Fursaxa - Alone in the Dark Wood (2007)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Fursaxa - Mandrake (2000)

Spectral psych-folk composed of mostly wordless vocal laments and minimalist acoustic figures. A desolate forest trail lined with the spirits of the damned. Free/name your price via the Stench Ov Death bandcamp.

Track listing:

1. Intro

2. Lunaria Enters the Blue Lodge

3. Bells of Capistrano

4. Drinking Wine in Yarrow

5. Black Haw

6. Clé Elum

7. Alone in the Dark Wood

8. Nawne Ye

9. Sheds Her Skin

10. In the Hollow Mink Shoal

11. Rattling the Calabash

12. Birds Inspire Epic Bards

13. Of Tubal Cain

We will conquer this wilderness. It will not consume us.

Also listen to:

Isengrind - Golestan (2007)

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Negative Chambers (2017)

Upward Arrows - Upward Arrows (2010)

The first album from this project of Melbourne-based artist John McCaffrey, who has also released music as Part Timer and Scissors & Sellotape. There are subtle differences between each of these projects -- Scissors & Sellotape is more abstract and piano-based, Part Timer (his 'main gig') is earthier and more rhythmic, and Upwards Arrows flirts with the sounds of contemporary classical -- but they're all cut of the same cloth. To be a bit reductive, McCaffrey's music generally involves a combination of acoustic/organic instrumentation and glitchy textures, and the end results are uniformly beautiful, damaged, and downcast.

For Upwards Arrows, he joined forces with a string quartet and fellow experimental musician William Ryan Fritch (aka Vieo Abiungo). Most of the record is spent in an amorphous cloud of bright, shimmering drone, made up of strings, wordless vocals, and grainy white noise. Certain moments recall the most atmospheric outer-reaches of neofolk; elsewhere, the harsher elements fully take over. Overall, it's probably my favorite record he's made.

Track listing:

1. ^

2. ^^

3. ^^^

4. ^^^^

5. ^^^^^

6. ^^^^^^

7. ^^^^^^^

8. ^^^^^^^^

9. ^^^^^^^^^

10. ^^^^^^^^^^

They were overwhelmed

Whilst walking back home

If you like this, listen to:

David Darling - Cello (1992)

Portrait of David - These Days Are Hard to Ignore (2001)

Sink - Ark of Contempt and Anger (2016)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Sink - The Process (2008)

In which Sink leave behind blackened drone-doom for a strange, unsettling concoction of avant-garde, neofolk-infused darkwave and vintage Goblin-esque psychedelia. It's starting to look like this might be Sink's last record, and if so, it's a fucking bummer that we'll never get to know where they might've gone from here.

Track listing:

1. Hunger

2. Pilgrimage

3. Dream Map

4. Consolation

5. Crystal Ship

6. Enchant

7. Terminal

8. World Asthma

9. So We'll Go No More A-Roving

GHGHGH

Also listen to:

Ordo Equilibrio - The Triumph of Light... and Thy Thirteen Shadows of Love (1997)

Snowman - Absence (2011)

Blood of the Black Owl - A Banishing Ritual (2010)

A heady fusion of dark psych, Pagan neofolk and blackened drone-doom. Dissonant monoliths of sound worthy of latter-day Swans broken up by flashes of crushing, pitch-black caveman sludge. It's borderline criminal that it took me so long to post this.

Track listing:

1. Intent

2. The Statement of Will

3. Chant of the Captured Spirit

4. The Final Banishing

I will stab and cut

Also check out:

Matt Howden & Tony Wakeford - Three Nine (2000)

Amestigon - Thier (2015)

Dernière Volonté - Les Blessures de l'Ombre (2003)

Synth-heavy, martial-industrial-neofolk. A perfect example of the kind of music I tend to listen to when I'm sick, which I am.

Track listing:
1. Ouverture
2. Le Poison
3. Vienna
4. Les Orages du Crime
5. Les Yeux Fermés
6. La Foudre et le Tonnerre
7. Un Dernier Crépscule
8. Vers la Lumière
9. La Source
10. Ton Visage de Papier
11. Les Blessures de l'Ombre
12. Souvenir de Demain
13. Si...
14. Au Revoir

Choosing to suffer

More like this:

Ordo Equilibrio -
The Triumph of Light... and Thy
Thirteen Shadows of Love (1997)

The Days of the Trumpet Call -
I Saw No Temple in the City (2001)

Bosse - Echoes of the Forgotten (2008)

Deeply mournful instrumental neofolk. Uneasy drones hover over stark acoustic guitar figures. Winter was already getting me down, then I had a major fuck-up come to fruition last week, so expect sporadic, morose posting, if any.

