Bríi - Sem Propósito (2021)

Trance-inducing Brazilian black metal. Two sprawling, psychedelic compositions merging the seemingly disparate worlds of krautrock/Berlin school synth and atmospheric black metal. It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that this is one of my favorite records of the year so far, but honestly, I went into it expecting atmospheric black metal broken up by synth-y interludes, and was elated to hear an actually complete and seamless fusion. Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Two tracks, titled "A" and "B"

Revelations of darkness

You should also hear:

Velvet Cacoon - Northsuite (2005)

Trist - Hin-fort (2007)

Maladie - ...symptoms... (2016)

Excellent German avant-garde metal. A single, 8-part suite (that they call an EP, despite its 41-minute runtime) encompassing black metal, post-metal, and prog, and incorporating saxophone, piano, strings, and choirs.

8 tracks, titled "Divinitas - A Journey Part I" through "Divinitas - A Journey Part VIII"

Opaque and bleak

A gallant void enfolds

If you like this, you should hear:

Thy Catafalque - Tűnő idő tárlat (2004)

Aenoan - Cendres et Sang (2011)

Fantômas - Fantômas (1999)

Related:

Melvins - Eggnog (1991)

Kaada & Patton - Romances (2004)

MadLove - White with Foam (2009)

Slobber Pup - Black Aces (2013)

I'm in a celebrating mood, so here's a personal favorite: the first Fantômas album. God-tier, horror-themed, experimental grind/thrash/sludge/jazz-noir/spazz-core from the folks who brought you, among many others, Mr. Bungle, Slayer, and Melvins. Obviously, this is, by this blog's standards, fairly well-known, but 1) Tomahawk finally put out a new album and it's got me on a Mike Patton kick, 2) Who says everything I post on here has to be obscure? and 3) I guarantee you there are people reading this who have never heard Fantômas and are about to have their minds blown out their asses. 

30 tracks. You can't make me type them all out. Here's a track listing if you want it.

(I have no idea why I had the release date as 2009 initially. I first heard it in summer of 2001. Must be my dumb brain again.)

The wedding bells are ringing

The shotgun is a-singing

Now your fingers steady

More insanity:

Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Towards Men (1996)

Today Is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail (2002)

Endon - Mama (2014)

A mind-melting, eardrum-shattering cacophony of Japanese blackened noisecore insanity. Harsh noise, samples, drumming that's akin to free jazz but with blast beats, tremolo-picked guitars, serrated synths, and unhinged, shrieking vocals. Produced by Atsuo of Boris.

Track listing:

1. Etude for Lynching by Family

2. Parricide Agent Service

3. Acme Apathy Amok

4. Pray for Me

5. WIWTWM

6. Just Like Everybody

Perversion till death

Further into chaos:

Musica Transonic - Musica Transonic (1995)

The Armed - Only Love (2018)

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)

Thy Catafalque - Tűnő idő tárlat (2004)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Thy Catafalque - Sublunary Tragedies (1999)

Incredible third album from this impossibly consistent Hungarian black metal-adjacent solo artist. Plays more like a blackened electro-industrial symphony than an album. The mind reels at the sheer amount of planning that must go into the execution of an album this complex, by oneself.

Track listing:
1. Csillagkohó
2. Neath Waters (Minden Vízbe Mártott Test)
3. Bolygó, Bolyongó
4. Kék ég Karaván
5. Héja-nász az Avaron
6. Zápor
7. Héja-nász az Avaron
8. Varjak Fekszenek

Glasshearted clouds above diving
Veering and falling and rising
Nightfall room, winter shade these days
I close my eyes when I am awake

Similar energy:

The Monolith Deathcult -
Trivmvirate (2008)

Plague Porter -
Don't Let Them Breathe (2016)

Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men (1996)

Mind-blowing experimental sludge. Harvey Milk did a great job of throwing down the gauntlet right off-the-bat with "Pinnochio's Example", an almost absurdly difficult album-opener whose obnoxiously minimal, single-note-riding theme accounts for most of its 10-minute runtime, teasing a catharsis that never quite arrives, then quickly dissipating into a pretty, low-key outro as soon as you think it's finally hitting. They spend the rest of the album -- and their discography, for that matter -- relentlessly subverting expectations, and generating some of the most crushingly heavy music in existence.

