Drohtnung - Drohtnung (2012)

Noisy, lo-fi Australian DBM. Everything's chaotic and in the red, people are shrieking, the guitars are playing these simple but dramatic, droning riffs, some type of high-frequency static emanates from an unknown source... It's the kind of music that only makes sense coming from crazy people or drug enthusiasts. If you've been known to go for this type of esoteric mess (S.V.E.S.T., Les Legions Noire, etc.) you'll fucking love this.

Track listing:
1. Silence in People's Tears / Dolente
2. In Time of Mourning One Feels Existence Weight Up / Decrepit
3. Joys Are Astute with Sorrow / The Body Rots
4. Loneliness Is Haunted / Loss
5. With Death / Only Death Exists

Mutilated speech

Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood, & Michael Shrieve - Go (1976)

Just picked this up on vinyl for two bucks -- not sure if it's underrated or it's yet another example of my increasingly terrible taste in music. Either way, what we have here is some laid-back prog rock a la Dark Side of the Moon surrounded by synth-led excursions to the outer limits. Sweeping symphonic accompaniments and soulful backing vocals lend Goa dramatic, cinematic air. Factor in a brief, unexpected but convincingly executed foray into funk, and you're looking at a pretty sweet album.

Track listing:
1. Solitude
2. Nature
3. Air Over
4. Crossing the Line
5. Man of Leo
6. Stellar
7. Space Theme
8. Space Requiem
9. Space Song
10. Carnival
11. Ghost Machine
12. Surfspin
13. Time Is Here
14. Winner Loser

Wake me up on judgement day

Software - Chip-Meditation (1985) + Electronic-Universe I (1987)

Two fascinating journies into the deep subconscious of a TRS-80 (or maybe even an Amstrad CPC 464???) If you have a taste for the pseudo-futuristic sounds of synth arpeggios, drones, loops, trills, twinkles, sprinkles, and dollops, Software is a veritable feast. Software consisted of German (no surprise there) duo Peter Mergener and Michael Weisser, and these, their first two albums, are some of the best in their class. Highly, highly recommended for anyone nerdy/old enough to get down!

Track listing:
-Chip-Meditation-
1. Julias-Dream
2. Self Similarity-Life
3. Frontiers-of-Chaos
4. Chip-Meditation
5. Voice-Bit
6. Byte-by-Bite
7. Winds-of-Time
8. Short-Wave
-Electronic-Universe I-
1. Fluting-Electronic-Universe
2. Surfing-Saturn
3. Dancing-Venus
4. Cosmic-Calimba
5. Add-Space-to-Time
6. Psychomellow-Planet

Meditation-Universe

Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana - Well of Souls (1995)

Cavernous tribal percussion, shimmering synth washes and drones. Over two hours of gorgeous, meditative sounds. Exactly what one might expect from a Steve Roach-Vidna Obmana collaboration.

Track listing:
-Disc One-
1. In the Presence of Something
2. In the Realm of Twilight - Outlands One
3. The Secret Arrival - Outlands Two
4. The Gathering
-Disc Two-
1. Deep Hours
2. Well of Souls
3. The Quiet Companion
4. The Dwelling Place

Above the Mellow Earth

Rome - Masse Mensch Material (2008)

One of the biggest names and most innovative forces in the worldwide neofolk scene, Rome is the project of Luxembourgh-based musician Jerome Reuter. His new EP, Hate Us and See If We Mind, is available for purchase here.

Masse Mensch Material, his third full-length, can be heard as a full realization of Rome's early sound, a densely layered synthesis of martial industrial and neofolk enlivened by Reuter's keen ear for melody and swooning hooks. His lyrics, written in English and delivered in a rich, somewhat resigned baritone, deal exclusively with the deepest of human concerns and emotions -- war, love, betrayal, mortality, etc. Of particular significance is "Der Erscheinungen Flucht," an aching, heart wrenching composition that finds Reuter at the height of his musical and lyrical powers and points to the more accessible direction that he pursued on his equally sublime fourth album, Flowers from Exile.

