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)

Psychosis - Death in Utero (1992)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Stillbirth (1995)

Fantasies About Illness (1996)

Garden of Remembrance (1999)

DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile) (2002)

Forever Is Forgotten (2006)

Sentient (2008)

Last Halloween-ish, on my post about Forever Is Forgotten, I wistfully mentioned that it would probably be the last time I posted something by Oneiroid Psychosis, "barring the remote possibility of my finally tracking down a rip of Death in Utero [...] or the even more remote possibility of a new album." Within 24 hours, I had tracked down a copy of Death in Utero, and they had released a new album. Apparently they'd been crowdfunding for it and I missed the whole damn thing. So what I'm trying to say is: I am God.

Oh, the music? It's very much in line with their first two records -- driving, synth-y, and grim -- but the horror theatrics are less over-the-top, and, as one might expect from a demo cassette, it has that fuzzy, lo-fi distortion that we all love. Released before they added the “Oneiroid” part.

Track listing:

1. Dejected Recollection

2. Taint of Blood

3. Impressions

4. Assuage

5. Lies Within

6. Pleasant Dreams

7. For One to Go Insane

8. One Very Young

9. Existence

Do you feel like hurting other people? Do you feel like hurting yourself?

Also listen to:

Twilight Ritual - The Ritual (1982)

Antoni Maiovvi - Shadow of the Bloodstained Kiss (2009)

Excessive Force - Conquer Your World (1991)

Related:

KMFDM - Virus (1989)

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife... (1990)

Rock-tinged industrial-dance from Buzz McCoy (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult) and Sascha Konietzko (KMFDM). Truly sounds like a cross between the two projects. Like everything early-KMFDM-related, Conquer Your World sounds gloriously dated and makes me want to smoke cigarettes and drink vodka-Fruitopias on a playground somewhere in suburbia.

Track listing:

1. Conquer Your House II

2. Conquer Your World

3. Blow Your House Down

4. To Death II

5. Ride the Bomb

6. We Like War

7. Worship Me

8. Finger on the Trigger

9. Conquer Your House III

Rip the system

Similar vibes:

Noise Unit - Response Frequency (1990)

Bile - Suckpump (1994)

Fïx8:Sëd8 - Humanophobia (2005)

Excellent EBM from German artist Fïx8:Sëd8, with some deeply upsetting artwork to go with it. I am a complete outsider regarding 'the scene' associated with this style of music, and would not be surprised to learn that this is considered a classic.

Track listing:

1. Quiet

2. Oblivion

3. Blashpemia

4. Damien

5. Monolith

6. Dementor

7. Killing Field

8. Tranquilized

9. Ultraviolent

10. Fetishist

11. Guilty

12. Minotaurus

13. Burial Ground

Take me to the field

Head down I kneel

Blood runs off the wall

You mustn't cry at all

If you like this, listen to:

Die Sektor - To Be Fed Upon (2007)

Statiq Bloom / Zex Model - Statiq Bloom / Zex Model (2014)

Oneiroid Psychosis - Forever Is Forgotten (2004)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Stillbirth (1995)

Fantasies About Illness (1996)

Garden of Remembrance (1999)

DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile) (2002)

Sentient (2008)

Well, boys and girls, this is it. Every Halloween since I started this dumb blog -- aside from 2017 and 2019, for some reason -- I've posted an Oneiroid Psychosis record. But this is the last piece of their discography that I have to post. Barring the remote possibility of my finally tracking down a rip of Death In Utero, their first cassette -- or the even more remote possibility of a new album -- this is all I have for you. Let us rejoice in the synth-y horror, the eerie pianos, the ghoulish crooning, the pure spookiness of it all, one last time. I'm pretty sure I'm among this band's biggest fans, and I hope that I've managed to convert a few of you over the years.

Despite it being the last album of theirs I've gotten around to posting, Forever Is Forgotten is for sure one of their best records. It's probably their most serious, or least cheesy, in that it often sounds closer to The Cure than to Nightmare on Elm Street, and lyrically, he's talking about serious stuff like heartbreak and mortality, as opposed to vampires sucking his blood while he's asleep. Plus, there's a full-on doom metal breakdown.

