AFFECTVS & Lamia Culta - Blessing from the Darkness (Opus II) (2017)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Lamia Culta - Patre Satanas (2009)

Excellent ritual dark ambient from a Russian-Ukrainian collaboration. A positively spellbinding vocal performance from Fosco Culto (aka Lamia Culta), who whispers, sings, chants, hisses, moans, and screams like a woman possessed into AFFECTVS' utterly lightless, immersive sound-void.

Note: Bizarrely, Blessing from the Darkness (Opus II) is the second of three different titles under which this record has been released, but it includes 4 crucial additional tracks that weren't on the first one, so it's the version you're getting.

Track listing:

1. Retson Retap

2. Verbum Portae Aperio

3. In Nomine Mali

4. Nahema Sinistra

5. Luna Sacra, Luna Atra

6. Reiran Modor Lilith

7. Spirits Ov Damned

8. Sama Atar

9. Maniestatio Ahriman

10. Notammargartet

11. Requiem

"Here the possession of the Darkness come into contact with the human world."

More dark magicks:

Diamanda Galás - The Litanies of Satan (1982)

Halgrath - Liquid Mind (2010)

Corpses as Bedmates - Venus Handcuffs (1986)

Lo-fi experimental post-punk/art-goth madness. A weird, clattering, wheezing cacophony that defies expectation and description.

Track listing:

1. Venus Handcuffs

2. Haesibah

3. As Though Through

4. Fur Man

5. Birds Fly Out

6. Dear Dear

7. Gus Black Box

8. Phantom

9. For the Rest of the Day

10. Rest Home

Rainbow acid cuts my hands

And my head goes into the stream

Similar listening:

Ballet Mécanique - The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation (1981)

Malaria! - Emotion (1982)

Black Widow - Sacrifice (1970)

An underground classic of British occult prog. If you like Hammond organ, saxophone, noodle-y solos, and Satan, you've come to the right place. 

Track listing:

1. In Ancient Days

2. Way to Power

3. Come to the Sabbat

4. Conjuration

5. Seduction

6. Attack of the Demon

7. Sacrifice

Come, come, come to the Sabbat

Come to the Sabbat

Satan's there!

You should also hear:

Aum - Resurrection (1969)

Horrific Child - L'Étrange Mr Winster (1976)

Aelter - Dusk-Dawn (2009)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Aelter - Aelter II: Follow You Beloved (2011)

Aelter - Aelter III (2011)

Under normal circumstances, I maybe wouldn't post yet another Aelter album, but I'm currently feeling like shit due to getting my COVID booster, and this dark, droning, sickly sound is exactly what I need right now, and it actually works perfectly for Halloween season, so that's what you're getting. Hey I just remembered the time that I had swine flu, which was one of the most wretched fevers I've ever had, and I apparently fully blacked out while listening to ØØ Void in bed, as I came to standing on the stairs with my wife tapping me on the arm.

Track listing:

1. Dusk

2. Dawn

To rest but never sleep

To sleep but never dream

You'd also like:

Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday (2008)

Blood Fountains - Floods (2009)

Autumn Tears — Love Poems for Dying Children - Act I. (1996)

Ethereal darkwave with an ample helping of goth cheese. Organs creek, keyboard-strings weep, and male-female vocals soar through the night sky like lost spirits.

Track listing:

1. They Watch with Closed Eyes

2. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 1. Spring

3. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 2. Summer

4. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 3. Autumn

5. Ode to My Forthcoming Winter: Part 4. Winter

6. The Eloquent Sleep

7. And Then the Whispering...

8. One Tender Kiss (The Lost Seasons) - Prelude to the Garden of Crystalline Dreams

9. Carfax Abbey

My children of sadness

I welcome thee into my arms forever

You might also like:

Arcana - Dark Age of Reason (1996)

Dargaard - Eternity Rites (1999)

Cakebuilder - Decks n' Demons (2006)

Horror-themed, EBM-fueled breakcore from Distorted Memory mastermind Jeremy Pillipow. Blown-out breakbeats, thick-ass synths, distorted vocals, and production that positively demands to be played at speaker-blowing volumes.

