Monday, May 30, 2016

Kermania - Kehre Heim... (2014)


German Pagan black metal. Epic and vicious, with a great feel for dynamic, melody, and pacing. Something's fishy about "patriotism" being listed as one of the band's primary lyrical concern, but as long as they're not specifically NS, I'm good to go. Especially considering how great this record is.

Track listing:
1. Kehre Heim...
2. Holde auf Seidnem Fuß
3. Kalter Nebel
4. Der Bucklige Knecht
5. Ungewohnte Last
6. Für die Heimat
7. Geleite Mich Fort

A land where the sky is black

Give these a spin, too:
Heimdalls Wacht -
Der Untergang der alten Welt (2006)
Wolfhetan -
Entrückung (2006)

Deine Lakaien - Deine Lakaien (1986)


First album from this German darkwave institution. Spooky synths, simple drum patterns, and quavering vocals that kinda remind me of early Antony and the Johnsons. Essential goth listening.

Track listing:
1. Colour-ize
2. Love Will Not Die
3. Nobody's Wounded
4. The Mirror Men
5. The Dive (Let Me)
6. Fashion, Passion, and Pigaches
7. Wasted Years
8. Bells of Another Land

Don't forget

You should also hear:
John Foxx - Metamatic (1980)
Frazier Chorus - Sue (1989)

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Azrael - Into Shadows Act I: Denial (2003)


US black metal. Long, dissonant songs with heavy doom undertones, sloppy, buzzing guitars and a tinny drum machine. Are you a kvlt enough dude to enjoy this album?

Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Dominion of Abysmal Crypts
3. Into Shadows
4. Holiness Embodiment
5. Darkness Binds Us All
6. Shroud of Icy Stillness
7. Unseen Emptiness

I ride the wings of death
In the shadow of the goat


You might also like:
Azaxul - And Heaven
Is Crying Tears of Fire
(2000)
Sick -
Filth and Ugliness (2005)

Hans Peter Neuber - Mystic Castle (1989)


Delightful, quasi-classical new age twinkly-dinklies from German composer Hans Peter Neuber, whom I suspect is actually Hans Gruber from Die Hard operating under an alias.

Track listing:
1. Aus Dem Goldenen Herzen
2. Die Zauberburg

From within the golden heart

You'll also like:
Ray Lynch -
Deep Breakfast (1984)
Herb Ernst -
Dreamflight (1986)

Blasphemous Crucifixion - Crude Burial (2009)


Related:
Nox Inferi - Adverse Sphere (2008)

Gross, lo-fi, punk-ish US black metal. Crude Burial doesn't like you at all. Crude Burial wants all of the worst things in life to happen to you, and only you.

P.S. Thank you to the anonymous commenter who told me about Rings of Saturn getting blogs deleted. I took the post down entirely; like, I dig them, but not THAT much.

Track listing:
1. Urine-Soaked Tombstone
2. Poisoned Water
3. Broken Flower
4. Anal Rosary
5. Lord of Worms and Flies
6. Sacrilege and Blasphemy
7. Pale and Languid
8. Disgusting
9. Crude Burial
10. Bacteria
11. The Bleeding Wounds
12. Self-Inflicted
13. Black Aura Shines
14. Lunar Gaze

Rise from Hades

More like this:
Brenoritvrezorkre -
Vèrmyaprèb (1995), Nèvgzérya (1995), +
Vasagraèbe éakr vatrè brenoritvrezorkre (1996)
Mons Veneris -
... To Rape the Nazarene (2006)
+ Abismo a Céu Aberto (2006)

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat - An Interlude to the Outermost (2007)


Dark, mesmerizing psych folk. Ranges from relatively straightforward, if apocalyptic, folk rock ("The Firesky") to faaaaar-out psych rituals ("You Will Reap a Whirlwind", "Beyond the Tanarian Hills".) The end is nigh, my children, so we might as well do some drugs.

