Hive - Working with Sound (1997)

An album of stoney instrumental trip-hop that gets further and further out as it goes on. Nothing like some crackly jazz samples, funky bass-lines, echoing vocal snippets, and skittering beats to kick off a day of eating mushroom chocolates, listening to music (obviously), watching 80s slasher flicks, and at some point putting together this big-ass backyard cover/swing thing that my wife bought the other day.

Track listing:
1. (All Over) The... Prelude
2. Fallout
3. Mood Swings (Act I)
4. Steps into the Light
5. Sphaira
6. Mood Swings (Act II)
7. A Suspended Greeting
8. Practice in Stillness
9. Dreaming Belize
10. Vaya Con Dios (A Suspended Mix)

Inside the hive

Similar vibes:

Depth Charge -
Nine Deadly Venoms (1994)

Mad Doctor X -
Picnic with the Greys (1997)

Joe Henderson - Power to the People (1969)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Joe Henderson - Black Is the Color (1972) + Black Narcissus (1976)
Joe Henderson - Multiple (1973)

One of the first jazz records that ever stuck with me. Loose and energetic pieces that build from a low simmer to chaotic peaks with incredible ease. Unsurprisingly, Herbie Hancock puts in some phenomenal work.

Track listing:
1. Black Narcissus
2. Afro-Centric
3. Opus One-Point-Five
4. Isotope
5. Power to the People
6. Lazy Afternoon
7. Foresight and Afterthought (An Impromptu Suite in Three Movements)

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem

You'll probably also enjoy:

Elvin Jones -
Genesis (1971)

Steve Reid -
Nova (1976)

Svarttjern - Misanthropic Path of Madness (2009)

Norwegian black metal decimation. Tight, precise, and punishing. Rips from front to back.

Track listing:
1. Code Human
2. Ancients Shadows Revelation
3. Upon Human Ending
4. Stillborn Acolyte
5. Misanthropic Path of Madness
6. Finally the Wood Shall Shape
7. Passions of 7
8. Ere Fra det Indre

Carved into the flesh of man

You'd also like:

Triumphator -
Wings of Antichrist (1999)

Au-Delà des Ruines ‎-
Psychose des Barbelés (2013)

Chateaux - Chained and Desperate (1983)

Anthemic, low-rent NWOBHM featuring the vocal stylings of one Steve Grimmett (of Grim Reaper). Somewhere between British Steel and Shout at the Devil, but with maybe 3% of the recording budget.

Track listing:
1. Chained and Desperate
2. Spirit of the Chateaux
3. Burnt Out at Dawn
4. The Dawn Surrendered
5. Straight to the Heart
6. Baton Rouge
7. Son of Seattle
8. Shine On Forever

The boys are runnin', screaming in the night
Flexin' their muscles for the sake of delight

You'd also enjoy:

Blaspheme -
Désir de Vampyr (1985)

Demon Eyes -
Garde à Vue (1987)

Phlebotomized - Devoted to God (1992)

Dutch death/doom. Eerie, atmospheric keyboards, thick guitars, beastly gutturals, songs that rarely stay on the same part for more than 20 seconds or so, and best-case-scenario production for a 90s death metal demo.

Track listing:
1. In Search of Tranquility
2. Subtle Disbalanced Liquidity
3. Desecration of Alleged Christian History
4. Fate of a Devotee
5. Devoted to God
6. Tragic Entanglement
7. Ataraxia

Slowly captivated by the suffocating mass

You should also listen to:

Cryptic Tales -
Anathema (1992)

Fleshcrawl -
Descend into the Absurd (1992)

Moscow Olympics - Cut the World (2008)

Melancholic dream pop/shoegaze with more than a hint of New Order-y post-punk/new wave swoon. All chiming guitars, gauzy synths, wiry rhythms, and whispery vocals. FFO: Beach Fossils, DIIV, Wild Nothing, and all those other new-wave-on-heroin bands.

Track listing:
1. What Is Left Unsaid
2. No Winter, No Autumn
3. Second Trace
4. Safe
5. Carolyn
6. Ocean Sign
7. Cut the World

I think you are a pig
Should be in a zoo

If you like this, try:

Sleep ∞ Over -
Forever (2011)

Au.Ra -
Jane's Lament (2015)

Desire - Infinity... A Timeless Journey Through an Emotional Dream (1996)

Stunning Portuguese atmospheric death/doom. Crushing but melodic, almost absurdly grandiose dirges elevated by a backdrop of drifting, ethereal keyboards.

Track listing:
1. Prologue
2. (Leaving) This Land of the Eternal Desires
3. A Ride in a Dream Crow
4. The Purest Dreamer
5. In Delight with the Mermaid
6. Forever Dreaming... (Shadow Dancer)
7. Epilogue

At last, I can feel it
The burning sky over me

If you like this, you should listen to:

Funeral -
Tragedies (1995)

Void of Silence -
Toward the Dusk (2001)

Tigersmilk - Android Love Cry (2007)

Jazz-based free improvisation with textural electronic flourishes. Sparse, anxious, weird sounds to compliment my hangover.

