Mercyful Fate - Return of the Vampire (1992)

Unless you're either young or not at all into metal, it's safe to say that you love Mercyful Fate's first two albums, Melissa and Don't Break the Oath. If not, you've got problems, son. For the rest of us, here's Return of the Vampire, which collects a bunch of demo recordings, revealing a rawer, unpolished, but still totally awesome version of the band that we know and love. Happy Halloween, nerds!

Track listing:
1. Burning the Cross
2. Curse of the Pharaohs
3. Return of the Vampire
4. On a Night of Full Moon
5. A Corpse Without Soul
6. Death Kiss
7. Leave My Soul Alone
8. M.D.A.
9. You Asked for It

There’s only one way you can stop him
You gotta trace the vampire to his liar, oh yeah
And then you gotta drive the stake
Right through the heart of the living dead, oh yeah

Oneiroid Psychosis - Stillbirth (1995)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Oneiroid Psychosis - DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile) (2002)

In the OPIUM HUM household, no Halloween is complete without the traditional listening to of Oneiroid Psychosis' entire catalogue. It's a tradition because I am a total sucker for their sound -- straight-faced, electro-industrial-tinged darkwave with horror movie keyboards and self-consciously creepy vocals and lyrics -- but as I mentioned last year, it doesn't feel socially acceptable to listen to them at any other time of year. I go back and forth on what my favorite album of their is, but as of press time, I'm going with Stillbirth, their first and least cheesy record.

Track listing:
1. Succubi
2. Prurience
3. Fleshmachine
4. Bloodlust
5. Menarche
6. Hypnagogic Existence
7. Psychopathia Sexualis
8. Mind's I
9. Motionless
10. Broken Eyes
11. (Untitled)

Swallowing blood
Running red
Spits down the neck
Spreads on the bed

Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name (2006)

Khlyst was a one-off project formed by James Plotkin of Khanate (duh) and Runhild Gammelsæter, vocalist for the great, short-lived Thorr's Hammer. Musically, it's difficult to pin down with a simple description -- as I am wont to do -- but can be largely summed up by its first two tracks: the deranged burst of cacophonous guitars and vicious, banshee-like shrieks that opens the album, and the eight minutes of cavernous, ghostly dark ambient that follows.

The song names are all Roman numerals, I-VIII, so no need to list 'em out.

A voice means you get cut
Don't you talk
Don't you move

"You wanna go for breakfast later?"

School's been keeping me pretty busy of late, y'all. I'll be back to regular posting tomorrow, but in my absence please enjoy this, the most brutal murder scene in Halloween II.

Fabio Frizzi - L'Aldila (The Beyond) OST (1981)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Walter Rizzati - Quella Villa Accanto Al Cimitero (The House by the Cemetery) OST (1981)

Though Zombie might be Fulci's most popular movie -- you can't really top the zombie versus shark underwater fight scene -- The Beyond is his masterpiece. It's brutal, frightening, and mysterious, like any quality Italian horror flick should be, and Fabio Frizzi (who also did the music for Fulci's City of the Living Dead) delivers a perfectly creepy soundtrack.

Track listing:
1. Verso L'Ignoto
2. Voci Dal Nulla
3. Suono Aperto
4. Sequenza Coro E Orchestra
5. Oltre La Soglia
6. Voci Dal Nulla
7. Suono Aperto
8. Voci Dal Nulla
9. Giro Di Blues
10. Verso L'ignoto
11. Sequenza Ritmica E Terna

Who else is here?

Helium - Pirate Prude EP (1994)

First EP from this phenomenal band. It's Helium's slowest, moodiest, sludgiest record, and a beautiful showcase for the ramshackle, effortlessly brilliant guitar work that defined and continues to define Mary Timony's music (and in a more general sense, much of the best 90s indie rock.) It's not really all that spooky/scary/disturbing, so it doesn't exactly fit the whole Halloween theme I have going on here, but it's of my all-time favorite EPs -- one of the first vinyl purchases I ever made -- and there's an ample amount of vampire talk, so I'm calling it good.