Track listing:
1. Pinnochio's Example
2. Brown Water
3. Plastic Eggs
4. My Broken Heart Will Never Mend
5. I Feel Miserable
6. The Lord's Prayer
7. Sunshine (No Sun) Into the Sun
8. Go Back to France
9. A Good Thing Gone
10. One of Us Cannot Be Wrong [Leonard Cohen cover]
11. The Boy with Bosoms

I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me
But the room just filled up with mosquitoes, they heard that my body was free

Similar listening:

Boris -
Amplifier Worship (1998)

Prizehog -
Re-Unvent the Whool (2014)

Today Is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail (2002)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Today Is the Day - Willpower (1994)
Today Is the Day - Today Is the Day (1996)

Sadness Will Prevail is the harshest, most ambitious TITD record by a comfortable margin. A two-disc masterpiece of punishing, metal-leaning noise rock and sludge, interspersed with disturbing sound experiments, and climaxing with a 20-plus-minute instrumental voyage into total paranoid psychosis titled "Never Answer the Phone". Not the most obscure selection, but I've had a particularly anxiety-ridden day and the only way out is through intensely negative music.

Track listing:
   -Disc One-
1. Maggots and Riots
2. Criminal
3. Distortion of Nature
4. Crooked
5. Butterflies
6. Unearthed
7. The Descent
8. Death Requiem
9. Christianized Magick
10. Voice of Reason: Vicious Barker
11. Face After the Shot
12. The Ivory of Self-Hate
13. The Nailing
14. Mistake
15. Invincible
16. Aurora
17. Sadness Will Prevail
  -Disc Two-
1. Myriad
2. Spaceship
3. Flowers Made of Flesh
4. Your Life Is Over
5. Control the Media
6. Vivicide
7. Miasma
8. Times of Pain
9. Breadwinner
10. Friend
11. Never Answer the Phone
12. I Live to See You Smile
13. Sadness Will Prevail Theme

At night I wrap myself in pain
And I'll never see again

Pain Teens -
Pain Teens (1988)

Gasp - Drome Triler
of Puzzle Zoo People (1998)

The Blood of Heroes - The Waking Nightmare (2012)

Related:
Final - One (1993)
Painkiller - Execution Ground (1994)
Arcana - The Last Wave (1995)
Arcana - Arc of the Testimony (1997)

A heady, intense fusion of drum n bass, industrial metal, dub, and a lot more, featuring Justin Broadrick and the dancehall-style vocals of Dr. Israel. Totally bananas, and definitely not for everyone.

Track listing:
1. Piration
2. Death Wish
3. Everything Undone
4. Hecatomb
5. The Last Forest
6. War
7. Towers Arise Underground
8. Dogtown
9. Bronze and Brass
10. Only the Desert Endures
11. I Love You But I Chose Darkness

No allegiance to any nation

Igorrr -
Hallelujah (2012)

Metallic Taste of Blood -
Metallic Taste of Blood (2012)

The Avenging Disco Godfathers of Soul - The Ultimate in Authenticity and Musical Usefulness (2002)

Chaotic, math-y, all-in-all bonkers hardcore/screamo. A great deal of synth, as well as some other unorthodox instrumental choices, assure maximum mind-fuckery. As unfashionable as they may seem -- the cringe-y name, the wackiness, their style hasn't been relevant in almost two decades, etc. -- none of that stops TADGOS from delivering the fucking goods. Plus, go ahead, try to tell me that "Headache in My Ass" isn't a song title for the ages.

Track listing:
1. Somewhere in the Arteries
2. Caribbean KnifeFight
3. Invisible Jacket
4. Reflex Point
5. Revelations Part 2
6. Headache in My Ass
7. The Clone Chamber
8. Witch Hunt
9. Revelations
10. Burned at the Stake

I'm from hell, open a windle

You might also like:

Love Lost But Not Forgotten -
Love Lost But Not Forgotten (2000)

Curl Up and Die -
Unfortunately We're Not Robots (2002)

Milk Cult - Burn or Bury (1994)

Experimental psych/noise rock. Horns, various noise sources, and percussion taking center stage, with spastically-shrieked vocals consisting largely of gibberish, which, along with some beefy bass, occasionally drives them into heavy, Zeni Geva-esque territory.

