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)

Child Actor - Never Die (2014)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Child Actor - Promise EP (2013)

Glimmering, hazy electropop with a synth-saturated, 80-s indebted sheen.

Track listing:
1. Morning
2. Against the Night
3. Never Die
4. Last Time
5. Dream Prayer
6. Forever
7. You're a Ghost
8. Fear & Pleasure
9. The Memory
10. The Moment
11. Ungone

There are some things that stay with you for life

Similar listening:

Korallreven -
An Album by Korallreven (2011)

tooth ace. -
Flash and Yearn (2013)

Kleeer - I Love to Dance (1979)

Super groovy, relentlessly fun NYC disco with a gritty funk edge and some more laid-back, buttery-smooth moments. Sounds like the kind of sexy, sweaty, coke-y party that we'd all rather be at.

Track listing:
1. Tonight's the Night (Good Time)
2. Keeep Your Body Workin'
3. Happy Me
4. I Love to Dance
5. It's Magic
6. To Groove You
7. Amour
8. Kleeer Sailin'

You make it easy for me to love you

You'd also like:

Brick -
Good High (1976)

Cerrone -
Love in C Minor (1976)

Aenaon - Cendres et Sang (2011)

Greek progressive black metal. Epic and punishing, with some truly phenomenal guitar work and angular, avant/noir-jazz tendencies.

Track listing:
1. Kafkaesque
2. Suncord
3. Psychonautic Odyssey
4. Grand Narcotic Harvest
5. Once Finite
6. Carnivora's Lair
7. Necroscope
8. Kraanerg
9. Black Nerve
10. In Heaven

The worm that is hiding in my entrails
As the shadows are shining at the bottom of hell

You'd probably also enjoy:

Rites of Thy Degringolade -
The Caryatid (2000)

Oranssi Pazuzu -
Kosmonument (2011)

Stratvm Terror - Germinal Chamber (1994)

Related:
raison d'être - Residuality (1993)

Killer industrial/power electronics from a project of the great Peter Andersson. Thick synths, pounding rhythms, distorted vocals, and big, pitch-black atmospheres. Has a heavy, almost Godflesh-like impact at times. Pretty musical, as far as this stuff goes.

Track listing:
1. Blemish Slaying
2. Cvrses
3. Pvlppit
4. Germinal Torture
5. Saphead
6. Braindash in Plasma Christ
7. Darkgrave
8. Skvllbreeding
9. Why Oral Zebras
10. Sleeping
11. Pvlp
12. Vixen-Angel's Death

The scent of hate

More like this:

Lunus -
Monolilith (1993)

Murderous Vision -
...Loathe (1997)

Bright - Bright (1996)

Blissed-out, kraut-indebted indie/post-rock from a Boston duo. Echoing guitars, understated vocals, insistent drumming, and a few saxophone cameos for good measure. Bright does remind me of some other, great bands -- Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Duster, primarily -- but their sound is their own.

Track listing:
1. Canal
2. The Res
3. Enthusiasm
4. Off
5. Merrimack
6. Point
7. Lake Killala
8. Elting 1901
9. Switch
10. Mugged
11. Redefine
12. All the Wheels Go
13. Pannonica
14. Perennials
15. Boham and Pribram

Forever more or less

You'd also like:

Flying Saucer Attack -
Flying Saucer Attack (1993)

Pram - The Stars Are So Big, the Earth
Is So Small... Stay as You Are (1993)

Alpha - The Impossible Thrill (2001)

Dreamy, abstract Bristol trip-hop. I found this album years ago while searching the Pitchfork archives for their worst reviewed albums -- they gave it a 3.0. But despite the writer's best efforts to make The Impossible Thrill sound unappealing, every descriptor they used just made it sound cooler and cooler. Lush, live instrumental arrangements mixed with trip-hop electronics? Narcotized vocalists? Blatant disregard for traditional song structure? Sounded great to me. So I got it, and have loved it ever since.

Track listing:
1. Still
2. Eon
3. Dim
4. South
5. Almost There
6. Wise
7. Especial
8. Wishes
9. Clear Sky
10. Al Sation
11. Fort

Won't be back

Similar vibes:

A Guy Called Gerald -
Essence (2000)

Milosh -
III (2008)