Track listing:
1. Baby Vampire Made Me
2. Wanna Be a Vampire Too, Baby
3. XXX
4. OOO
5. I'll Get You, I Mean It
6. Love $$$
7. (Untitled Hidden Track)

Evil watch me
Watch over me
Give me eyes like yours
So I can see like you
I want evil eyes so I can spy

Sistrenatus - Sensitive Disturbance (2012)

Dark ambient with elements of harsh noise. Tense, dissonant sounds punctuated by pounding percussion, heavy drone, and fragmented explosions of jagged aural terror. The 'musical' equivalent of getting chased down, stabbed to death, and left for dead in the moss of a pitch-black forest.

Track listing:
1. Disrepair
2. Frequency Contamination
3. Rusted Earth
4. Echoes from the Past
5. Slow-Wave
6. Lost Transmission
7. Forgotten...

The face at the window

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you like this, you'll probably enjoy other genuinely frightening albums like:
Funerary Call - Nightside Emanations (2012)
The Rita & Wilt - Werewolf in the Black Space (2008)
Enemite - Wuyuan (The Necrolatry) (2008)

Fade to Black - Corridors of Gender (1984)

A too short but still killer five song EP of first-rate goth rock. Some great synth and organ work, male-female vox, blah blah blah cool shit. They do it right. Every Halloween, I make a mix for driving around to whatever ghoulish events I might attend -- from haunted cover band shows to gory house parties to terrifying barhopping -- and "Soundtrack" has been the lead-off track for the past three years. So... I dunno, that's my story.

Track listing:
1. Black Box
2. Forward from Hell
3. Towers Open Fire
4. Soundtrack
5. Cinema Blue

I'll burn for you 'til the end of time

Nurse with Wound - Ostranenie 1913 (1983)

Two long, disturbing tracks of feedback, dialogue samples, tape manipulation, music boxes, spoken word, clanging percussion, and generally unsettling sounds. One of my very favorite of NWW's many, many releases.

Track listing:
1. Ostranenie
2. Dada

I cannot feel you as the dogs are laughing and I am blind

Ennio Morricone - La Corta Notte Delle Bambole Di Vetro OST (1971)

La Corta Notte Delle Bambole Di Vetro ranks among Morricone's more disturbing scores. I recommend putting this on in the background the next time you have company, and watching their faces as moans of orgasmic pleasure and/or terror and a cacophony of pounding, dissonant, symphonic anxiety fill the air, convincing your guests that you are, in fact, a serial killer.

Track listing:
1. Valzer
2. Emmetrentatre
3. Notte E Bambole
4. Brividi Di Archi
5. Oppressione
6. Depressione
7. Oppressione Di Mostri
8. Incoscientemente
9. Incubi Solitari
10. Bambole Di Vetro
11. Il Bisturi
12. Irrealtà E Follia
13. Sospiri Di Morte
14. Valzer

Horrible discovery

The Ravenous - Assembled in Blasphemy (2001) + Three on a Meathook E.P. (2003)

Assembled in Blasphemy: Good fucking lord this album is sick. It's death metal with doom tendencies -- much like Autopsy, two members of whom are on this record -- and thanks to reverb, gnarly bass/guitar tones, and some effectively edited and placed samples, it has this dense, dark atmosphere that makes it unique and positively disgusting. Plus, the riffs and songwriting are really good, so that helps. Includes members of Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault, Necrophagia, and, like I just goddamn said, Autopsy. God I hate you sometimes.

Three on a Meathook: Great 4-song EP. Less atmosphere, but the songs are just as good.

Track listing:
-Assembled in Blasphemy-
1. Shrieks of the Mutilated
2. Dead, Cut Up, and Ready to Fuck
3. Orgy in Dog's Blood
4. Feasting from the Womb
5. Keep My Grave Open
6. Assembled in Blasphemy
7. Perverted Before God
8. Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind
9. Ageless Existence
10. Anointing the Worms
-Three on a Meathook-
1. Clotted Cryptic Writings
2. I Drink Your Blood
3. Three on a Meathook
4. Apocalyptic Paranoia

Intestines now slither
Like snakes betraying Christ

Black Putrefaction & Crucivomitorial Butcher - Black Putrefaction / Exploring the Limits of Unnecessary Surgery (2008)

Two bands, two quite different takes on goregrind/gorenoise. Black Putrefaction is/was (I seem to remember hearing that the project is defunct) one of the most unique, even artful voices in this absurd subgenre, and their four tracks are cacophonous, atmospheric washes of hyperspeed drum machine blastbeats, black static, reverb-drenched electro beats, and monstrous gutturals; their impact is virtually indistinguishable from that of harsh noise. Crucivomitorial Butcher, on the other hand, is far more typical, in that they have recognizable guitars, semi-comprehensible riffs, deranged samples at the beginning of every song, etc.