(Y'ALL. Between starting this post and getting to this point in it -- and after over a decade of periodically searching -- I fucking tracked down a rip of Death In Utero. It's 192kbps, but still, what a goddamn Halloween miracle. It really is a wonderful life.)

Track listing:

1. Mysterium Tremendum

2. Birth and Death

3. The Room

4. The Devil's Tongue

5. As Leaves Fell

6. Never Forgive, Never Forget

No thought worth thinking

No life worth living

Also listen to:

black tape for a blue girl - Mesmerized by the Sirens (1987)

Eerie Von & Mike Morance - Uneasy Listening (1996)

Pouppée Fabrikk - Rage (1990)

Pissed-off Swedish EBM. The core sound consists entirely of drums, synth-bass, and vocals, with some subtle atmospheric elements added here and there, making for a minimal, punk-leaning sound.

Track listing:
1. Retrospect
2. Circumcision
3. Shapeshifter
4. Distraction
5. Incinerage
6. Death
7. Keine Zukunft
8. Youth
9. Selfdestruct
10. No Way Back
11. Watch Your Sex

Dismembered quietly

You should also listen to:

The Klinik -
Face to Face (1988)

Placebo Effect -
Galleries of Pain (1992)

Bile - Suckpump (1994)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Bile - TeknoWhore (1996)

Debut album of dense, antisocial, mildly pornographic, and occasionally surprisingly catchy industrial metal from Long Island. A personal favorite of mine for the better part of my life. Wanna see me get fucking AMPED? Play "I Reject" really loud when I'm drunk.

Track listing:
1. Head
2. Burnt
3. Ura Fucking Loser
4. I Reject
5. Feeling Like Shit
6. Get Out
7. Suckpump
8. Get Out (Radio Edit)
9. Ura Fucking Loser (Radio Edit)

I am the living dead
I see in infrared

Similar listening:

KMFDM -
Virus (1989)

Skrew -
Shadow of Doubt (1996)

KMFDM - Virus (1989)

A 4-song EP of groundbreaking electro-industrial-pop. Martial industrial rhythms, butt-rock guitars, pulsing synths, and a varied, male-and-female vocal approach that touches on punk, R&B, and quasi-hip-hop. I realize that KMFDM has fallen waaaay out of fashion (not sure if they were ever that 'fashionable' in the first place) but I will always back their early stuff, which, outside of kicking ass, includes some of the strongest, most instantly-iconic album art in the history of pop music. On a personal note, this is the first slab of vinyl I ever owned, having been gifted it by a record-nerd homie before I even owned a record player.

Track listing:
1. Virus
2. More & Faster
3. Don't Blow Your Top
4. High & Geil

Bury the future

More along these lines:

Hilt - Call the Ambulance
(Before I Hurt Myself) (1989)

Lard -
The Last Temptation of Reid (1990)

Oneiroid Psychosis - Sentient (2008)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Oneiroid Psychosis - Stillbirth (1995)
Oneiroid Psychosis - Fantasies About Illness (1996)
Oneiroid Psychosis - Garden of Remembrance (1999)
Oneiroid Psychosis - DREAMS (With Pollutions When Virile (2002)

Perfectly spooky, synth-heavy darkwave from Oneiroid Psychosis, who pretty much serve as the OPIUM HUM house band every Halloween. As of now, Sentient is the most recent album they've put out, and unfortunately, I'm starting to think that it might be their last.

Track listing:
1. Adipocere
2. Coalesce
3. The Child Spell
4. Ambivalence
5. Away My Life
6. As I Wake
7. It Won't Go Away
8. I Am the Totality
9. Incarnate
10. The Sardonic Smile

When you take your last breath
Know that I'm the cause of your death

You would probably also enjoy:

Lycia - The Burning Circle
and Then Dust (1995)

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

Noise Unit - Response Frequency (1990)

Related:
The Klinik - Face to Face (1988)
Front Line Assembly - Total Terror Parts I + II (1993)
Delerium - Spheres II (1994)

Electro-industrial from a duo consisting of Klinik's Marc Verhaeghen and Front Line Assembly's Bill Leeb. Drum machines, synths, goblin vocals, samples about murder, even a bit of saxomaphone.