Six tracks, titled "I" through "VI"

And everybody's leaving
Everybody's kneeling
When all that's left to want is
One good reason
One good reason
For this to be left to doubt

You'd probably also like:

Six Organs of Admittance -
For Octavio Paz (2004)

Footpaths -
Footpaths (2012)

Sturmast ‎- Ibis Redibis Nunquam In Bello Peribis (2007)

Hungarian neofolk-infused martial industrial. An anxious yet mesmerizing world of bombastic horns, pounding percussion, echoing, distorted shouts, samples, sharp acoustic strumming, various folk instruments, and massive drones. I honestly didn't know what to make of this album when I first heard it, but it has aged extremely well, gradually revealing itself as a remarkable, singular work.

Track listing:
1. Solum Ipsum
2. My Prayer Is My Inner Armour
3. Kraft
4. The Big Play
5. For Everyone Circus and Bread!
6. Veni Vidi Vici
7. The Regiment Is Departing

Compromise is not possible

If you like this, you should also hear:

Ordo Equilibrio - The Triumph of Light...
and Thy Thirteen Shadows of Love (1997)

Combative Alignment -
Everlasting Sun (2003)

Footpaths - Footpaths (2012)

Had to take a quick trip back east that included a funeral, a heinous upper-middle-class quasi-redneck party, drinking in a Massachusetts college town on Cinco de Mayo, then waking up at an ungodly hour to catch a plane back here. Thus I am cranky and dead to the fucking world.

On the bright side, though, I'm in the perfect state of mind for these evocative, acoustic guitar-based sounds, which I've been meaning to post about for a while now. Courtesy of American musician Jon Rosenthal, who, among other much more significant things, is a semi-regular commenter on this dumb blog. Classically-inspired guitar figures against a backdrop of harmonium, melodica, and field recordings, or, as Rosenthal puts it, "audio photographs of small and/or ghost towns strewn about the Midwest and Florida." Everything on his bandcamp is free/name your price AND great, so get at it!!

Track listing:
1. Birnamwood, WI
2. Deepwater, MO
3. Fort Lonesome, FL
4. Four Houses, KS
5. Paradise, KY
6. Sacred Heart, OK

Watching headlights disappear

You might also enjoy:

Christina Carter -
Bastard Wing (2003)

Ilyas Ahmed -
Speaking of Shadows (2006)

Various Artists - Infernal Proteus (A Musical Herbal) (2002)

Related:
Alio Die - Sit Tibi Terra Levis / Introspective (1990)
In Gowan Ring - Love Charms (1994)
Ah Cama-Sotz - Terra Infernalis (1999)
Apoptose - Nordland (2000)
Chaos as Shelter - In the Shelter of Chaos (2000)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
Inade - The Incarnation of the Solar Architects (2009)

Your boy DEAR_SPIRIT is about to leave for a little over a week of touring with my band Rohit, so I'm gonna hit y'all with something special that should take a while to burn through. It's a phenomenal 4-disc compilation of songs by various darkwave, neoclassical, neofolk, and otherwise industrial-adjacent artists, each of which is meant to represent a different herb. What's that? Yes, marijuana is included -- Lotus Eaters are given the honor. Other artists include the rest of the above-linked, as well as Amber Asylum, RAIN, Troum, and a whole bunch more. Full track listing here. You're welcome.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

You should also listen to:

Forseti -
Windzeit (2002)

Sieben -
Ogham Inside the Night (2005)

Of the Wand and the Moon - The Lone Descent (2011)

Related:
Black Wreath - A Pyre of Lost Dreams (2009)

Epic, inventive, devastating, but utterly beautiful neofolk from this longstanding project by Danish musician Kim Larsen. The Lone Descent uses 'traditional' neofolk as a starting point, then shoots out in every possible direction. From the slow-burning "Absence" to the chiming, maximalist "We Are Dust" to the cinematically downcast "A Tomb of Seasoned Dye" to the sparse desolation of "Is It Our of Our Hands", one gets the sense that Larsen consciously set out to make a masterpiece -- and succeeded.