It's kinda shitty to discuss splits in terms of "Band A vs. Band B", as splits are done by bands that are cool with each other, and music isn't a contest. BUT if some asshole did act like this split was a fight, then the winner would be Black Putrefaction, absolutely no fucking contest. If you agree, then you should head over to Blogged and Quartered (this megapost, specifically) for more.

Track listing:
1. Black Putrefaction - Senotainia Albifrons
2. Black Putrefaction - Pyrellia Vivida
3. Black Putrefaction - Muscina Stabulans
4. Black Putrefaction - Stomoxys Calcitrans
5. Crucivomitorial Butcher - (Intro) Into the Fly-Clustered Maggotomb
6. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Homicidal Hallucinations from the Chainsaw Fumes
7. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Exploring the Limits of Unnecessary Surgery
8. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Involuntary Projectile Vomiting
9. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Sacrificial Slaughtersex
10. Crucivomitorial Butcher - (Outro) A Fetid Trail of Muck Left Behind
11. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Femalevolent Uterslicer
12. Crucivomitorial Butcher - Her Catheter Is My Straw
13. Crucivomitorial Butcher - I Cum Sewage

Behold the freshness of tenderized human meat

Nigga Creep - Demons Takin' Over Me (1995)

Nigga Creep was one of the lesser known rappers associated with Hypnotize Minds in the early/mid-90s. Aside from guest spots on a bunch of records, he released just one record of his own, and it's fucking ACE Memphis horrorcore. A cassette-only release, it's harsh, lo-fi, violent, warped, and exists in a terrifying world entirely devoid of positivity.

Copped from the amazing, defunct Mid 90's Memphis Underground Rap Tapes blog. If you dig this, I strongly recommend a trip through that blog's archives.

Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Killaz Outta Frayser
3. Fuckin' with the Killaz
4. Reachin' for My Mask
5. Hoes Ain't Just Hoes
6. Need Yo Cheese
7. Turn into Killaz
8. DJ Sound Outro

Ain't no love, ho
Hatred, hatred

Dead Times - Dead Times EP (2009)

Disturbing, sample-driven, blackened industrial/noise from Providence, RI. A grainy, heavily distorted funeral march of plodding drums, terrified screams, atonal guitars, and warped samples, that nonetheless maintains a trace of melody that hints at a haunted emotional core.

Track listing:
1. Nothing Out of Life
2. Procession
3. Reliquary Engulfed in Flames
4. Christ Mourners I
5. Christ Mourners II

I'm so devastated. I get nothing out life. I can't see anything in the future. I wish that they'd just killed me too that day.

Goblin - Patrick OST (1978) + Tenebre OST (1982)

Since we've all heard the soundtracks to Deep Red, Suspiria, and Zombie a million times (right????) how 'bout we check in with some of Goblin's less celebrated, still totally sweet works. I'm ashamed to say, I've never seen Patrick, so I can't vouch for its quality, but I can tell you its tagline: "He's in a coma... yet, he can kill." Tenebre, on the other hand, I have seen, and though it's not quite on par with Argento's best work, it's definitely great, provided you like brutal stabbings, barely coherent plot lines, stilted acting, funky, synth-driven jams, and boobs, a.k.a all of the best things in life. Watch this, and if you're not scrambling to watch this movie ASAP, then I'm worried about you.



Nerd note: Although Goblin were broken up when Tenebre came out, Argento managed to convince three members to work on the soundtrack; thus, it is officially credited not to Goblin, but to Simonetti-Morante-Pignatelli. Also, both of these are the "complete" editions, meaning that there are a bunch of alternate versions tacked on.