Track listing:
1. Agitate (12" Version)
2. In Vain (12" Version)
3. Disease
4. Paranoid Mass
5. Forgotten Realm
6. Feel the Anguish
7. In Vain
8. Homage
9. Agitate
10. Beneath the Surface

Dismembered quietly

You'd also enjoy:

Placebo Effect -
Galleries of Pain (1992)

Mentallo & the Fixer -
No Rest for the Wicked (1996)

The Klinik - Face to Face (1988)

Intense, punishing Belgian electo-industrial. Rapid-fire beats and synths, harsh, scraping soundscapes, and snarling, nihilistic vocals.

Track listing:
1. Ring of Fire
2. Slow Death
3. Quiet in the Room
4. The Last Dance
5. Cold as Ice
6. Face to Face
7. A Sign
8. Time to Choose
9. Out of Line
10. Lies

It hurts a lot

Similar listening:

Hocico -
Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Mentallo & The Fixer -
No Rest for the Wicked (1996)

Xylocaine - Experiment in Fear (1995)

OK I'm out of my depth here -- I know nothing about breakcore, which, I'm fairly certain, this is. So I'll just tell you what I hear: whole lotta breakbeats, whole lotta distorted, hyper-speed, gabber-style kicks, whole lotta samples, zero melodic elements. Pretty much noise music, except you can imagine really coked-up Euros dancing to it. I fucking love it. Who can recommend more stuff like this?

Track listing:
1. 440Hz
2. L.M.G.
3. Basset
4. Mince Meat
5. Shit Stir
6. Simsence
7. Havin a Waz
8. Experiment in Fear
9. Data Jack
10. H2SO3
11. Code Red (Remix)
12. Holyarse (Remix)
13. Elite
14. Redness & Swelling

Double murder-suicide

More outdated 90s electro:

Voyager -
Future Retro (1997)

The Martian – LBH-6251876
(A Red Planet Compilation) (1999)

Nahja Mora - The Trees See More (2017)

Harsh, cerebral US electro-industrial. From my hometown of Baltimore, no less. Taps into the same vein of damaged, dense, sample-heavy, horror-fueled aural death that fueled prime-era Skinny Puppy. Free/name your price via bandcamp. Get it!

Track listing:
1. -
2. Removal
3. Healing
4. Inside Out
5. God
6. Daybreak
7. Destructor
8. The Very Last of Summer
9. Dream Dead
10. Tomorrow
11. Losing Teeth (Bedtime Remix by I, Parasite)
12. God (Devil's Bible Remix by Precision Field)
13. Bee Venom (Fear We Are Remix by Fun Never Starts)
14. if they do not lie they cannot live (Battery Remix by Shawn Brice feat. Maria Azevedo)

You have to make horrible compromises because the system is broken.

If you like this, try:

Hocico -
Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Decoded Feedback -
Overdosing (1996)

Placebo Effect - Galleries of Pain (1992)

Electro-industrial for a turd world. Terror, violence, and horror synths. There's a song on here where dude is trying to get you to dance by furiously screaming "Move! Move! Your body!" as if he's gonna murder you if you don't.

Track listing:
1. Mystress
2. Intoxication
3. Psychotrauma
4. Poison Tree
5. Brain Entrophy
6. Galleries of Pain (Bloody Pain Remix)
7. Intersection
8. Move (Animation Remix)
9. Psychological Drama
10. Devoid of Soul (Salvitation Remix)
11. Autopsia
12. Agony of Mind
13. Dawn and Death
14. Lumph

Broken mirrors

More like this:

Numb -
Numb (1987)

Decoded Feedback -
Overdosing (1996)

Statiqbloom / Zex Model - Statiqbloom / Zex Model (2014)

Topnotch modern-old school electro-industrial. A spot-on matchup for a killer, cohesive split, as both projects bring classic, early 90s electro-industrial into the present as effectively as any artists I've heard.

