Lalu - Oniric Metal (2005)

If I'm checking out a band that I've heard described as "neoprog/prog metal", this is what I am hoping they will sound like: melodic, dreamy, melancholic, fantastical, layers of arpeggiating synths, soaring guitars, and enough polyrhythms and general heaviness to keep it all from getting overly frilly. There's even that inexplicable 'wacky' moment that these types can't seem to resist that seems designed solely to test my patience, but thankfully, it doesn't come till the last track, and that track is otherwise an absolute tour de force. Members (on this album) of Mekong Delta, the Devin Townsend Band/Project, and more.

Track listing:

1. Yesterdayman

2. Wolven Eyes

3. Windy

4. Night in Poenari

5. Moonstruck (The Soulish Element)

6. Timestop

7. Starwatcher

8. Potboy: The Final Fantasy

I'm just dancing through their lights

And I can't stop dreaming now

Also listen to:

Threshold - Wounded Land (1993)

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition (2009)

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)

The Gathering - How to Measure a Planet? (1998)

[I'm out of the US for the next week, won't be posting or responding to anything 'til I get back. In the meantime, here's another all-time favorite of mine.]

I've started and erased five different versions of this writeup. The first one was about first hearing The Gathering on a Century Media sampler that also introduced me to Emperor, Eyehategod, Trouble, Samael, and Moonspell; the second was about being temporarily immobilized while listening to How to Measure a Planet? as a severely stoned 17-year-old. Next I tried a different listening story, from a few years ago, when I listened to it while sitting on a log looking out onto Loch Raven reservoir, trying to feel my way through one of the bleakest points of my adult life. Then I tried to incorporate that story into a wider one about how I always feel drawn to How to Measure a Planet? during hard times. Finally, I talked about how The Gathering are clearly a big deal, but I don't know anyone IRL who gives a shit about them, and how I'm not sure if that means that they're big in Europe/elsewhere and not America or if I'm just hanging out with the wrong Americans. And while none of these attempts panned out, the fact that I actually took the time to write/rewrite/delete them -- as opposed to just shitting out a quick description or a tossed-off joke like I normally do -- speaks to how much I fucking love this album.

Track listing:

Disc One
1. Frail (You Might as Well Be Me)
2. Great Ocean Road
3. Rescue Me
4. My Electricity
5. Liberty Bell
6. Red Is a Slow Colour
7. The Big Sleep
8. Marooned
9. Travel
Disc Two
1. South American Ghost Ride
2. Illuminating
3. Locked Away
4. Probably Built in the Fifties
5. How to Measure a Planet?

All I want is to be where you are

Nothing else really sounds like this, but you could also listen to:

Forest of Shadows - Six Waves of Woe (2008)

Sylvaine - Wistful (2016)

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)

Hacride - Back to Where You've Never Been (2013)

French prog metal. Crushing, dynamic, immersive sounds that take from djent, progressive death, post-metal, and neo-prog. Featured on this blog's first best-of-the-year list, which, despite its clunky formatting, holds up surprisingly well as a representation of my favorite records from that year.

Track listing:

1. Introversion

2. Strive Ever to More

3. Synesthesia

4. Overcome

5. Edification of the Fall

6. To Numb the Pain

7. Ghosts of the Modern World

8. Requiem for a Lullaby

Become who you are meant to be before you turn into dust

You should also hear:

The End - Elementary (2007)

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition (2009)

The End - Elementary (2007)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

The End - Transfer Trachea Reverberations from Point: False Omniscient (2001)

Years before Tesseract, Periphery, and their legions of disciples were fusing heady, math-y heaviness with dark, melodic alt metal, there was Elementary. It kinda sounds like if hardcore-Cave In and alt-Cave In made a record together. Unfortunately, fans of The End never stopped pining for the Calculating Infinity-worship of their debut EP, and they never really found a new audience to replace the old one. Thus, both of the band's excellent Relapse albums were largely either ignored or hated on, and they broke up shortly after the second one (Elementary) was released. Frowny-face.

Track listing:

1. Dangerous

2. The Never Ever Aftermath

3. Animals

4. The Moth and I

5. Throwing Stones

6. My Abyss

7. Awake?

8. A Fell Wind

9. In Distress

10. And Always...

When it seems like all you're made to do is suffer

You'll be pleased to know that miracles do occur

Also listen to:

Eryn Non Dae - Hydra Lernaïa (2009)

The Contortionist - Intrinsic (2012)

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)

The Lightbringer - Quintessence of Dawn (2010)

Epic, intricately composed Québécois sounds that blur, obfuscate, and completely erase the line between progressive/power metal and black metal. There's a lot of push-and-pull going on -- atmospheric and sharp, beautiful and ripping -- it's like a musical battle between darkness and light, but in the end, both sides win, somehow.

