John Stubblefield - Bushman Song (1986)

Smooth, funky, South American- and African-flavored fusion led by saxophonist John Stubblefield. Today I have this thing that I think is called a day off -- I know, the fuck is that? -- and I guess it means that I'll be sitting on my ass, watching Judge Judy with my lady, getting high, and listening to jazz, new age, and black metal.

Track listing:
1. Bushman Song (Electric Version)
2. Serenade to the Mother Land
3. Some Things Never Change
4. Mwé Malad O
5. Loss of a Moment
6. East Side - West Side
7. Calypso Rose
8. Bushman Song (Acoustic Version)

Free spirits

More along these lines:

Steve Kuhn -
Trance (1975)

Caldera -
Time and Chance (1978)

Internal Rot - Mental Hygiene (2014)

Obliterating, heavy-as-fuck Australian grindcore. Had the pleasure of playing a show with these dudes a few years ago, letting them use our total POS drum set, and watching them completely annihilate a small, packed room.

Track listing:
1. Muciferous
2. Blessed with Light
3. Bamboo Spine
4. Long Pig
5. Sex Everywhere
6. Mental Hygiene
7. True Remorse
8. Opened from Inside
9. Nose in Neck
10. Beamer
11. Chalk Tooth
12. Eyelids
13. Lashed with Viscera
14. Teeth Eating
15. Lingchin
16. Head on a Stick
17. Morons, Infidels, and Fools
18. Hodgkinson St.
19. Hit and Run
20. Riddled with Rage

Pig teeth

If you like this, you'll also like:

Pulmonary Fibrosis -
Organ Maggots (2006)

Suffering Mind -
At War with Mankind (2009)

Bardo Pond - Amanita (1996)

Related:
Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Heaven-sent space rock from one of the very best modern psych bands. Harshly distorted, thick guitars and rhythm section mantras keep an eye on our home planet while weightless drone-leads and disconnected, shoegaze-like murmurs float overhead like angels, beckoning us to the infinite beyond.

Track listing:
1. Limerick
2. Sentence
3. Tantric Porno
4. Wank
5. The High Frequency
6. Sometimes Words
7. Yellow Turban
8. Rumination
9. Be a Fish
10. Tapir Song
11. RM

A lifetime in the ocean

If you like this, try:

Jessamine -
Jessamine (1994)

Bowery Electric -
Bowery Electric (1995)

Locrian & Mamiffer - Bless Them That Curse You (2011)

A compelling collaboration between two stellar artists. Ominous, dissonant drones and sparse, mournful piano make up the bulk of what you'll hear, with acoustic guitars, synths, walls of feedback, and breathtaking vocals to round it out. Emotionally decimating but strangely beautiful, like standing on a hill watching the valley below burn.

Track listing:
1. In Fulminic Blaze
2. Bless Them That Curse You
3. Corpus Luteum
4. Second Burial
5. Lechatelierite
6. Metis/Amaranthine/The Emperor

Your death is mine

Similar listening:

Grails -
Doomsdayer's Holiday (2008)

Saleeha -
Chase the Spirit (2016)

Rotten Light - Through the Corrupted Corridors of My Mind (2014)

Spanish depressive black metal. No real guitars, just keyboards -- most of which are synthesized guitars. This, in combination with dude's crazed screams of agony, makes for a uniquely skin-crawling sound.

Track listing:
1. Life Is My Prison, Death Is the Escape
2. The Way of Self Destruction
3. Dysania
4. Cold Days of the Past
5. Open Your Veins
6. No More
7. I Am the Black Fog
8. Under Suicidal Thoughts
9. Drowning at the Bottom of the Deepest Ocean
10. Disturbed Agonies
11. String of Lost Hope
12. Rotten Light, Rotten Dreams
13. Voices
14. Nocturnal Hypothermia
15. Sweet Scars

I represent my own death
I am a waste

You should also check out:

Black Funeral -
Ordog (2006)

Atrek -
Atrek (2009)

Pankow - Throw Out Rite (1983)

Primitive Italian EBM. Distorted drum loops, buried, cheap-sounding synths, and heavily processed shouts and moans.

