Kataklysm - The Prophecy (Stigmata of the Immaculate) (2000)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Kataklysm - The Death Gate Cycle of Reincarnation (1992) + The Vortex of Resurrection (1993)

In which Canadian death lords Kataklysm jump headfirst into their own skewed version of melodeath. Hyper-blasts; tremolo-picked riffs that at times come off as blackened; hoarse, shouted vocals that can be a dealbreaker for some listeners; some chugging, core-ish moments; and an overarching concept involving demonic/alien invaders bringing about the end of the world, which taps into turn-of-the-millennium anxiety surprisingly effectively ("1999! 6661! Turn of the millennium! The end is coming!")

Speaking of dubious old favorites: I first got into Kataklysm when I was 17, via this slightly older hesher dude I used to hang out with who found it unacceptable that I liked Darkest Hour so he made me listen to "Astral Empire"; it didn't convince me to stop liking Darkest Hour (I still do, fight me), but I dug it. Then when I got the rest of The Prophecy off of Napster, I loved that, too, and listened to it 400 times while taking bonghits in my bedroom.  So despite its status as one of Kataklysm's least liked records, it's my personal favorite. Plus "The Renaissance" is one of my all-time favorite album closers -- that quasi-d-beat shit makes me wanna punch a demon-alien in the nuts.

Track listing:

1. 1999:6661:2000

2. Manifestation

3. Stormland

4. Breeding the Everlasting

5. Laments of Fear and Despair

6. Astral Empire

7. Gateway to Extinction

8. Machiavellian

9. The Renaissance

You'll never see what they see

Paradise is only a dream for the weak

You might also like:

Abramelin - Abramelin (1995)

The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph (1998)

A Canorous Quintet - Silence of the World Beyond (1996)

Essential Swedish melodic death metal. Instead of emphasizing brutal catchiness or machine-like precision like so many of their peers, A Canorous Quintet made sorrowful, misty music that's almost as close to gothic death/doom as it is to melodeath, with high-pitched rasps that help to give it all a blackened feel.

Track listing:

1. Silence of the World Beyond

2. Naked with Open Eyes

3. Spellbound

4. The Orchid's Sleep

5. The Black Spiral

6. The Last Journey

7. In the Twilight of Fear

8. Burning, Emotionless

9. Dream Reality

Black roses surround the fields

Strange floating lights

If you like this, listen to:

Horrified - In the Garden of the Earthly Delights (1993)

The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph (1998)

Appalling Spawn - Freedom, Hope & Fury (The Second Spawn) (1998)

Elite Czech progressive brutal death metal. Angular stop-start riffs, woozy clean sections, a strong melodic presence, and utterly incomprehensible atonal chaos, all with brutal gutturals to keep it nice and gross. Literally one of the greatest death metal records ever made.

Track listing:
1. Manthra of Hope
2. My Heaven
3. Sublime Fury
4. Azure Waters of Inthera
5. By Sword & Heart
6. Voyage to Inward Freedom
7. Celestian
8. Open Arms of Celestial Home
9. Messengers
10. Selfmonarch

A vision of unlimited touch

If you like this, try:

Caducity -
The Weiliaon Wielder Quest (1995)

Molested -
Blod-Draum (1995)

Autumn Leaves - Embraced by the Absolute (1997)

God-tier Danish melodic death. For real, right up there with virtually any melodeath classic you can think of -- probably because it's not THAT melodic.

Track listing:
1. Blood
2. Forever the Destiny
3. Universal Flood
4. On the Verge of Tears
5. Rise from Your Nest
6. Serpent
7. Hope Springs Eternal
8. The Surface Anger
9. Weakening Trip
10. Embraced by the Absolute

It won't stop bleeding

You might also like:

The Chasm - Deathcult for
Eternity: The Triumph (1998)

Nominon -
Diabolical Bloodshed (1999)

On Thorns I Lay - Orama (2003)

Greek gothic death/doom. Epic and melodic, with beauty-and-the-beast vox and lots of keyboards. Composition-wise, the songs are generally linear, and there's lots of tempo variation throughout, to the point where it should sound scatterbrained, but every change just feels so natural. There's also a certain level of cheesiness, for sure -- kinda goes with the territory -- but Orama truly is an album unto itself.