Track listing:
1. Poured Over Waves Ecstatic Charge
2. Falling Signals Rising
3. The Last Moments After Death
4. Spirit Spore Flash
5. Stillness Among Mercury Trees
6. Love into Earth's Shadow Liquid
7. Before a Blinded Spirit Light Planet
8. Already Crippled by Water and Wind
9. Minimal Distress Code
10. To the Face of Beauty Concealed in Shadow-Wire
11. The City Conducted Conducted
12. Night and Falling Tears
13. Circuit Overlord Demise

There are ghosts

Similar vibes:

William Hooker -
... Is Eternal Life (1977)

Anthony Pateras -
Chasms (2007)

Sühnopfer - Nos sombres chapelles (2010)

Excellent French melodic black metal. Passionate, well-crafted songs, dueling solos, and nonstop tremolo picking -- all performed by one dude.

Track listing:
1. Nos sombres chapelles
2. "Vous, ou la mort!"
3. Partir à l'ost
4. "Espérance!"
5. Errements d'un pestiféré
6. Reliques (part 1)
7. Reliques (part 2)

Suicide under the black moon

You'll also like:

Nehëmah -
Light of a Dead Star (2002)

Grafvitnir -
Semen Serpentis (2014)

The Third Eye Foundation - Semtex (1996)

A genre-defying masterpiece that touches equally on shoegaze/psych, drum n bass, and trip-hop. Densely-layered walls of guitars, piercing feedback, angelic voices, distorted drum loops, and samples. Apocalyptic, hypnotic, sorrowful, and all-out awe-inspiring.

Track listing:
1. Sleep
2. Still Life
3. Dreams on His Fingers
4. Next of Kin
5. Once When I Was an Indian
6. Rain

The day the wind blew out the light

You should also listen to:

Flying Saucer Attack -
Flying Saucer Attack (1993)

The Angelic Process -
Coma Waering (2003)

Demon Eyes - Garde à Vue (1987)

#1: Sorry for my absence. Not only is school way more demanding now that I'm actually trying to do well, but I've been listening almost exclusively to new releases, which, unless the artist has made them available for free download, I do not post here.

#2: Here's some sweet French heavy metal that isn't afraid to dip its toes in the fist-pumping waters of full-on hair metal. It's not going to change anyone's life, but it sounds really good if you're drinking beers in the sun.

Track listing:
1. Pestiférés
2. Armée
3. Indifférence
4. Desire de l'Eden
5. Fantomas
6. Alizé
7. L'Ermite
8. Garde à Vue
9. Hommage (Seek and Destroy) [Metallica cover]

There's an evil feeling in our brains
But it's nothing new

You'll also like:

Blaspheme -
Désir de Vampyr (1985)

Pantera -
Power Metal (1987)

Genius Ultor - Nic Co Boskie Nie Jest Mi Obce (2014)

Crushing Polish black metal with a tinge of occult death metal filth. Goddamn the Polish language is insane.

Track listing:
1. Nic Co Boskie Nie Jest Mi Obce
2. Koniec Wszystkiego Co Znamy
3. Zwyciestwo
4. Kataryniarz
5. Pijany Krwia
6. Zlo Przenajswietsze
7. Krew Nie Woda

Kill them

You should also listen to:

Malleus Maleficarum -
Taedium Vitae (2002)

Ride for Revenge -
Wisdom of the Few (2009)

Baptism - The Beherial Midnight (2002)

Debut LP from a Finnish black metal institution. True raw Satanic excellence, with plenty of riff-y, thrash-y evil and an air of melancholy.

Track listing:
1. Sons of Ruin and Terror
2. Scattered Remains
3. From the Gates of Apocalypse
4. Centuries in Everdark Ashes
5. Blasphemic Tyrant
6. Forest of Suicidal Memories
7. Triumphant in War and Hate
8. Thy Heart Bleeds
9. The Beherial Midnight

Wrath of our hearts has grown with your lies
But it shall find peace with your deaths

More like this:

Warloghe -
The First Possession (1999)

Hautakammio - Kukaan Ei
Opasta Teitä Pimeässä (2013)

Rapoon - Dream Circle (1992)

Related:
New Cult of the Sun Moon - New Cult of the Sun Moon (2002)
Reformed Faction - Vota (2006)

Kaleidoscopic ambient tribal from Robin Storey (of Zoviet France.) Echoing atmospherics, samples of every variety, and rich waves of synth wash over endless drum loops.

Track listing:
1. Najam Jikkah
2. In Light
3. Govindahal
4. Dream Circle
5. Lotus
6. Wind Chime
7. Radio Ganga
8. Imdeepah
9. Na Jam-fal

Sky heroes

Similar listening:

Amir Baghiri -
Cages (1997)

Byron Metcalf -
The Shaman's Heart (2005)

Abgott - Artefact of Madness (2006)

Brutal, tech-y British (once Italian) black metal with elements of death. Played with unrelenting intensity, with some serious shredding, sci-fi keyboards, and vicious vocals. Severely under-appreciated band and album.

Track listing:
1. IV
2. Kronos' Cosmic Throne
3. Church of Necrophilism
4. Experiment in Evil
5. Diabolical Surgery
6. 9th Gate
7. Black Light Scenario
8. Abyss 666
9. Dimensional Labyrinth
10. Epitaph
11. They Infernal Fields
12. Twilight Luciferia

Inexpressive shapeless faceless

You should also hear:

Trifixion - The First and
Last Commandment (1995)

Abigor -
Fractal Possession (2007)