Track listing:
1. Sunspot
2. Absence
3. A Pyre of Black Sunflowers
4. Tear It Apart
5. We Are Dust
6. A Tomb of Seasoned Dye
7. Is It Out of Our Hands
8. Watch the Skyline Catch Fire
9. The Lone Descent
10. Immer Vorwarts
11. A Song for Deaf Ears in Empty Cathedrals

I should have thrown myself in the fire
I should have

You should also listen to:

Matt Howden -
Hellfires (2000)

Rome -
Flowers from Exile (2009)

Rome - Flowers from Exile (2009)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Rome - Mass Mensch Material (2008)

In which Rome (temporarily) does away with dark ambient and industrial, landing closer to pure neofolk than ever before. However, it's easily the most big-hearted, populist neofolk I've ever heard, with crisp, sparkling production to match. And every song is among Rome's best -- the kind of songs that speak to the human condition in such a way as to actually help us to better understand it. Flowers from Exile helped me get through one of the hardest periods of my adult life, and remains an absolute all-time favorite of mine. Like, top 10 material.

Track listing:
- Flowers from Exile -
1. To a Generation of Destroyers
2. The Accidents of Gesture
3. Odessa
4. The Secret Sons of Europe
5. The Hollow Self
6. A Legacy of Unrest
7. To Die Among Strangers
8. A Culture of Fragments
9. We Who Fell in Love with the Sea
10. Swords to Rust Hearts to Dust
11. Flowers from Exile
12. Flight in Formation

For what binds us to our grief
Binds the sculptor to his clay

Also listen to:

Espers -
Espers (2003)

Woven Hand -
Consider the Birds (2004)

The Days of the Trumpet Call - I Saw No Temple in the City (2001)

Synth-based, neofolk-y neoclassical. This band may or may not be fucked up, especially depending on your level of tolerance for this type of thing -- for instance, they're associated with Von Thronstahl -- so I'm really hoping none of this German contains socially or politically vile messages. 'Cause musically, it mostly just sounds like a less campy Creepshow soundtrack.

Track listing:
1. Oh Trost der Welt
2. ... I Saw No Temple in the City
3. Die Sehnsucht So Gross (Meine Stunde Ist Noch Nicht Gekommen I)
4. Oh Tiefe Ohne Grund
5. Bereit Zum Fluge in die Sterne
6. In Demut, in Ewigkeit
7. Epilog (Meine Stunde Ist Noch Nicht Gekommen II)

The horseman held a sword

You should also hear:

Die Verbannten Kinder Evas -
Die Verbannten Kinder Evas (1995)

Moon Far Away -
Sator (2000)

Helrunar - Grátr (2003)

Stellar German Pagan black metal. Grátr is a demo in name alone, as it finds the band's sound -- vicious and lupine, with an epic, neofolk-tinged melodic sense -- already fully realized and flawlessly executed.

Track listing:
1. Der Fährtensuche
2. Raune mit der Ti
3. Ich Bin die Leer
4. Seelenwinter
5. Grátr
6. Morket Under Ver
7. Hornung
8. Das Heilige Feue
9. Kvasirs Blut

Impact of gods

You would also like:

Wolfhetan -
Entrückung (2006)

Árstíðir lífsins -
Jǫtunheima dolgferð (2010)

Matt Howden & Tony Wakeford - Three Nine (2000)

Related:
Steven Stapleton & Tony Wakeford - Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish (1992)
Matt Howden - Hellfires (2000)
Sieben - Ogham Inside the Night (2005)
Tony Wakeford - Not All of Me Will Die (2009)

Abstract, psychedelic neofolk from two masters of said musical realm. A capacious sound-world of thick drones, echoing strings, warm acoustic guitars, tape loops, and grim spoken word.

Track listing:
1. Thurisaz I
2. Ginnungagap III
3. Hagalaz I
4. Thurisaz II
5. Ginnungagap II
6. Hagalaz III
7. Thurisaz III
8. Ginnungagap I
9. Hagalaz II
10. Death's Dead
11. Death's Head (Instrumental)

Out of all this beauty something must come

More like this:

Mother Destruction / Sixth Comm -
Seething (1990)

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

Crown of Asteria - Karhun Vakat (2016)

An album of mesmerizing, atmospheric, neofolk-infused US black metal from one-woman project Crown of Asteria. Adventurous, often breathtakingly gorgeous, utterly singular sounds. Free/name your price, along with a bunch of other great albums, via the Crown of Asteria bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Tietäjä
2. The Golden Light of Birchwood Temples
3. Hongotar
4. Sky-Nail
5. Black Antlers Above the Lodge
6. Väki
7. Kallohonka