Track listing:
1. Atlantis I
2. The Song of the Sea
3. Oceans
4. In Heaven's Island
5. Atlantis II
6. Atlantis III
7. If I Could Fly
8. Aura
9. The Blue Dream

Towards a great sadness

You'll probably also like:

Fear of God -
Within the Veil (1991)

Paradigma -
Mare Veris (1995)

The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph (1998)

My favorite album by the gods of Mexican death metal. Surreal, melodic epics with traces of black and doom metal, in raw, unadorned form.

Track listing:
1. Revenge Rises / Drowned in the Mournful Blood
2. No Mercy (Our Time Is Near)
3. I'm the Hateful Raven
4. A Portal to Nowhere
5. Channeling the Bleeding Over the Dream's Remains
6. Possessed by Past Tragedies (Tragic Shadows)
7. Apocalypse
8. In Superior Torment...
9. The Triumph (Of My Loss...)

My mother was the blood of my enemies

You might also wanna hear:

Imprecation -
Theurgia Goetia Summa (1995)

Sargatanas -
The Enlightenment (1999)

The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Armageddon March Eternal: Symphonies of Slit Wrists (2005)

Dense, dramatic, electro-industrial- and goth-tinged symphonic death metal, complete with beauty and the beast vox. It's for sure bombastic, and not without elements of cheese, but sheer brutality, creativity, and ambition -- only one song fails to surpass the seven-minute mark -- keep Armageddon March Eternal consistently awe-inspiring. Someone requested this like a year ago, so... here it is, I guess.

Track listing:
1. At the Entrance to Hell's Unholy Fire
2. The Bleeding Eyes of a Breeding Whore
3. I See Nothing But Flesh
4. Resurrected for Massive Torture
5. We Couldn't Be Further from the Truce
6. Godslaughtering Murder Machine
7. Symphony of the Deceived
8. Loveless, Godless, Flawless

The essence of massacre

You might also enjoy:

Graveworm - As the Angels
Reach the Beauty (1999)

The Monolith Deathcult -
Trivmvirate (2008)

Necroart - The Opium Visions (2005)

Obscure Italian melodic death metal with folk and symphonic elements. The Opium Visions has a slightly rough feel -- an out-of-tune guitar here, some less-than-tight keyboard there -- but to me this is a plus, as this style of music often comes off as polished to a fault. Funniest lyric: "Come with your dark embrace / Pale as a pale caress." That's pretty damn pale. Reminds me of a line from Blackadder: "Disease and deprivation stalk our land like two giant stalking things."

Track listing:
1. The Crimson Minority
2. Le Fleur Noir
3. Necronova
4. Pandemonic Opium Night
5. Capricorn Years
6. A Visionary's Trip
7. Lullabye
8. L'Inverno Dell'Anima

The snake will bring me the secrets of death

You might also enjoy:

Lordian Guard -
Lordian Guard (1995)

Dead Blue Sky - Symptoms of an
Unwanted Emotion (2001)

Dead Blue Sky - Symptoms of an Unwanted Emotion (2001)

Only LP from Dead Blue Sky, two members of whom ended up in Mouth of the Architect. Elements of melodic death and black metal melded together in melodramatic, goth-tinged majesty that 18-year-old-me would have obsessed over if I'd ever got my hands on their CD. I mean, look at those emo-ass song titles! "Holding Yesterday for Ransom"? "My Sadness Has No Seasons"? And, as the DL link will show, the lyrics are no better. Would've made for the perfect soundtrack to all of my imagined woes.

Track listing:
1. Beneath the Autumn Sun
2. Essence of Creation
3. To Live in Dreams
4. When Time Was Time and Life Was Breath
5. Holding Yesterday for Ransom
6. My Sadness Has No Seasons
7. Ghost in the Melody
8. A Reminder of These Heartless Days
9. Ascension of Beauty
10. Symptoms of an Unwanted Emotion

I leave this secret with you
Think of it what you will
I've never felt so empty
This place has drained me
This place I could never hate more