Svart - Förlorad (2010)

Related:

Svart - Våran tid är förbi (2009)

Acacia - Tills Döden Skiljer Oss Åt (2013)

A deep, echoing pit of droning, patience-testing DSBM/blackened doom. Heavy, harsh, and hopeless, but brightened by some at times quite pretty, borderline post-rock-sounding guitars. Förlorad could be likened to the Flood of DSBM, in that it has a number of sections that go on waaay longer than they 'should' yet it's absolutely crucial to the overall impact of the payoffs, and the album as a conceptual piece, that they go on as long as they do.

Track listing:

1. Förlorad I

2. Förlorad II

3. Förlorad III

Jag dukar under utan strid inför mörkret
En gnista går om intet utan förhoppning

More sunshine, good times, and fine wine:

Dictator - Dysangelist (2008)

Urna - Iter ad Lucem (2009)

These New Puritans - Field of Reeds (2013)

These New Puritans really had an extraordinary first-3-album arc, moving from post-punk revival to percussive art rock to experimental chamber music with such precision that each of those albums could rightly be considered their best. (The fourth one's really great, too; it just wasn't such a massive shift.)

For me, though, Field of Reeds is an all-out masterpiece. A series of haunting, elusive songs grappling with the (possibly futile) search for meaning, understanding, or connection, against a musical backdrop of piano, woodwinds, horns, strings, synths, and spare percussion. Although there is at least one obvious predecessor -- Mark Hollis -- the mood that this album sets is truly unlike anything else I've heard: always drifting in the liminal space between the beautiful and the sinister without ever fully committing to either one. This sense of constant unease and uncertainty is not for everyone, but at least a few of you are about to discover a new all-timer.

Just want to add this bit from the liner notes regarding the title of the first track, because I love how annoyed they sound: "The opening track originated from a field recording made by Jack Barnett of an amateur singer half-recalling fragments of a song. TNP were unaware of the original song until completion of recording 'The Way I Do' [original title]. Since then the trustees of Bacharach and David's songwriting material have demanded that the title of the half-recalled song be used in place of TNP's title."

Track listing:

1. This Guy's in Love with You

2. Fragment Two

3. The Light in Your Name

4. V (Island Song)

5. Spiral

6. Organ Eternal

7. Nothing Else

8. Dream

9. Field of Reeds

Is there a prayer that just for a moment

real life and dreaming swap places?

Nothing else but this.

You should also listen to:

Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Gastr del Sol - Camoufleur (1998)

Dreamboat - Dreamboat (2016)

Related:

Ilyas Ahmed - Between Two Skies (2005)

Ilyas Ahmed - Speaking of Shadows (2006)
Golden Retriever - Golden Retriever (2010)

One-off collaboration between two phenomenal Portland artists. The rare collaboration that actually delivers on its implicit promise: Ahmed's spectral desert folk intertwined with Golden Retriever's shimmering synth drone.

Track listing:

1. Aftershock / Face to Face

2. Mirrored Image / Your Sunday Best

What do you think I'd see

If I could walk away from me?

You should also hear:

Charalambides - Market Square (1995)

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

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

Heaven is a place down in the fucking dirt

You should also hear:

Breach - Venom (1999)

Empire of Rats - Empire of Rats (2013)

Ætheria Conscientia - The Blossoming (2024)

French progressive/psychedelic black metal. Saxophone and synth factor in pretty heavily. The second entry in my unofficial series "A Lot of the Year's Best Black Metal Records Are Free to Download on Bandcamp."

Track listing:

1. Astral Choir

2. Haesperadh

3. Wrath of the Virikoï

4. Daimu Kadasdra Ko Antall

5. Endless Cycle

6. The Blossoming

Thought we'd be given answers as if they were owed to us

None of this is true

If you like this, check out:

Aenaon - Cendres et Sang (2011)

Nahar - The Strange Inconvenience (2013)

Bestial Mouths - Bestial Mouths (2013)

Propulsive, synth-heavy post-punk/darkwave with droning, tribal-industrial percussion and a lo-fi, horror-fueled aesthetic that was clearly influenced by the short-lived but sorely missed Witch House scene. The vocals -- trembling, reverb-drenched, Siouxsie-esque incantations -- really tie the room together. 

Track listing:

1. Ceased

2. Reunion

3. Faceless

4. Vatic Vision

5. In Empathy

6. Earth

7. Cloaked

8. Movement

9. Death Rattle

Hell is behind that door

Also listen to:

Death Ride '69 - Death Ride '69 (1989)

The KBV - Subjection/Subordination (2011)

Girls Names - Dead to Me (2011)

Where the beach meets the graveyard. The shimmering, reverb-drenched sounds of surf rock applied to the murderous, self-destructive themes of post-punk and gothic rock. Of the many indie-related micro-genres that popped up around this time -- chillwave, witch house, blog house -- surf-indie was one of the micro-est, and it never really took off, but it was fun while it lasted.

