Saturday, January 25, 2025

Left Behind - No One Goes to Heaven (2019)


Punishing, sludgy metalcore. Groove-heavy, Down-inspired riffs as filtered through beatdown chugga-lugs for husky boys. Sounds like half of them wants to smoke blunts, the other half wants to beat up the first half for polluting their body and minds. But make no mistake: No One Goes to Heaven is no joke. It's a fucking killer album, whether you wanna maximize your gains or sit around wondering where it all went wrong.

Track listing:
1. Hell Rains From Above
2. Eternity of Empty
3. Throwing Stones
4. Peeling Wax
5. Shadow of Fear
6. Staring at the Sun
7. God Calls Out
8. Smoke and Pain
9. Outside the Body
10. The Mirror
11. Prisoner of Mind
12. What Makes Your Hurt


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Saturday, January 18, 2025

Various Artists - Someplace You Cannot See (2024)


This is a mix that I made when I was really, really going through it, probably in late April of last year. Unlike the last mix I posted, this one I really put some time into, piecing it all together into two suite-style, 46-minute sequences in Garageband over the course of a few days. It's pretty depressing, obviously, but I was in desperate need of an outlet, and it's definitely one of the best mixes I've ever made. There's a ton that I could write about why I chose each track on here, but y'all have already heard enough about my grief, so I'll just let you enjoy it however you like.

(To be clear: this is two 46-minute tracks.)

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Joan Bibiloni - Una Vida Llarga I Tranquila (1984)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Folk-infused, synth-y Spanish jazz-funk/lite fusion. My commute to work starts around 6:15-20 in the morning, which means that there are generally not a lot of cars on the road when I leave, and, for most of the year, the sun isn't even up yet. I have a couple of mixes specifically made for this dark, slightly eerie, but laid-back early morning commute, and this record's title track is the first song on one of them. (The next two songs, you ask? "Song for Sharon" by Joni Mitchell, and "Falling to Pieces" by Faith No More. I'm usually at work by the time "Falling to Pieces" fades out.) So take that as my overall assessment of the album. Also, please stick around till the end, things get pretty fucking weird and I wouldn't want you to miss it.

Track listing:
1. El Cumpleaños Se Jaimito
2. Unda Vida Llarga I Tranquila
3. El Aguacito
4. Lailala Lailala
5. Doble Volta
6. Sagitari
7. Jazmin 29
8. Una Vida Llarga I Tranqiula II


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