Track listing:
1. Das Vodkalied
2. Rendez-Vous dans un Bois
3. Wait & Search
4. ZzWalhalla
5. Destiny
6. I'm Food for You

What're you gonna do for me?

You might also enjoy:

Hocico -
Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Skinny Puppy -
Brap (Back & Forth Vol. 3 & 4) (1996)

Deus Mortem - Emanations of the Black Light (2013)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Anima Damnata - Agonizing Journey Through the Burning Universe and Transcendental Ritual of Transfiguration (2003)

Polish black metal destruction. The presence of members of Infernal War and Anima Damnata might give you an idea of how hard this band slays.

Track listing:
1. Into the Forms of Flesh (The Rebirth)
2. It Starts to Breathe Inside
3. Receiving the Impurity of Jeh
4. The Shining
5. The Harvest
6. Ceremony of Reversion Part 1
7. Emanation

Cover this sphere of fools with infinite despair

If you like this, try:

Beyond Ye Grave -
Raping the Creation of God (2009)

Selbstmord -
Dawn of a New Era (2009)

Philip Jeck - Loopholes (1995)

Excellent first record from English experimental electronic producer Philip Jeck. Hazy, textural, blissfully warped sounds that skew towards ambient, with extended diversions into highly abstract, beat-driven IDM. Hoo boy, this here's a good 'un.

Track listing:
1. Casio
2. Anatomy
3. Louie's Riddle
4. Ulster Autumn
5. PS One
6. Harry and Krishna
7. PS Two
8. The Christian Sink
9. The Frequent Pool
10. Incassum, Casio

I just wanted to know

You should also listen to:

Freeform -
Heterarchy (1996)

We™ -
As Is. (1997)

324 - 冒涜の太陽 (2000)

Heavy, tight Japanese grind/hyperspeed d-beat with ace breakdowns. I can only imagine how utterly buck-wild crowds must have gone for this band.

Track listing:
1. Silence Before Silver Screen
2. Quarter Moon
3. Red Origin Still Streaming
4. Plastic Dream
5. 鉄の森
6. Disgusting Flower
7. Swinging Skull
8. Broken Clock
9. Crawl in the Transparency
10. New Dimension
11. Cobalt
12. Flash Rings Link
13. M.O.C.
14. Glenghost

Demons in the basement

You should also hear:

Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ -
Are You Excrements? (2000)

Suffering Mind -
At War with Mankind (2009)

The Feeling of Love - Reward Your Grace (2013)

Woozy, shoegaze-y French garage. Between keyboards and two guitars, there's a great deal of complimentary textural contrast, an effect that's heightened by their tendency to be ever-so-slightly out-of-tune. Bought this LP right after it came out based on the artwork and the fact that it referenced both Nico ("Reward your grace" is a line from her achingly beautiful "Afraid") and Julee Cruise.

Track listing:
1. Julee Cruise
2. I Could Be Better Than You But I Won't Wanna Change
3. Girl, Your Mother Is Your Best Friend
4. I'm Leaving You Today
5. I Want You (Just Like an Ambulance)
6. Mostly Pet Semen Unit
7. Castration's Fields
8. Jealous Guy
9. You're My Lullaby
10. I Want to Be the Last Song You Hear Before You Die

Cease to know or to tell or to see or to be your own

If you enjoy this, try:

Night Shadow -
The Square Root of Two (1968)

Mind Spiders -
Meltdown (2012)

Sielunvihollinen - Musta Uni (2012) + Ruttokieli (2013)

Finnish raw black metal. Cruel, blown-out sounds for a turd world.

Track listing:
-Musta Uni-
1. Musta Uni
2. Kylmän Syleilyyn
3. Maaksi Tuleva
4. Valtakunta, Voima ja Kunnia!
5. Tämä kansa, Tämä maa
-Ruttokieli-
1. Anna virran viedä
2. Varoituslaukaus
3. Ruttokieli
4. Viimeinen valonlähde
5. Syvyydestä

Daylight obscured by smoke

If you like this, you'll also like:

Tundra -
Ansia (2005)

Rituals of a Blasphemer -
Mors Inumbratus Supra Spritus (2014)

Cult of Erinyes - Blessed Extinction (2013)

Related:
Imber Luminis - Life as Burden (2011)

Belgian black metal. There's a modern, darkly psychedelic feel to Blessed Extinction, but any time spend floating around in space is matched tenfold by crushing heaviness. More people should listen to this band.