Track listing:
1. Psychoanalytwist
2. The Fuzz Wah Song
3. Bow Kiness Static
4. Blue Godzilla
5. Urine, the Money
6. Big King Frog
7. Son of Obituary
8. Hello Kitty (Meow Mix)
9. Rabbit in the Hole
10. Sabine
11. '63 Mercury Meteor ($500)

Clown party

You should also listen to:

Drain -
Pick Up Heaven (1992)

Cows -
Sorry in Pig Minor (1998)

Snowman - Absence (2011)

Absence is an awe-inspiring and completely singular record, planned and executed as this Australian band's swansong. A haunting, cinematic, mysterious sound-world of shimmering clean guitars, ghostly singing, thunderous percussion, and gauzy synths, with all of the heavy impact of metal, but none of the distortion or screaming. Highly recommended for anyone who likes dark music of any kind.

Track listing:
1. Snakes & Ladders
2. Hyena
3. White Wall
4. Seance
5. A
6. Memory Lost
7. A Vanishing Act
8. Absence

Remember, remember
Don't feed the hyena

You might also enjoy:

Locrian & Mammifer -
Bless Them That Curse You (2011)

Extra Life -
Dream Seeds (2012)

Old Man Gloom - Meditations in B (1999)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Old Man Gloom - Seminar III: Zozobra (2001)

Chaotic blasts of raging, dissonant post-sludge separated by long stretches of cavernous drone and dark ambient. The first time I heard this I was 17 or 18 and stoned out of my mind, riding in the backseat of a car with two older, cooler metal kids up front, and it blew my fucking head off.

Track listing:
1. Afraid Of
2. Flood I
3. Simian Alien Technology: Message Received
4. Sonic Wave of Bees
5. Sonar Enlightenment Program
6. Rotten Primate
7. The Exploder Whale
8. Poisoner
9. An Evening at the Gentlemen's Club for Apes
10. Vipers
11. Test Result: Alien Ape Distress Signal
12. Flood II
13. Resolving the De-Evolution Concept
14. Scraps Theatre Presents: Confusion in Five Movements

Clenched tight in the fist of God

Also listen to:

Curl Up and Die -
Unfortunately We're Not Robots (2002)

Bloodiest -
Descent (2011)

Prizehog - Re-Unvent the Whool (2014)

US art-sludge. Prizehog's deconstructed, psychedelic, often weirdly beautiful approach to sludge puts them in the company of bands like Melvins and Boris while carving out their own undeniably singular niche. An absurdly underrated record from one of Portland's finest.

Track listing:
1. Parradiggum
2. Whoady
3. Shed
4. Awsme Bube
5. Irrevelant
6. Gnumskull, the Ruler
7. Direction to the Valley

Triple lies and neckties divide
This will be his size

You'd also like:

Thrones -
Alraune (1996)

Bloody Panda -
Summon (2009)

Khanate - Things Viral (2003)

Related:
O.L.D. - The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak (1993) + Formula (1995)
Sarin - Nihilist (1996)
Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) (1998)
Lotus Eaters - Alienist on a Pale Horse (2001)
Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name (2006)
KTL - 2 (2007)
Sunn O))) - ØØ Void (2000) + Dømkirke (2008)
Sunn O))) - Rehearsal Demo Nov 11 2011 (2012)

Deconstructed, minimal drone-doom mastery. The first time I ever heard Things Viral was at a bar in Florida, and I remember thinking that it was the most fucked-up music I'd ever heard playing in a bar. Drawn-out, dissonant, half-distorted chords, humming feedback, razor-sharp drums, and legendarily unhinged vocals from Alan Dubin.

As well-known as they are, I've always felt that Khanate doesn't get enough credit. To me, the entirety of their output is some of the most advanced, unsettling heavy music in existence, yet tons of people act as though the only really good thing they ever did is the self-titled. BULL. SHIT. Things Viral, and their other two records for that matter, are as anxiety-inducing and terrifying as any horror movie, and that's a pretty remarkable achievement.