Track listing:
-Patrick-
1. Patrick
2. Transmute
3. Bagliori Di Luce
4. Visioni
5. Snip Snap
6. Metamorfosi
7. Follie
8. Vibrazioni
9. Metamorfosi II Parte
10. Transmute
11. Visioni
12. Metamorfosi
13. Patrick
14. Transmute
15. Bagliori Di Luce II
16. Patrick
17. Patrick
18. Patrick
19. Patrick (Finale)
-Tenebre-
1. Tenebre
2. Gemini
3. Slow Circus
4. Lesbo
5. Flashing
6. Tenebre (Reprise)
7. Waiting Death
8. Jane Mirror Theme
9. Flashing (Film Version)
10. Gemini (Film Version Suite)
11. Flashing (Intro Film Version)
12. Gemini (Alternate Film Version)
13. Jane Mirror Theme (Film Version)
14. Tenebre (Alternate Film Version)
15. Slow Circus (Film Version Suite)
16. Lesbo (Film Version)
17. Tenebre Maniac (SFX Bonus Track)
18. Tenebre (Remix)
19. Flashing (Remix)

He had broken the most deep-rooted taboo, and felt not guilt, not anxiety or fear, but freedom.

György Ligeti - Kammerkonzert / Ramifications / Lux Aeterna / Atmosphères (1988)

The music of Hungarian composer György Ligeti is in a constant state of unease. At times, it's long, soft, sustained tones; elsewhere, it's churning with busy, piercing energy. But it's almost always dissonant, and never more than semi-melodic.

Track listing:
1. Kammerkonzert für 13 Instrumentalisten: 1. Corrente
2. Kammerkonzert für 13 Instrumentalisten: 2. Calmo, sostenuto
3. Kammerkonzert für 13 Instrumentalisten: 3. Movimento preciso e meccanico
4. Kammerkonzert für 13 Instrumentalisten: 4. Presto
5. Ramifications [Version für Streichorchester]
6. Ramifications [Version für 12 Solostreicher]
7. Lux aeterna
8. Atmosphères

Something has grown inside my chest

Virgin Prunes - ... If I Die, I Die (1982)

Classic debut album from short-lived Irish post-punk greats Virgin Prunes. Side A is all atmospheric slow-burners; Side B kicks off the graveyard dance party. Whatever edition this is throws a bonus track ("Pagan Love Song") right in the middle of the album, then tacks on a couple more at the end.

Track listing:
1. Ulakanakulot
2. Decline and Fall
3. Sweethome Under White Clouds
4. Bau-Dachöng
5. Pagan Lovesong
6. Baby Turns Blue
7. Ballad of the Man
8. Walls of Jericho
9. Caucasian Walk
10. Theme for Thought
11. Chance of a Lifetime
12. Yeo

The promised land of milk and honey
And I see it now
The pain it lasts and all is wasted

Walter Rizzati - Quella Villa Accanto Al Cimitero (The House by the Cemetery) OST (1981)

The other day, I read a review of City of the Living Dead on the Final Girl blog, wherein the author talks about how she tends to give Italian horror movies a pass when it comes to things like plot and whether or not they make any sense. And it occurred to me that I do the same thing, and though there are a number of factors at play, it must have at least a little to do with the fact that the films of Fulci and Argento are often accompanied by some of the greatest soundtracks in the history of horror.

Case in point: The House by the Cemetery. This movie makes absolutely no fucking sense, but there are some awesomely gruesome deaths, genuinely frightening supernatural occurrences, an ample portion of unintentional humor, and a mournful, atmospheric, piano- and synth-heavy soundtrack courtesy of Walter Rizzati. Ergo, it's dope as fuck.