Track listing:

1. Lawrence

2. I Could Die

3. When You Cry

4. No More Words

5. Nothing More to Say

6. I Lose

7. Cut Up

8. Bury Me

9. Kiss Goodbye

10. Séance on a Wet Afternoon

When they lay me down in the ground

Bury me in a wall of sound

You should also hear:

Flesh World - Flesh World (2013)

Single Lash - Soft as Glass (2014)

Mastery - Valis (2015)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Mastery - Barbaric Usurpation of the Hypereonic Black Metal Throne (2011)

Easily some of the most relentlessly chaotic black metal in existence. An impenetrable mass that achieves transcendence through sheer, writhing, breakneck cacophony. As inaccessible as Valis is, I honestly feel like it might be a good gateway for people who like experimental music but not black metal, as, despite consisting largely of the most basic components of the genre -- tremolo picked guitars, distorted screams, blasting drums -- its disorienting overall impact is just as akin to that of harsh noise or experimental psych.

Track listing:

1. V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L.

2. A.S.H.V.E.S.S.E.L.

3. L.O.R.E.S.E.E.K.E.R.

4. I.L.K.S.E.E.K.E.R.

5. S.T.A.R.S.E.E.K.E.R.

The men in Mylex suits are still in the area, yellow-snouted, gathering their terrible data, aiming their infrared devices at the earth and sky.

You should also hear:

De Magia Veterum - The Divine Antithesis (2011)

Plebeian Granstand - False Highs, True Lows (2016)

Louis de Mieulle - Defense Mechanisms (2011)

Super tasty debut solo record from French jazz bassist Louis de Mieulle. Nocturnal, woozy, groove-y jazz-rock/fusion featuring a lot of work with out-of-sync time signatures -- I'm guessing there's a more concise, nerdier way term for that but I don't know it -- and the casually virtuosic drumming of Animals as Leaders' Matt Garstka. If you're a regular reader of this blog, this should be way up your alley.

Track listing:

1. Scapegoat 1

2. Scapegoat 2

3. Electric Cell Mutations

4. Skuld

5. Soundfrieze

6. The Ladybug and the Cockchafer

7. The Taste of Filth

8. Portrait de Famille

9. Solitude

Birth of an idiot

Similar sounds:

Hermann Szobel - Szobel (1976)

Percy Jones - Cape Catastrophe (1990)

Exitmusic - Passage (2012)

Glistening, ethereal post/indie rock for sad lovers. Sigur Rós by way of Brooklyn. Everything I'm listening to right now sounds like it was made to be played in stadiums. I believe that a lot of the hype around this band revolved around the fact that its two members were/are married, and one of them (Aleska Palladino) was Angela on Boardwalk Empire, but none of that has anything to do with Passage's ability to make you feel like you're levitating.

Track listing:

1. Passage

2. The Night

3. The City

4. White Noise

5. Storms

6. The Wanting

7. Stars

8. The Modern Age

9. The Cold

10. Sparks of Light

I'll vacuum the spaces

Used to separate me from you

You from me

Death from birth

If you like this, try:

Auburn Lull - Cast from the Platform (2004)

Air Formation - Nothing to Wish For (Nothing to Lose) (2010)

Khalil - The Water We Drink (2017)

The sound of Auto-Tuned pop/R&B stuttering, faltering, collapsing, and being fed through a digital wood chipper. Never heard anything else quite like it. A Posh Isolation joint. I remember thinking this record was gonna be a big deal with us nerds but as far as I can tell I was wrong, as I don't remember hearing/seeing anyone talking about it and it was surprisingly hard to track down a good rip for the purposes of this post. 

Track listing:

1. Trapper

2. Rest My Head Against a Wall of Water

3. Gigds

4. Submit So Deep

5. Estate Straight Line

6. Herat

7. Always Wanted to Ride in a Place Like This

8. Natures Envy

9. Sculpture No Solid

10. The White Hoodie I Wear Because I Love You

I've been looking for your touch

You should also hear:

M.E.S.H. - Piteous Gate (2015)

KÁRYYN - The Quanta Series (2019)

Industries of the Blind - Chapter 1: Had We Known Better (2011)

Melancholic, heartstrings-tugging post-rock to play loud while ruminating on regrets, dead friends, and the overwhelming sadness of our world. Crystalline guitars, shivering strings, slow builds, cathartic peaks, and dejected valleys. Everyone's too cool for this stuff 'til depression comes back around.

Track listing:

1. I Just Wanted to Make You Something Beautiful

2. Waiting and Waltzing in Airport Terminals

3. The Lights Weren't That Bright, but Our Eyes Were So Tired

I can almost see you

More along these lines:

Escape the Day - Ghostless (2005)

Mono - You Are There (2006)

Black Priest of Satan - Element of Destruction (2016)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Black Priest of Satan - We, as Shadows of Satan (2010)

Just got a re-up request on the above post, felt like a good time to revisit this piece of mid-paced, doom-laden German black metal. Gnarly guitar tone, ritualistic atmosphere, riffs, and a touch of slop to let you know that practice comes second, Satanic Chaos comes first.