Track listing:

1. Book of the Dead

2. Savage

3. Necron the Hell God

4. Demoni

It deals with demons and demon resurrection and those forces which roam the forest and dark bowers of Man's domain.

If you like this, listen to:

Xylocaine - Experiment in Fear (1995)

Fïx8:Sëd8 - Humanophobia (2005)

Mz. 412 - In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi (1995)

Related:

Pouppée Fabrikk - Rage (1990)

Black industrial from hell. Ugly drone, harsh noise, industrial excrement, throbbing martial rhythms, distorted synths, movie samples, and Satanic incantations.

Track listing:

1. In Nomine Dei

2. Salvo Honoris Morte

3. Necrotic Birth

4. Black Earth

5. Daemon Raging

6. God of Fifty Names

7. Regis Satans

8. Paedophilia Cum Sadismus

9. Hail the Lord of Goats

Everlasting hedonistic rhapsody

More gnarly industrial:

In Slaughter Natives - Enter Now the World (1992)

Brighter Death Now - The Slaughterhouse (1993)

Wampyrinacht - The Cloven Hoof (1998)

Related:

Nihasa - Brahamanda Xul Grimoire (2009)

Acrimonious - Sunyata (2011)

Acherontas - Ma​-​IoN (Formulas of Reptilian Unification) (2015)

Greek occult black metal. Epic/melodic/quasi-symphonic songwriting, complete with some clean male-female vocals and totally kickass shred solos. Another record that I've been meaning to post around Halloween every year since this blog started.

Track listing:

1. The Mass of Astaroth

2. Spellbound by the Wolves

3. Cup of Immortality

4. The Cloven Hoof

5. The Darkest Sunset (Elisaveta)

Satanas Venire! Diabolus Venire!

You'd also enjoy:

Medieval Demon - Demonolatria (1995)

Diabolical Masquerade - Ravendusk in My Heart (1996)

The Ghastly Ones - A-Haunting We Will Go-Go (1998)

Tongue-in-cheek, old-school-horror-themed surf rock from sunny California. Pure camp, but they have the chops to make it a genuinely entertaining listen. I honestly don't know shit about surf rock, and am only aware of this band because "Hangman Hang Ten" was on one of those random comp CDs that used to sell for like a buck or two (I found it!) at Borders or whatever, and I ended up tracking them down on Napster.

Track listing:

1. An Invitation

2. Ghastly Stomp

3. Hangman Hang Ten

4. Thunderhead

5. Pacific Ghost Highway...

6. Haulin' Hearse

7. Lonesome Undertaker

8. Mysterion

9. The Boys Go Creeping...

10. Diabolo's Theme

11. Action Squad

12. Deadbeat

13. Spookmaster

14. Doctor Diabolo Speaks...

15. Attack of Robot Atomico

16. Los Campiones del Justicio

17. Hollywood Nocturne

18. Surfin' Spooks

19. A Final Warning...

20. The Ghastly Stomp

"Hey, I've heard about him, I hear he's got go-go ghouls."

Never posted a surf record before, so I dunno, try these:

The Vampires of Dartmoore - Dracula's Music Cabinet (1969)

Zombie Zombie - A Land for Renegades (2008)

Ami Marie - Verrückt Nach Glück (1981)

Excellent German minimal wave. Synths, vocoder, and weirdo-creepo vibes. Definitely first found this on the late, great Mutant Sounds, but tracked down a better rip a few years later.

