten Dawn)
6. To Distant Shores Aflame
7. Fortress of Nightly Desolation
8. The Spirit, Devoured by the Cold Soil of the Earth

Abyssal call

Tenebrae in Perpetuum -
Onori Funebri Rituali (2003)

Harvest - Forgotten Vampyres
of the Melancholic Night (2013)

Steve Kuhn - Trance (1975)

Super-chill, slow-burning jazz led by American pianist Steve Kuhn. Perfect zone-out tunes for yours truly's lazy-as-fuck day -- I goddamn earned it, trust me.

Track listing:
1. Trance
2. A Change of Face
3. Squirt
4. The Sandhouse
5. Something Everywhere
6. Silver
7. The Young Blade
8. Life's Backward Glance

We could be flying

You should also listen to:

Gato Barbieri -
Bolivia (1973)

Henry Threadgill & Make a Move -
Where's Your Cup? (1997)

Claws - Absorbed in the Nethervoid (2009)

Finnish death metal. Gnarly, groove-y riffs, beastly vox, and a heavy doom presence that will remind you that Lasse Pyykkö, the sole member of Claws, is also in Hooded Menace.

Track listing:
1. Absorbed in the Netherworld
2. Bloodsucking Sorcery
3. Cacophonous Carrion
4. Casket Contagion
5. Cloak of the Sacrificial
6. Macabre Manifestations
7. Lurking in the Catacombs
8. Skeletal Reincarnation
9. Abominations That Crawl Forth

Menace of the skeletal dead

You'll also wanna check out:

Flesh Consumed - Ecliptic
Dimension of Suffering (2010)

Obscure Infinity -
Putrefying Illusions (2012)

Mandrill - Solid (1975)

Super tasty funk/jazz-funk/soul with Latin leanings from the great Mandrill. Dirty-but-smooth, booty-liberating grooves, fueled by driving percussion, fuzzy guitars, sweeping strings, and tight horn melodies.

Track listing:
1. Yucca Jump
2. Peck Your Neck
3. Wind on Horseback
4. Tee Vee
5. Solid
6. Stop & Go
7. Silk

The enchanting wizard of rhythm

You'll also wanna hear:

Brass Construction -
Brass Construction (1975)

Wayne Henderson -
Emphasized (1979)

Skuggan - Kejsaren Av Ett Svart Rike (2013)

Swedish black metal. For the most part, this is straight-up, no frills, Swedish-style black metal. BUT: there's something weird and awesome going on with the vocals. I can't tell if it's backmasking, some kind of filter/compressor, or some other shit. Whatever it is, though, it makes the vocals -- otherwise your standard black metal rasp -- sound extra-demonic, and gives the entire record a deeply evil feel.

Track listing:
1. Graven I Skogen
2. Mörkret Inne
3. I Djävulens Skuggan
4. Fördömde Till Avgrunden
5. En Nattlig Kamp
6. Den Mörka Lågan
7. Trolltjärn
8. Jonsereds Strömmar
9. Kejsaren Av Ett Svart Rike

Damned to dig on rotten roots

You'll also like:

Mactätus -
Blot (1997)

Siebenbürgen ‎-
Loreia (1997)