Track listing:
1. Sonnengotter
2. Der Brandtaucher
3. Das Feuerordal
4. Der tote Spielmann
5. Wir Gotter der Stadt
6. Die Nelke
7. Der Erscheinungen Flucht
8. Die Brandstifter
9. Kriegsgotter
10. Wir Moorsoldaten
11. Neue Erinnerung
12. Nachtklang

A rose for the vanquished
A kiss on the neck to be hanged
We're all doubled up with love
A traitor's love
A guardian's love

Astrobrite - Pinkshinyultrablast (2005)

HOLY SHIT. Saw MBV in Seattle last night, and it blew my goddamn mind. I was thinking that I'd post something a little less well-known from their discography - one of the EPs maybe, or Ecstasy and Wine - but everyone's heard all that, too. So instead, I give you one of MBV's finest disciples: Astrobrite. A solo project of Chicago-based musician Scott Ortez (also of loveliescrushing), Astrobrite retains the fluid progressions, warped melodies, hushed vocal approach, and melancholic/euphoric emotional template of Loveless, but brings the overall sound into harsher, more blown-out territory. Pinkshinyultrablast is IMO the best of his albums - mind you, they're all great - and I don't think that it would be hyperbole to call it one of the all-time greatest shoegaze records.

Track listing:
1. Ultrablast
2. Lollipop
3. Orange Creamsickle
4. Miss Teen USA
5. Lemon-Limed Lie
6. More
7. Swooner
8. Strawberry Kissdown
9. Lipgloss Sugar
10. Violet Eyelinger
11. Please
12. Cherrybomb
13. Pinkshiny

True love is on you
Felt inside you, all beside you
I could feel that this love is over
Felt inside you

White Zombie - Gods on Voodoo Moon (1985) Pig Heaven (1986) Psycho Head Blowout (1986) + God of Thunder (1989)

Before they turned into a groove metal band with dance beats, White Zombie made sloppy, punk-y noise rock. The first three EPs/singles consist entirely of dissonant, repetitive songs with Rob Zombie moaning and screaming like Kim Gordon. It sounds literally nothing like their later stuff. Depending on how you feel about bands like No Trend and (early) Butthole Surfers, you'll either dig it or you'll find it incredibly irritating. The fourth, God of Thunder, sounds a lot like La Sexorcisto.

Track listing:
-Gods on Voodoo Moon-
1. Gentleman Junkie
2. King of Souls
3. Tales from the Scarecrow Man
4. Cat's Eye Resurrection
5. Black Friday
6. Dead or Alive
-Pig Heaven-
1. Pig Heaven
2. Slaughter the Grey
-Psycho-Head Blowout-
1. Eighty-Eight
2. Fast Jungle
3. Gun Crazy
4. Kick
5. Memphis
6. Magdalene
7. True Crime
-God of Thunder-
1. God of Thunder
2. Love Razor
3. Disaster Blaster II

a floating frenzy covered in weeds he's a house of power send that boy to heaven---tie them all down in the field they wander and decay a mass of flesh go fade away invisible rhythms they rip across a pale face engines start a cranking black sheep race

Imperial Teen - Seasick (1996)

I put this on yesterday morning while me and my lady were getting dressed, and realized that Seasick may have been the first indie rock record that I ever fell in love with. Random, right? I remember listening to it on cassette in my sister's car and thinking that it was the absolute pinnacle of hipness ("they clearly like The Velvet Underground, they're gay, they do drugs, holy shit!") It contains the band's one and only (very) minor hit, "You're One," an addictive lil' ditty about shooting heroin. Most of Seasick delivers on that song's promise. Sweet melodies and male-female harmonies tempered by a ragged, distorted delivery and often quite dark lyrical concerns. Also, one of my all-time favorite last songs. <3 this album forever.

Track listing:
1. Imperial Teen
2. Water Boy
3. Butch
4. Pig Latin
5. Blaming the Baby
6. You're One
7. Balloon
8. Tippy Tap
9. Copafeelia
10. Luxury
11. Eternity

What are we supposed to be?
Let's watch our friends, they're on TV

The Abyss - The Other Side (1995) + Summon the Beast (1996)

Some pretty sweet black metal from three members of melodeath pioneers Hypocrisy. During their short run, The Abyss stuck pretty close to the good ol' standbys of relentless blasting, icy tremolo picking, and grim rasps, with a clean guitar passage thrown in here and there for dynamic. This is especially true on Summon the Beast. There are some bass solos; I guess that's kinda unorthodox. So, while it's certainly not groundbreaking music, the musicianship is top notch, and more importantly, it sound far more passionate and convincing than one might expect from a genre-driven side project.