Track listing:
1. Quella Villa
2. I Remember
3. Terna Bambino
4. Blonk Suspense
5. Blonk Monster End
6. Verso il Terrore
7. Incontro
8. Terna Bambino
9. Blonk Monster
10. Voci dal Terrore
11. Chi sta arrivando?
12. Walt Monster End
13. Blonk Fascia
14. Vero il Terrore

Mommy says you're not dead

Dead Infection - A Chapter of Accidents (1995)

Noisy, heavy-as-fuck Polish goregrind. Relentless blastbeats and whatever that semi-d-beat that grind bands play is called, with just a few sickly grooves thrown in, and blown-out, beastly growls that at times verge on gorenoise-style watery gurgles. For added fun, look into the lyrics, which are a bit more varied than is typical of the genre. Each song is a vignette, telling, sometimes surprisingly poetically, its own morbid, gorey story. People commit suicide, die in elevator, airplane, and train accidents, waste away in hospitals, get torn apart by lions, even manage to get their skulls crushed while riding merry-go-rounds -- no two deaths are the same!!

Track listing:
1. From the Anatomical Deeps
2. Autophagia
3. The End of Love
4. Hospital
5. Incident at Corsica
6. Airplane's Catastrophe
7. Little John's Story
8. Her Heart in Your Hands
9. Ambulance
10. Colitis Ulcerosa
11. Life of a Surgeon
12. Fire in the Forest
13. Damaged Elevator
14. The Firing Ground
15. Tragedy at the Railway Station
16. Don't Turn His Crushed Face on Me
17. Torn by the Lions Apart
18. The Merry-Go-Round
19. Outro

Richard feels warm blood drops on his forehead. Then he feels his stomach in his mouth. He used to see intestines when he served his apprenticeship. But today he couldn't stand it. The dinner he ate an hour ago flows down from his covered mouth onto the patient's torso. Pieces of semi-digested meal mingle in a seven-centimeter long surgeon cut. Vomited matter ornaments the patient's torso and soothes him. Richard thought his job would be different. His conscience exhausted him.

Rozz Williams - Every King a Bastard Son (1992)

In case you haven't noticed -- and I wouldn't put it past you, you're dumb as hell -- it's Halloween season. And we at OPIUM HUM HQ couldn't be more full of grim, skull-fucking, spine-stabbing excitement. So please enjoy this and the rest of this month's selections the way they're intended to be enjoyed: extremely loudly, in the dark, while gurgling your last breaths through a slit throat.

With that said, here's one of the more bizarre, disturbing records I've heard. It's Rozz Williams (Christian Death, Premature Ejaculation) reciting cryptic and violent poetry over noisescapes of detuned guitars, warped piano and organ, samples, loops, and electronics. The other night, for reasons I still can't comprehend, I tried to go to sleep to this shit. It didn't work.

P.S. Please understand, those of you that have knee-jerk reactions about this kind of thing, that swastika up there does not indicate that this is a pro-Nazi album, any more than the crucifix indicates that it's a Christian record. It's there to make you feel uncomfortable.

Track listing:
1. Whorse
2. Mind Fuck (Soundtrack to a Murder)
3. The Beast (Invocation)
4. Currents
5. To He Who Shall Come After (Mystic Fragments)
6. The Evil Ones
7. No Soldier (Cloak of Shit)
8. Walls/Voices

Once it has your attention, it exploits you
Amen

Big Lurch - It's All Bad (2004)

In order to get properly creeped out by Big Lurch, one has to be aware of the fact that he's currently in prison for murder -- specifically, getting high on PCP, stabbing his girlfriend to death, and eating parts of her face and lungs. There's a video on Youtube that paints a pretty vivid picture, but I can't remember which one it is, so it's on you if you want to find it.

Aside from the backstory, It's All Bad is tough, horrorcore-leaning Texas gangsta rap, best exemplified by the album-opening "Texas Boy" and, most chillingly, by "I Did It to You", a song that was actually used by prosecutors as evidence against him. Some exceptions to this aesthetic include the bland, forgettable "Gimme Ya Love" and "Cali Girl", and the awesomely raw sex jam "Ten Toes".

Track listing:
1. Money Man
2. Texas Boy
3. Gimme Ya Love
4. Cali Girl
5. Da Riddler
6. I Can Do This
7. Ten Toes
8. Gangsta Gangsta
9. Can U Deal with This?
10. Tribal Wars
11. On Da Run
12. I Did It to You!
13. Renegade Dope Dealer
14. America

High off of formaldehyde

Pyha - The Haunted House (2008)

Harsh, lo-fi, deeply depressive black metal from a Korean [thanks Anon] solo project. An extremely blown-out fog of guitar, keyboards, and harsh and clean vocals, under which a drum machine dejectedly plods along at speeds generally reserved for funeral doom. It's hard to describe just how intense this record is; it feels as though the tape itself is on the verge of suicide. Musical masochists, rejoice.