Track listing:
1. From the Shattered Skies
2. Jibaku
3. Unspoiled Beauty
4. Bipolar
5. Dissolve into the Stars
6. Sunken Cities
7. The Vlasov Notes
8. Coda

No one remembers
No one cares

You should also listen to:

Kozeljnik -
Deeper the Fall (2010)

Carpe Noctem -
In Terra Profugus (2013)

Voices from the Lake - Voices from the Lake (2012)

Minimal ambient techno from an Italian duo. Mixed as a single, continuous piece of music, making each track feel like an extreme zoom-in on a portion of the same blurred photograph, while masterful use of repetition causes even the most minute of details -- an extra high-hat hit, a faint synth drone -- a sense of significance.

Track listing:
1. Iyo
2. Vega
3. Manuvex
4. Circle
5. S.T. (VTFL Rework)
6. Meikyu
7. In Giova
8. Twins in Virgo
9. Twins in Virgo (Reprise)
10. Mika
11. HGS

Secrets revealed

You will also enjoy:

Acronyn -
Dimensional Exploration 001 (2012) +
Dimensional Exploration 002 (2013)

Varg -
Misantropen (2013)

Sinister - Sacramental Carnage (1991)

Raw early demo from Dutch death metal masters Sinister.

Track listing:
1. Sacramental Carnage
2. Epoch of Denial
3. Lascivious Desolation
4. Perpetual Damnation
5. Compulsory Resignation
6. Putrefying Remains
7. Spiritual Immolation

Into the crypts of emptiness

You will also like:

Caducity -
The Weiliaon Wielder Quest (1995)

Monstrosity -
Millennium (1996)

Nightwing - Something in the Air (1980)

British hard rockin' glory that's riiiiight on the edge of heavy metal. It's that time of year, y'all. I dunno what it is, but stuff like this sounds so much better when you're wearing shades, shorts, and a sweat-soaked T-shirt. If you dig Blue Öyster Cult circa Fire of Unknown Origin, this one's a no-brainer.

Track listing:
1. Fantasia
2. Nightwing
3. Cold Love
4. Edge of a Knife
5. Something in the Air
6. Barrel of Pain
7. Boogie Woman
8. You Keep Me Hanging On
9. Fantasia Reprise

Your time has come

For more like this, try:

Babe Ruth -
First Base (1972)

Dust -
Hard Attack (1972)

Xasthur - All Reflections Drained (2009)

Related:
Mord - Imperium Magnum Infernalis (2006)

Just a reminder that Xasthur has made some of the most fucked-up, depressing, claustrophobic, anxiety-ridden music, black metal or otherwise, ever produced by humans. REALLY wish this dude would put down the acoustic guitar and get back at it.

Track listing:
1. Dirge Forsaken
2. Maze of Oppression
3. Achieve Emptiness Part II
4. Masquerade of Incisions
5. Damage Your Soul
6. Inner Sanctum Surveillance
7. Obfuscated in Oblivion
8. All Reflections Drained

To kill the pain, cut twice as deep

Also listen to:

Endless Dismal Moan -
Curse of Underground (2010)

Moon -
Clavicula Nox (2014)

Voice of Eye - Mariner Sonique (1992)

Far-out, tribal industrial/dark ambient from an American duo. Hypnotic percussion reverberating under massive clouds of drone.

Track listing:
1. Transmission
2. Strange Attractor
3. The Shadow I Knew
4. Deja Hier
5. Melange Nuit
6. Descending a Stare
7. Eros and Innana
8. Deep Be Vox
9. Epitaph for King Lear

Eyelids

You will also like:

Life Garden - Caught Between the
Tapestry of Silence & Beauty (1990)

Vidna Obmana -
Echoing Delight (1993)