Track listing:
1. Statiqbloom - Atrophy of Three
2. Statiqbloom - Contaminate
3. Statiqbloom - Slow Void
4. Statiqbloom - Behind Glass - (Second Pane)
5. Zex Model - Forbidden Alterations
6. Zex Model - Rokk
7. Zex Model - Teosophia
8. Zex Model - Tokyo Blitz

I've never lied to you

Also listen to:

Mentallo & the Fixer -
No Rest for the Wicked (1996)

Die Sektor -
To Be Fed Upon (2007)

Mentallo & The Fixer - No Rest for the Wicked (1996)

Electro-industrial misery. A dense, claustrophobic panic attack of an album, made up of pulsing synths, relentless drum loops, severely effected vocals, and unsettling samples.

Track listing:
1. When Worlds Collide
2. Critically Wounded
3. Disrupture
4. Telepath
5. Breeder
6. Lunatik
7. Narcotik Calling
8. Incantations (Paranormal Mix)
9. Divine Intervention
10. Schizoid Embolism (Stress Mix)
11. Bed Time Story (Angel of Death Mix)
12. Day of Ascension 2206

Rotted meat

For more like this, try:

Numb -
Numb (1987)

Hilt - Call the Ambulance
(Before I Hurt Myself) (1989)

Numb - Numb (1987)

Canadian electro-industrial. Pulsing synths, hoarse, disgusted vocals, jagged guitars, and disturbing samples.

Track listing:
1. God Is Dead
2. Eat Me
3. Lies
4. Guilt
5. The Hanging Key
6. Two Faces
7. The Morality of Altitude
8. Blue Blight, Black Candle

Bloody, chained, and dying
Freedom is a vice of your mind

You'd also like:

Hocico -
Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Decoded Feedback -
Overdosing (1996)

Gary Numan - Exile Extended (1998)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Gary Numan - Living Ornaments '79 and '80 (1981)
Gary Numan - Warriors (1983) + Strange Charm (1986)

Following 1992's Machine and Soul -- generally considered his artistic nadir -- Numan more or less completely abandoned 'pop' music, embracing an atmospheric, downtempo electro-industrial sound that he continues to explore to this day. Of this current era, Exile Extended remains my personal favorite. The original Exile is great, but when reimagined as slow-burning monoliths, the songs take on a weightier presence to match the album's unflinchingly iconoclastic subject matter.

Track listing:
1. Dominion Day
2. Prophecy
3. Dead Heaven
4. Dark
5. Innocence Bleeding
6. The Angel Wars
7. Absolution
8. An Alien Cure
9. Exile

A dark salvation comes

You might also like:

The Tear Garden -
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987)

Lycia - The Burning Circle
and Then Dust (1995)

Pankow - Throw Out Rite (1983)

Primitive Italian EBM. Distorted drum loops, buried, cheap-sounding synths, and heavily processed shouts and moans.

Track listing:
1. Das Vodkalied
2. Rendez-Vous dans un Bois
3. Wait & Search
4. ZzWalhalla
5. Destiny
6. I'm Food for You

What're you gonna do for me?

You might also enjoy:

Hocico -
Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Skinny Puppy -
Brap (Back & Forth Vol. 3 & 4) (1996)

Hocico - Autoagresión Persistente (1994)

Vicious, raw electro industrial from Mexico's most prominent industrial band. Machine gun synths, blown-out drums, and pissed-off screams. Fucking ACE. If you like hardcore/punk but never got into industrial, this could be the one that does it.

Track listing:
1. Slow Death
2. Sensación de Letargo
3. Euthanasia
4. Laceración
5. El Pecado de las Sombras
6. Existence
7. Sexo Bajo Testosterone
8. Our Death
9. Atrocidad Desnuda
10. Change

Hell on earth

You might also like:

Decoded Feedback -
Overdosing (1996)

Die Sektor -
To Be Fed Upon (2007)