Track listing: (these are some random internet person's translations, can't vouch for their accuracy)
1. Appulyi
2. Hyungga Is a Tangled Story: Pt. 1
3. Hyungga Is a Tangled Story: Pt. II
4. Hyungga Is a Tangled Story: Pt. III
5. Song of the Elderly
6. Seomak
7. End of Hyungga
8. Song of the Elderly (alt. version)
9. Message from Heaven
10. After the Aliens

Cursed be the light
Soon it will fade
Never to rise again

If you want similarly disturbing black metal, here's Japan's Endless Dismal Moan.

Antonius Rex - Zora (1978)

Here's the thing about Antonio Bartoccetti, founding member of Antonius Rex and their virtually indistinguishable predecessor, Jacula: I think he's full of shit. And I'm not the only one. Both bands claim debuts featuring heavy, proto-metal guitar parts that sound suspiciously like the output of distortion pedals that weren't manufactured until the 80's and 90's. Like, a guitar tone that some might argue would have been impossible to produce at the time. Last I checked, none of the original copies of these debut LPs had surfaced, by the way -- just the "reissues."

Both bands also have sophomore efforts that ditch these ostensibly groundbreaking, Metal Zone-y guitars, and consequently, sound much more like products of their time. Zora is one of these, and to me, it's all the better for it. Not only does it not have the specter of mistruth hanging over, but the sound is far more organic, cohesive, and unsettling. It sounds like the soundtrack to an Argento or Fulci movie that never was -- weird, semi-funky, synth-driven bits, creepy organ, witchy incantations, dissonant guitar squall (which, it's worth noting, has the analogue-sounding distortion that one would expect from a band at the time), ghostly male and female vocals, and moments of full-on prog euphoria.

Track listing:
1. The Gnome
2. Necromancer
3. Spiritualist Seance
4. Zora
5. Morte al Potere

The shape stalks again

Puissance - Let Us Lead (1996)

Puissance is a longstanding Swedish martial industrial duo (one of whom is the sole member of Octinomos, a rad black metal band who I'll probably get around to posting at some point [EDIT: I did]) who advocate the extermination of all life on earth. I'm emphasizing "all" because it's a key piece of information, as their totalitarian-esque imagery and bombastic sound can and has fooled some into believing that Puissance are fascist/racist, a conclusion that my semi-in-depth research tells me is absolutely false.

Still, there's plenty here to make your skin crawl. From the pounding percussion, droning keyboards, and tortured screams of "To Reap the Bitter Crops of Hate" to the claim of "Control" that "to own, to manipulate, to instruct is to love" to the lyrically wrenching "Whirlpool of Flames", an apparent remembrance of the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Let Us Lead is sure to rub some of you the wrong way.

Track listing:
1. Burn the Earth
2. Control
3. To Reap the Bitter Crops of Hate
4. Behold the Valiant Misanthropist
5. Dance in the Sulphur Garden
6. March of the Puissant
7. Global Deathrape
8. Whirpool of Flames
9. Warfare [bonus track]

Got to sleep, little city
Your shadows are burned in the wall

Black Seas of Infinity - AMRITA: The Quintessence (2007)

Distorted drones, ghostly keyboards, feedback, sound and movie samples, electronic percussion. Light some candles, take some pills, and dream unspeakable visions. Then, when you wake up, make sure to hit up the BSOI Angelfire page, which is an actual thing.