Track listing:
1. The Septentrionnal Tower
2. Garden of the Forsaken Souls
3. Confront the Great Abyssal Flames
4. Guardian of the Celestial Spheres
5. Constellation of the Gate of Gods
6. Lightbringer - Quintessence of Dawn

I still hear their cries
I still see death in their eyes

You might also like:

Diabolical Masquerade -
Ravendusk in My Heart (1996)

Àrsaidh -
Roots (2013)

Threshold - Wounded Land (1993)

Excellent English prog metal. Though the songs are long and structurally complex, the playing is generally mid-paced and comparatively pared-down -- borderline doom-esque at times -- and the noodling is almost entirely confined to solos. Throw in dated production, as well as an overwhelming sense of discontent for modern life and loads of future-anxiety, and we're looking at what's easily one of my favorite prog metal albums. Found this years ago on some awesome blog that posted almost nothing but neo-prog and smooth jazz; anyone remember what I'm talking about?

Track listing:
1. Consume to Live
2. Days of Dearth
3. Sanity's End
4. Paradox
5. Surface to Air
6. Mother Earth
7. Siege of Baghdad
8. Keep It with Mine
9. Intervention

Just another victim of the system's bloody knife

More along these lines:

Pendragon -
Fly High Fall Far (1985)

Riverside -
Anno Domini High Definition (2009)

Bill Ward - Ward One: Along the Way (1990)

The awesomely weird debut solo album from the great Bill Ward. In addition to the expected dark, driving metal, there's a strain of sprawling, Floyd-ian prog and psych. Add in Ward's thin but effective vocals, a pair of guest spots from one Mr. Osbourne, and some baffling production choices, and you're looking at an unexpectedly idiosyncratic good time.

Track listing:
1. Shooting Gallery (Mobile)
2. Short Stories
3. Bombers (Can Open Bomb Bays)
4. Punk Clouds an Island
5. Light Up the Candles (Let There Be Peace Tonight)
6. Snakes and Ladders
7. Jack's Land
8. Living Naked
9. Music for a Raw Nerve Ending
10. Tall Stories
11. Sweep
12. Along the Way

Consider this a warning

You should also listen to:

Crimson Glory -
Crimson Glory (1986)

Black Sabbath -
Dehumanizer (1992)

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)

Bauda - Euphoria... Of Flesh, Men, and the Great Escape (2012)

Absolutely beautiful Chilean post-metal. Acoustic guitars, mournful clean vocals, and clean, reverb-soaked tremolo-picking, inevitably leading to extended, climactic, triumphant catharsis. Imagine an Agalloch/Explosions in the Sky collaboration and you're pretty close.

Track listing:
1. Ghosts of Phantalassa
2. Humanimals
3. Silhouettes
4. Oceania
5. The Great Escape
6. Ascension
7. Crepuscular
8. ... Mare Nostrvm? (El Lanto de Quintay)

Blood into the foam of the oceans

If you like this, you should listen to:

Cold Blue Mountain -
Old Blood (2014)

Sylvaine -
Wistful (2016)

Eryn Non Dae - Hydra Lernaïa (2009)

French progressive metal. Math-y time signatures and prog-death filtered through the expansive feel and crushing heaviness of post-metal. Primo beardo material.

Track listing:
1. When Time Elapses
2. Blistering Hate
3. Existence Asleep
4. The Decline and the Fall
5. Lam Tsol Oua
6. Through Dark Skies
7. Opposites from Within
8. Echoes of Distress
9. Pure

Absolutely nothing

You might also wanna listen to:

Rosetta -
Wake/Lift (2007)

The Contortionist -
Intrinsic (2012)

Humanoid - Remembering Universe (2008)

Canadian ambient prog. Abstract, technically-impressive instrumentals made up of weightless leads, synth washes, and fragmented acoustic guitars, all in a way that feels like both an extension of and a eulogy for prog metal.

Track listing:
1. The Quest Begins
2. Passages Part 1 (Eiditic Memory)
3. Passages Part 2 (Leaving)
4. Consciousness of the Universe
5. Navigating Toward an Unknown Region
6. Unearth Treasures
7. Lunar Nostalgia
8. Passages Part 3 (Exoplanet)
9. Passages Part 4 (Forms)
10. Visions Made of Glass
11. Fragment

A signal for stellar voyagers

You might also like:

Riverside - Anno Domini
High Definition (2009)

The Contortionist -
Intrinsic (2012)

Entropia - Vesper (2013)

Polish blackened post-metal. Kinda like Celestial-era Isis, but with lots of tremolo-picking, black metal vox, blasbeats, and way more reverb. And that's the kind of lazy, borderline inaccurate description that's made this blog a MASSIVE CULTURAL FORCE.