Track listing:
1. Commuted
2. Fields
3. Dead
4. Too Close Enough to Touch

I'm gonna put you under
Under an open field

You should also listen to:

Otesanek -
Otesanek (2004)

Bloody Panda -
Summon (2009)

Bloodiest - Descent (2011)

Related:
Corrections House - Hoax the System / Grin with a Purpose (2013)

US post-metal. Dynamic, spacious, and crushing, with piano playing a significant role, rhythmically and melodically. One of very few bands from this scene to have really stuck out to me in recent years.

Track listing:
1. Fallen
2. Coh
3. Pastures
4. Dead Inside
5. Slave Rule
6. Obituary

Don't worry, I promise I'll take you home to die

Also check out:

Across Tundras -
Western Sky Ride (2008)

Mouth of the Architect -
Quietly (2008)

Thrones - Alraune (1996)

Mind-melting experimental drone-sludge from the great Joe Preston. He probably doesn't need an introduction, but just in case: Over the years, Preston has played with Earth, Sunn O))), High on Fire, Harvey Milk, Men's Recovery Project, and Melvins (his Melvins solo record was easily the best of the three), and many others.

Track listing:
1. Gifthorse
2. Ursa Minor / Buio Omega
3. Mercuric
4. Ted Williams
5. Googander

Have another glass

You should also listen to:

Boris -
Amplifier Worship (1998)

Asva -
Futurists Against the Ocean (2005)

Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument (2011)

Mindblowing Finnish psychedelic black metal. Haunting, layered passages of chiming guitars and atmospheric sounds lead to thorny, dissonant catharsis, in enveloping, hypnotic, curiously beautiful splendor. And don't sleep on their new album, Värähtelijä, because it's one of the best records of the year.

EDIT: A commenter just pointed out that 20 Buck Spin has reissued all of Oranssi Pazuzu's LPs, and that's super-rad; get 'em here.

Track listing:
1. Sienipilvi
2. Komeetta
3. Uusi Olento Nousee
4. Luhistuva Aikahäkki
5. Maavaltimo
6. Siirtorata 100 10100
7. Andromeda
8. Loputon Tuntematon
9. Kaaos Hallitsee
10. Aareton

Necrocosmic apparitions

You should also check out:

Gigan - Quasi-Hallucinogenic
Sonic Landscapes (2011)

Progenie Terrestre Pura -
U.M.A. (2013)

De Magia Veterum - The Divine Antithesis (2011)

Related:
De Magia Veterum - The Blood of Prophet and Saints (2006)
Cloak of Altering - The Night Comes Illuminated with Death (2011)

Gnarled, relentlessly chaotic Dutch black metal. A piercing, enveloping atmosphere and near-constant, jarring shifts in dynamics and tempo generate an overwhelming sense of tension and anxiety so effectively, it's completely understandable that this project alienates so many listeners.

Track listing:
1. Transfiguration
2. The Stench of Burning Wings
3. The Flaming Sword
4. The Heavens
5. Torn Between Ruins, Faith, and the Divine
6. Burning Hands and a Crown of Flames
7. Angelic Deformity

A nightmare existence forever

You should also hear:

Taurus - No/Thing (2014)

Skáphe - Skáphe² (2016)

Plague Porter - Don't Let Them Breathe (2016)

Gnarled, razor-sharp Czech black/death with avant tendencies. One of my favorite BM releases of the year thus far. Available for free/name your price, along with their first album, via bandcamp.

Nerd rage note: I get irked when I get an album from some blog, only to later notice that the band has made it available for "name your price" on bandcamp. Like, if a band is cool enough to give their shit away themselves, do you really have to UL it to Mediafire? Just let them do it. That way, people can throw them some money if they feel so inclined, and at the very least, the band can see, through listening/downloading stats, that people give a shit about their band. Right? Anyone? (Gonna look pretty fucking dumb if it turns out that I've accidentally done this.)

Track listing:
1. Pale Floods
2. Colossal Embrace
3. Raised by Disease
4. Æon of Rabies
5. When Pain Turns to Passion
6. Monuments to Vanity
7. Carbonic Failure
8. Apeiron Obsession

Pointless flesh

You might also wanna hear:

Thy Catafalque -
Sublunary Tragedies (1999)

Rites of Thy Degringolade -
The Caryatid (2000)