Track listing:
1. Ajasram Abhichara
2. Devourment
3. AIShtLa
4. Porta Vox Umbra
5. Daughter of the Bleeding Sunset
6. Anti Vital Interior of the Womb Exploded Moon

I stand without death, mine eye plunging the recesses of abandonment
Orgasmic feast vibrates the silence of the colours undreamt veracity
I consume with ravenous ferocity the ascension of eternity

Vintersemestre - Jääverisaatana (1995)

Some OG second-wave Finnish black metal for dat ass. Shriek-y vocals, tremolo picking and blastbeats for about 90% of the total runtime, and cheap sounding, poorly mixed keyboards to round out the awesomeness. At just over 19 minutes, Jääverisaatana is way too short -- it's really four proper songs sandwiched between an intro and an outro -- but it's ace, and if you're pissed at its brevity, they have a single full-length that you can seek out, or just ask me for.

Track listing:
1. Those Tears of Lilith
2. Firedance (Jää)
3. The Wisdom of Usuluh (Veri)
4. The Darkness of Asath (Saatana)
5. Silent Tongues
6. Abigar

Nocturnal witchery

Sean Nicholas Savage - Flamingo (2011)

Lo-fi, lounge-y acoustic indie pop with a distinctly outsider feel. Savage's voice is high-pitched and thin, and trembles in way that sounds more like struggling to stay on pitch than an affectation. Add a bit of tape warp, a cheap-sounding drum machine and keyboard, and bizarre, at times surreal, but earnest lyrics, and you've got a singular, idiosyncratic vision that most people will not get.

Track listing:
1. Days Go By
2. Come Back to Me
3. Chin Chin
4. You Changed Me
5. My Chances
6. Catch the Quick Fish
7. Spotted Brown
8. Only the Wind
9. Goodbye Rainbow
10. Wasted in Snowstorm
11. Common Ground
12. She Was the One
13. Pupil of the Night

That's the way it's always been
The only way to swim is into the current

John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST (1989)

Halloween III got shat all over because Michael Myers isn't in it. HOWEVER, what the movie lacks in stabby icons, it makes up for in mindless drone killers in business suits, bewitched Halloween masks, skull cracking, face explosions, and a stolen piece of Stonehenge. Best of all is the mustachioed lead, a doctor who constantly allows himself to get sidetracked by his desire to drink booze and bang the young lady whose father's murder he is supposed to be investigating. There's one scene where, having arrived in a weird, semi-deserted town in which they strongly suspect her father first ran into trouble, she's trying to plan a course of action for the rest of the day and he's like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. It's getting late. I need a drink." So they don't go investigate the creepy factory, cause he just shut that conversation down. Then later, when they're banging, they hear a horrific noise (clearly the sound of someone dying a terrible death next door), and she says, "What was that?" to which he replies, "I don't care," and keeps right on going.

Regardless of the movie's credentials, John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's score makes for pretty much the perfect horror movie soundtrack -- all droning, pulsing, driving, and shrieking synthesizers. I just saw a screening of this great terrible movie that was followed by a mind-blowing musical medley, performed by Howarth himself and accompanied by a psychedelic visual mashup of movie clips, that featured tunes from They Fucking Live, The Fucking Thing, Escape from Motherfucking New York, Big Trouble in Motherfucking Little China, and of course, multiple installations of Motherfucking Halloween, all of which Howarth worked on. Then, during the Q&A, he big-upped Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream as major influences. Dude's a master; I'm on his jock.

Track listing:
1. Main Title
2. Chariots of Pumpkins
3. Drive to Santa Mira
4. Starker and Marge
5. First Chase
6. Robots at the Factory
7. Halloween Montage
8. Hello Grandma
9. The Rock
10. Challis Escapes
11. South Corridor
12. Goodbye Ellie

The clock is ticking. It's almost time!

Tycho - Dive (2011)

Sorry for my absence, classes just started and I have been busy with that. For whatever reason, I often feel drawn to chilled-out electronic music at the beginning of semesters, and this one is no exception. Dive is a front-to-back excellent piece of lush, hazily beautiful electronic, with a tasty mix of organic and synthetic elements. Every song sounds exactly the same, but it's a great sound so why mess with it? Shit makes me want to eat a couple of muscle relaxers and sit in the park, but I can't because of stupid society.

Track listing:
1. A Walk
2. Hours
3. The Daydream
4. Dive
5. Coastal Brake
6. Ascension
7. Melanine
8. Adrift
9. Epigram
10. Elegy

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