Track listing:
1. Prelude
2. The Firesky
3. A Scatterbrain Sings of Christians and the Ghoul Bares Teeth
4. The Cranes Are Scared of Sunwords
5. Salt
6. You Will Reap a Whirlwind
7. Beyond the Tanarian Hills
8. Cornflowers for Our Brothers
9. All Movements Are Targets in the Minds of Tigers

Horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon, horizon

If you like this, you'd almost certainly like:
Espers -
Espers (2003)
Woven Hand -
Consider the Birds (2004)

Dagger of Sacrifice - Joys of the Sorrows (2003)


Related:
Unholy Crucifix - Black Mass Metal (2006)

You up? If so, you could probably use some murky, miserable US funeral doom to narcotize you into the blackest sleep. Copped from the Unholy Crucifix bandcamp, which has a whole bunch of really great stuff, including demos from the dude's other bands (such as this), ALL for ye olde name your price. Might come in handy, as this is just over 16 minutes long, and will probably leave you wanting more.

One track, called "Joys of the Sorrows"

Cult of the shadow.

More along these lines:
Celestiial -
Desolate North (2006)
Absum -
Purgatoire 2007-2009 (2010)

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Alghazanth - Thy Aeons Envenomed Sanity (1999)


Related:
Prevalent Resistance - Eternal Return (2008)

Finnish symphonic black metal. All the epic melancholy and lupine viciousness one might expect from the subgenre, with none of the cheese.

Track listing:
1. Introduction (The Broken Talon)
2. The Unbounded Wrath
3. My Somberness Surmounted
4. Of a Stormgrey Vision
5. He Awaits...
6. Towards the Tempting Infinity
7. Ensnared in Moonshades
8. When the Spirits Dance in Grief
9. The Thorns Cry Blood

Await no paradise

You'll also like:
Vordven -
Towards the Frozen Stream (1997)
Atritas -
Where Witches Burnt (2004)

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire (1973)


Related:
John McLaughlin - Devotion (1970)

Flawless, heavy fusion led by the great John McLaughlin. Fiery peaks receding into spaced-out mellows and back again, with a band that included Billy Cobham and Jan Hammer.

Track listing:
1. Birds of Fire
2. Miles Beyond (Miles Davis)
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters
4. Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love
5. Thousand Island Park
6. Hope
7. One Word
8. Sanctuary
9. Open Country Joy
10. Resolution

Flappity-flap-flap

Also of interest:
Charles Earland -
Leaving This Planet (1974)
Arcana -
Arc of the Testimony (1997)

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Flesh Consumed - Ecliptic Dimensions of Suffering (2010)


US technical brutal death metal. Angular, dissonant riffs and rapid-fire drums played with absolute precision all-around, for a crushing but abstract feel. Right at the intersection of Nerdy Lane and Ignorance Boulevard.

Track listing:
1. Devoid of Skin
2. Imprisoned Between Dimensions
3. Drug Induced Psychosis
4. Caverns of the Disembodied
5. Forever Chained (Interlude)
6. Chamber of Torture
7. Beneath the Pendulum
8. Valleys of Rust (Interlude)
9. Immortality Through Infinity Consciousness
10. Doomed (Interlude)
11. Interspecific Coalescence
12. Succumbed to Dementia
13. Staring Into the Abyss (Outro)

While performing the vivisect
I stare deep through the soul into the astral plane
Entranced in nebulas and stellar lights
My physical body continues to torture
while I travel the universe


You'll probably also like:
Trauma - Imperfect Like a God (2003)
Liturgy - Dawn of Ash (2004)

Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday (2008)


Heavy, ritualistic psych from Portland, OR. I'm not fluent in international folk music, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm hearing some Japanese influence, as well as a bit of Indian. Middle Eastern, maybe? Goddamn I suck. Regardless, this is highly advanced music and you need it in your life.

Track listing:
1. Doomsdayer's Holiday
2. Reincarnation Blues
3. The Natural Man
4. Immediate Mate
5. Predestination Blues
6. X-Contaminations
7. Acid Rain

Stoned at the Taj again

You should also hear:
King Black Acid -
Wombstar Session (1995)
Kaada & Patton -
Romances (2004)

Monday, May 23, 2016

Aun - VII (2010)


Canadian experimental drone/doom with industrial leanings. Huge, fuzzed-out power chords rumble under lush layers of chiming guitars, ethereal synths, simple drum patterns, and howling feedback. Heavy, ugly beauty.