Track listing:

1. Verrückt Nach Glück

2. Zartbitter...

3. Spiel mit Mir

4. Sehnsucht

5. Wir Sind Zufrieden

6. Der Seemann und die Rose

7. Licht Zerbricht

8. Reisen

9. Abschied

10. Epilog (Verrückt Nach Glück)

Wounded in sleep again

You'd also like:

Leda - Welcome to Joyland (1978)

Warning - Warning (1982)

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)

Mysterious Art — Omen - The Story (1989)

[Crypt Keeper voice] Hello, creeps! As I'm sure you know, Halloween Season is always a special time here at Opium GLUM. And your old pal the Opium Keeper has just the twisted tale to start things off on the right foot [holds up severed foot, giggles.] It concerns a group of coked-up Germans who just couldn't get enough of the KNIFE life! [more giggling] So when they conspired to make an album of Hi-NRG bangers, they stuffed it so full of spooky samples, deadly drum machines, petrifying pianos, scary synths, and vampiric vocals -- people who heard it didn't know whether to laugh or DIE! [this one really gets me going, I absolutely laugh my fucking ass off for a full 15-20 seconds] I call this one... Omen - The Story.

Track listing:

1. In Nomine (Intro)

2. Das Omen - Teil 1

3. Requiem

4. Humunkulus (Men of Glass)

5. The Beyond

6. Carma - Omen 2

7. Fallen Angel

8. Don't Fly Too High

9. Heaven's Door

10. Requiem (Instrumental Mix)

11. Humunkulus (Dub Mix)

Look upon your life

Don't cover up the things you've done

Were they always good

Or did you perish for the evil one?

GORE like this:

Easy Going - Fear (1979)

Zombie Zombie - A Land for Renegades (2008)

SOM - The Shape of Everything (2022)

Absolutely beautiful doom-gaze. While so many of their shoegaze-infused post-metal peers still lean heavily on the drawn-out crescendos of mid-aughts post-rock, SOM keeps their songwriting concise while allowing their sound to remain proudly, passionately outsized. Like a more muscular, reinvigorated Jesu, or Deftones if they allowed their dreamiest impulses to reign. (I know there are a lot of Deftones haters out there, so please don't let that last part stop you from checking this out.) Free/name your price via the SOM bandcamp.

Track listing:

1. Moment

2. Animals

3. Center

4. Shape

5. Clocks

6. Wrong

7. Heart Attack

8. Son of Winter

Nothing can stop me now

You're right, you're right

You should also hear:

Year of the Rabbit - Year of the Rabbit (2003)

Coaltar of the Deepers - Yukari Telepath (2007)

Telefilme - Pocket Horror Symphony (1997)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Telefilme - Fade In, Fade Out (1995)

By request, here's the second and final album by this truly phenomenal duo. Somewhere between the electronic sounds of the mid 90s, the romantic depression of 80s new wave/pop, and the cluttered aesthetic of a burgeoning indie/post-rock scene, Telefilme struck a magic kind of musical alchemy on two 10/10 albums, then broke up because they were too good for this world.

Track listing:

1. Electric Farm

2. Hi-Fi Ghost

3. Shopping List Blues

4. Da Haus

5. California Punch

6. Jeremy

7. Catastrophe Baby

8. Fahrenheit

9. I Will Follow the Leader

10. Doll-House

11. Peter Pain

12. Ballad of the Droog

Life's like a big supermarket

You should also hear:

Mark Renner - All Walks of This Life (1986)

Jack Frost - Jack Frost (1991)

Jega - Spectrum (1998)

Expansive, genre-omnivorous electronic music from UK producer Jega. Breakbeat, IDM, drum n bass, instrumental hip-hop, and downtempo all pop up throughout, but warm, crystalline synths secure a certain level of sonic cohesion through the chaos.

Track listing:

1. Phalanx

2. Kid Sista

3. Muzical Chairz

4. Red Mullet

5. NIA

6. DMC

7. Brad's Garden Maintenance

8. German

9. Intron.ix

10. Mai

11. Pitbull

12. Gemini

13. Ephem

14. Bikini Ski Boat

15. Manic Minor

Super, modern, intelligent

You might also enjoy:

Alec Empire - Generation Star Wars (1994)

Nobukazu Takemura - Child's View (1994)