A conduit for the trees and stars

You might also want to check out:

Summoning -
Oath Bound (2006)

Wolfhetan - Was der Tag
Nicht Ahnt (2012)

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)

Uaral - Lamentos a Poema Muerte (2007)

A Chilean duo, Uaral were quite a unique force in underground metal. In a general sense, they were a doom metal band -- slow and extremely depressive, with guttural growls and deep, sorrowful singing -- but there's very little drumming, a certain amount of flute, and most significantly, the guitars are, with the exception of a few leads, entirely acoustic and have a distinctly South American flair. Lamentos A Poema Muerte is their second and seemingly final album, and it's one of the most utterly depressing records on the planet.

Track listing:
1. Preludio a la Siembra
2. La Escritura y el Alarido
3. Lamentos...
4. Surrendered to the Decadence (Part II)
5. El Campesino
6. Eterno en Mi
7. Acidal (Tonada Para el Huerto en re Memor)

Distant cries of the lost

More beautiful sorrow:

Tenhi -
Airut:Aamujen (2004)

Kauan - Lumikuuro (2007)
+ Tietäjän Laulu (2008)

Paul Roland - Burnt Orchids (1985)

Fatalistic, folk-inflected, darkly political new wave. Lands in a perfect sweet-spot between morbid post-punk (think The Sound), atmospheric new wave (think The Church), and even some of the more accessible neofolk (think Rome.)

Track listing:
1. Death Or Glory
2. Burnt Orchids
3. The Puppet Master
4. Captain Blood
5. Cairo
6. Green Glass Violins
7. Funhouse
8. Ghost Ships
9. Dr. Strange [bonus]
10. Madelaine (Remix) [bonus]
11. Berlin [bonus]

To the valley of the kings

You'll probably also enjoy:

Simple Minds - Real to Real Cacophony (1979)

Urban Verbs - Urban Verbs (1980)

Ordo Equilibrio - The Triumph of Light... and Thy Thirteen Shadows of Love (1997)

First-rate Swedish industrial-neofolk. Because, much like that of black metal, the neofolk scene is riddled with racist shitheads, it might please you to know that Ordo Equilibrio (now Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio) are quoted as stating that "nazis, racists, and homophobes [have] no place in [their] scene."

Track listing:
1. Victory Starts Here, in the Land of Completion
2. Walpurgisnacht in the Grotto. Dancing with Lilith
3. Marching Across the Stupid and Ignorant
4. Thou Cannot Love Them All, When the Trumpet Sounds
5. Entering the Masturbatory / Luxuria My Rubber Angel
6. This Absolute Supper, Second Consecration
7. Carnival (Festivity in Flesh)
8. Invocation ov Prosperity, Pleasure, Progress, and Love
9. Under the Rose, Cuitus Excelsi. Pain, Bondage, and Subjugation
10. After Reign Cometh Sun
11. Living By the Sword. Dying By the Sword. The Lustrous Banquet
12. And So Forth...

Stand alone

If you like this, try:

Steven Stapleton & Tony Wakeford -
Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish (1992)

Matt Howden -
Hellfires (2000)

Steven Stapleton & Tony Wakeford - Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish (1992)

Related:
Nurse with Wound - Ostranenie 1913 (1983)
Tony Wakeford - Not All of Me Will Die (2009)

Brilliant collaborative effort from Steven Stapleton and Tony Wakeford -- of Nurse with Wound and Sol Invictus, respectively, as we all surely know. Despite it's curiously wacky title, Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish makes for a haunting, heartbreaking listen, as tracks move from blissful drone ("Falling from Heaven") to dense, industrial dark ambient ("Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish") to etherial darkwave ("Walk the White Ghost") to blasphemous neofolk ("Lucifer Before Sunrise") to thrilling, head-fucking tour-de-force ("The Frightened City". )

Track listing:
1. Falling from Heaven
2. Amoeba
3. Amphimixis
4. Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish
5. Walk the White Ghost
6. Lucifer Before Sunrise
7. Flower Dream Song
8. Our Lady of the Wild Flowers
9. The Frightened City
10. Melancholy of the Street

She and me fall together in free death

You might also like:

When - The Black Death (1992)

Dave Phillips - ? (2010)