Track listing:
-The Other Side-
1. Marutukk
2. Tjänare af Besten
3. Psycomantum
4. Massacra
5. Mörkrets Vandring
6. Sorgens Dal
7. Slukad
8. Förintelsens Tid äro Kommen
-Summon the Beast-
1. Satan's Majestic Empire
2. Blessed with the Wrath of Evil
3. Damned
4. Summon the Beast
5. The Hymn
6. Cursed
7. Feasting the Remains of Heaven
8. The Arrival

Away is the sun, endless the night

Feign - False Hope (2012)

Alright, fuckers. This is the only kind of music that's been assaulting my earballs for the past couple of weeks, so until I get over it,  you're gonna get a whole lot of chuggy breakdowns, dissonant breakdowns, and breakdowns. As far as my goal of alienating every single one of my readers goes, deathcore's pretty much perfect: jazz/new age/whateverthefuckelseIpost fans will simply ignore it, as they do all of my posts about heavy music, while most metalheads will be sent into a hopeless tailspin of butt agony that will end in comparisons to Whitechapel and Meshuggah.

So yeah. Feign. They're from Houston, TX, and they play what the kids hilariously seem to be calling downtempo (word, so it sounds like Dido, right?), meaning that it's sludgy, djent-y deathcore. And, it's some of the best I've heard. Here's their Facebook, and here's their bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Threnody
2. Fiend
3. Fractures
4. Retribution
5. Solitude
6. Recollections of the Less Fortunate

As far as I can see, everyone is my fucking enemy

Skip Bifferty - Skip Bifferty (1967)

Great early UK psychedelia. Songs that range from jaunty piano ditties to full-on head trips, all with a solid, genuine emotional core. Skip Bifferty didn't enjoy much mainstream success, but this, their only full-length, is somewhat of an underground classic. This version features the original album (tracks 1-14), followed by the remainder of their recorded studio output.

Track listing:
1. Money Man
2. Jeremy Carabine
3. When She Comes to Stay
4. Guru
5. Come Around
6. Time Track
7. Gas Board Under Dog
8. Inside the Secret
9. Orange Lace
10. Planting Bad Seeds
11. Yours for At Least 24
12. Follow the Path of the Stars
13. Prince Germany the First
14. Clearway 51
15. On Love
16. Cower Girl
17. Happy Land
18. Reason to Live
19. Man in Black
20. Round and Round
21. This We Shall Explore
22. Schizoid Revolution

Feeling strange vibrations in my spine

Seeker - The Antagonist (2012)

Deathcore with 'atmospheric' elements. Massive breakdowns, djent-y riffs, and dissonant, ambient guitar textures. The production isn't quite as obliterating as some of their peers', but Seeker clearly have the ability, and I look forward to hearing more from them.

Track listing:
1. The Antagonist
2. Serpent Skin
3. Shameless
4. Ghost of the Gallows
5. Idolized

I will not rest until I know that you are alone

Mortician - Domain of Death (2001)

Artless, blown out, drum machine-driven death metal/grind. Horror movie samples, muddy guitars, caveman riffs, ridonculous gutturals. Fuck music, who needs it. I'd say that they're underrated, but it totally makes sense that hardly anyone likes them.

Track listing:
1. Brood of Evil
2. Maimed and Mutilated
3. Bonecrusher
4. The Hatchet Murders
5. Extinction of Mankind
6. Domain of Death
7. Cannibalized
8. Pulsating Protoplasma
9. Martin (The Vampire)
10. Telepathic Terror
11. Mutilation of the Human Race
12. Wasteland of Death
13. Dr. Gore
14. Extra Uterine Pregnancy
15. Tenebrae
16. Devastation
17. Necronomicon Exmortis

Veins are bursting
Eyeballs melting
Heads exploding
Bodies burning

Cephalic Carnage - Halls of Amenti (2002)

Halls of Amenti is bizarro death metal outfit Cephalic Carnage's excursion into doom metal. Thankfully, it's devoid of any of CC's trademark shitty jazz breakdowns/quirkiness that prevent me from fully endorsing some of their otherwise stellar full-lengths. One single, crushing, ever-shifting composition that blew my goddamn mind when it came out, and still sounds fresh in 2013. I love how the drummer (clearly a total spazz) can't keep still, so he throws in all these weird little accents and fills that you definitely won't get from your average doom metal drummer.

Also, I remember the CD liner notes said something cryptic along the lines of, "More to come...", leading some of us to believe that they were going to do more in this style. A decade and half later, nothing. Boooo.

Track listing:
1. Halls of Amenti

No chance to thrive