Track listing:

1. The Element of Destruction

2. Prophet of Fire

3. Blazing Fires in the Night

4. Unheard Prayer

5. Ritual of Three Candles

6. Guided by Two Moons

Bleeding worship

Also listen to:

Törr - Armageddon (1990)

Barathrum - Infernal (1996)

Alkerdeel - De Speenzalvinge (2010)

Sludgy black metal/blackened sludge from Belgium. Dry, thudding drums encased in a thick coat of murky guitars shot through with strung-out screams and moans. "Luizig" is almost half an hour long but it really ties the room together so stick around.

Track listing:

1. Verdesteleween

2. De Bollaf!

3. Luizig

In the coffin of eternal life

My floating self

If you like this, listen to:

Vrolok - Resurgence III: Order of the Sphere (2007)

Brulvahnatu - Menstrual Extraction Ceremony (2011)

Burnt Skull - Sewer Birth (2014)

Nasty noise-sludge coated in industrial waste. Detuned caveman riffs, pummeling drums, black metal howls, and dark, distorted ambience.

Track listing:

1. Harm

2. No Eyes

3. Chain Mask

4. God Hole

5. Lords Prayer Underwater

6. Sewer Birth

7. Abduction (Lost Underground)

8. No Cross

9. Infinite Flesh

10. House of Suffering

Now I know there's something down there

You should also listen to:

Pain Teens - Pain Teens (1988)

HALO - Subliminal Transmissions (1998)

Asura - Asura (2010)

Ambient IDM from an LA artist who seemingly hasn't recorded anything under this alias since. Downtempo beats and bright melodic elements (synths, guitar, vocals, horns) partially obscured, and at times completely subsumed in a warm, vinyl-crackling-like haze.

(Not to be confused with the French ambient trance project.)

Track listing:

1. Asura I

2. Peptine

3. I Saw You in Vice (Anenon Birthday Remix)

4. Orrorin

5. Asura II

6. From the Beach

7. Manzanita

8. Voxels

9. Asura III

10. Her Tearing

11. Timber

12. The Eleventh

13. Feathers

This night comes out of both of us

You should also be listening to:

Saule - Saule (2002)

The Village Orchestra - Et in Arcadia Ego (2005)

Emit - Spectre Music of an Antiquary (2012)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Emit - A Sword of Death for the Prince (2005)

Real haunty-boi hours. Dissonant, reverb-drenched, blackened ethereal darkwave -- spectral synths, skeletal drum machines, and moaning, rasping, wailing vocals.

Track listing:

1. Haunter of Benighted English Summers

2. Mors Wher Devels Are Abrod

3. The Dusk Gardens of Translucent Mansions

4. Shades Over the Mere

5. Trees Once Adorn'd with Severed Heads

6. Sylvan Old Enchanter

7. The Meadow Reapers (A Field Recording)

8. Emanations from Beneath Far Hills, Beyond Far Moons

A lunatic hermit dies in his woodland home

You should also hear:

Shadowseeds - Dream of Lilith (1995)

Belzebuth - Belzebuth (2007)

GGUW - Gegen Gravitation und Willensfreiheit (2011)

Three untitled pieces of utterly mesmerizing black metal that demand close, repeated listening. This record is just so fucking cool. The black ocean of restless guitars, the vocals struggling for air just below the surface, the foreboding figures rising from the murk, all delivered as minimalistic raw black metal -- it's just perfection. Sadly, it's also the only record this band made before one of their guitarists committed suicide; they've put out one more EP since but, for me, it doesn't have the same alchemic dark magic.

That's how we stay young these days

You should also hear:

Cendres - Ungeziefer (2007)

Haunting Depths - Death's Sacred Fire (2017)

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)

John Zorn - The Goddess: Music for the Ancient of Days (2010)

Related:

Painkiller - Execution Ground (1994)

The final installment of a trilogy of albums that found John Zorn at his most accessible by a very wide margin. (Actually, this man has about 4 thousand albums, of which I've heard maybe 20-25, so for all I know, he might have an album of vocal jazz standards sung by Norah Jones.) Ethereal but propulsive jazz fusion powered by a glimmering cloud of vibraphone, harp, piano, guitar, and more. Borders on easy listening at times. If, when you think John Zorn, you think chaotic jazz-grind or discordant avant-garde, this record might blow your mind a bit.

Track listing:

1. Enchantress

2. Ishtar

3. Heptameron

4. White Magick

5. Drawing Down the Moon

6. Beyond the Infinite

7. Ode to Delphi

The center has moved on and all that's left is free

You should also listen to:

Harold Budd - The Pavilion of Dreams (1978)

Midori Takada & Masahiko Satoh - Lunar Cruise (1990)