Track listing:
1. Drainbow
2. Broken Hill
3. Falcon
4. Blackhole
5. Untitled

Steel skull plain

Orthodox - Gran Poder (2006)
KTL - 2 (2007)

Coil - Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil (2000)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:
ElpH vs. Coil - Worship the Glitch (1995)

Warm but harsh, highly textural drones and other sounds of warped brilliance from Coil, arguably the greatest experimental music project the world has ever known.

Track listing:
1. Higher Beings Command
2. I Am the Green Child
3. Beige
4. Lowest Common Abominator
5. Freebase Chakra
6. Tunnel of Goats I
7. Tunnel of Goats II
8. Tunnel of Goats III
9. Tunnel of Goats IV
10. Tunnel of Goats V
11. Tunnel of Goats VI
12. Tunnel of Goats VII
13. Tunnel of Goats VIII
14. Tunnel of Goats IX
15. Tunnel of Goats X
16. Tunnel of Goats XI
17. Tunnel of Goats XII
18. Tunnel of Goats XIII
19. Tunnel of Goats XIV
20. Tunnel of Goats XV
21. Tunnel of Goats XVI
22. Tunnel of Goats XVII
23. Tunnel of Goats XVIII

Where are you?

You might also enjoy:
Nurse with Wound -
Ostranenie 1913 (1983)
The Residents -
Hades (2009)

Sunday, May 22, 2016

In Slaughter Natives - Enter Now the World (1992)


Martial industrial at its finest. Thunderous percussion, layered synths, cacophonous sample-scapes, and deep, rasping vocals. Makes me feel like I'm in a city that's getting bombarded and burnt to the ground by our enemies.

Track listing:
1. Sacred Worms
2. To Mega Therion
3. Beauty and Bleeding
4. Angel Meat
5. Skin Sore Eyes (Final Structure)
6. Transcendental Carnation
7. Saducismus Triumphatus
8. Total Decay
9. Human Ashes
10. Temple of Flesh and Metal

Give me your flesh

More aural terrorism:
Puissance -
Let Us Lead (1996)
Karjalan Sissit -
Karjalasta Kajahtaa (2004)

Steve Kuhn Trio - Three Waves (1966)


Stripped-down, super-chill post-bop for piano, bass, and drums.

Track listing:
1. Ida Lupino
2. Ah, Moore
3. Today I Am a Man
4. Memory
5. Why Did I Choose You?
6. Three Waves
7. Never Let Me Go
8. Bits and Pieces
9. Kod Piece

Open highway

You might also like:
David Holland Quartet -
Conference of the Birds (1973)
Abdullah Ibrahim -
The Children of Africa (1976)

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Himinbjorg - Where Ravens Fly (1998)


Epic, war-ready French black metal with Viking metal overtones and raw but crisp production. I was planning on doing something special for the 300th black metal post on here (read 'em and weep) but my ideas never fully congealed, so here it is: just another rad-as-fuck black metal record.

Track listing:
1. Lightning of Blood
2. Conqueror
3. In the Haze of the Summer Solstice's Fires
4. Journey Through the Nine Worlds
5. Nidhöggr
6. Where Ravens Fly

Wounds will soon smoke in the freezing dawn

If you like this, try:
Helheim -
Jormundgand (1995)
Árstíðir lífsins -
Jǫtunheima dolgferð (2010)

Marsha Hunt - Attention! (1973)


Soul-infused 70s rock. Almost sounds like some good ol' boy shit, only it's helmed by a kickass black lady who refuses to shave her legs/otherwise embrace gender roles ("Man to Woman"), then turns out a seething, wrenching take on "Southern Man" that should be the definitive version. So, so good. How in the fuck does a record like this slip through the cracks.

Track listing:
1. Good Morning
2. Bad Boogie
3. Man to Woman
4. Will They Still
5. Southern Man
6. Rolling
7. Baby John
8. Sister of Mercy
9. Black Flower
10. Dance Hall

Take me as I am

You might also enjoy:
Millie Jackson -
It Hurts So Good (1973)
Claudia -
Reza, Tambor E Raça (1977)