Free/name your price via bandcamp.

Track listing:
1. Dante
2. Gauss
3. Pascal
4. Vesper
5. Tesla
6. Marat

Life became at once, as muddy water
Slowly running through our fingers

You might also enjoy:

The Fall of Every Season -
Amends (2013)

Sadness -
Somewhere Along Our Memory (2016)

The Crevices Below - Below the Crevices (2011)

Australian progressive black metal. I'd like to tell you all about this band's lush, enveloping sound, dynamic songwriting, and hypnotic, melancholic beauty, but I can't hear anything over the sound of that band name.

"Crevices Below." Uhhhh-huhuh-huhuh-huhuh-huh.

Track listing:
1. Below the Crevices
2. The Tombs of Subterranea
3. A Grand Cavernous Awakening
4. Whispers of Sorrow
5. Trapped in Suicidal Depths
6. Carrying the Cries of the Lost

Rivers of hell

Listen to these, too:

Oranssi Pazuzu -
Kosmonument (2011)

Taurus -
No/Thing (2014)

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)

Vampillia - Rule the World / Deathtiny Land (2011)

Related:
Boredoms - Super Roots 7 (1998)

Welp, here's a slice of total musical insanity just for you, courtesy of a Japanese 10-piece horde that includes the one and only Toyohito Yoshikawa of Boredoms. Positively beautiful neoclassical string and vocal arrangements bump up against, then overlap with, blackened grind/sludge/thrash. There's a certain degree of wackiness at work here, but the album, as with all of Vampillia's work (some of which, in case you're interested, is not nearly as bonkers as this) has a real, unironic emotional resonance. And don't let the long track list scare your ADD ass off, it's just over 25 minutes long.

Speaking of which: the song titles. Goddamn. I could write an essay about how great they are. From "I Sing Cheerfully Holding a Head in My Hand / Pirates of Bohemian", to "Keep Killing Them All in Tears / Death Electrical Parade", to "Huge Ambition and Indiscriminate Mass Murder / Slash Mountain" -- every one's a winner. But, gun to my head, I'm gonna go with "I Am the Only Man in the World Hence I Am a King and God / Beauty and the Beefcake."

Track listing:
1. One Day, I Thought the World Should Be Mine / Welcome to Deathtiny Land
2. Made My Mind to Dominate the World with No Doubt and Fresh Feeling / Misery Mouse the House
3. Day of Departure, Be a Devil Has No Mercy and Just Move Forward / Deathtiny Land Railroad
4. Wonderfully, My Whole Luck Is My Side. / Alice in Murderland
5. Feel My Almightiness and Press On Toward the Goal / Powder White and Seven Chemicals
6. Identify Myself as a King and God Whatever People Say / Goofy's Acid House
7. Well, Have Time to Play Around for Fun / Donald's Buzz
8. I Sing Cheerfully Holding a Head in My Hand / Pirates of Bohemian
9. A Deceptive Attack. This Is the Real Thrill. / Lady and the Tracker
10. An One-on-One Battle. This Is the Real Thrill. / Machet Popins
11. Torture Someone to Death / Alarming
12. Extermination. Do Anything. / Robberhood
13. Switch and Bomb / Melody Tinborn
14. Death of Heart / Pinoccio's Sentimental Journey
15. Rebirth of Heart / It's a Small Cruel World
16. What's Done Is Done. Cannot Admit It. / Vulgarity Bear Playhouse
17. Keep Killing Them All in Tears / Death Electrical Parade
18. I'm Completely Lost Here Now / Peabrain Pan's Flight
19. Huge Ambition and Indiscriminate Mass Murder / Slash Mountain
20. Extermination2. Do Anything. / Big Murder Mountain
21. Use Dirty Truck, Biological Weapon. / The Libidinous King
22. H-Bomb. The Goal Is Almost There. / Tinber Hell
23. I Am the Only Man in the World Hence I Am a King and God. / Beauty and the Beefcake
24. This Is Totally Empty Feeling / Goodbye to Deathtiny Land

Only God could judge him

Other stuff that'll scratch the same itch:

Vverevvolf Grevh -
Zombie Aesthetics (2008)

Igorrr -
Hallelujah (2012)

Gigan - Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes (2011)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Gigan - The Order of the False Eye (2008)

Second and possibly best album from this criminally underrated band. The controlled chaos of tech death at its most gnarled, psychedelic, and all-around awe-inspiring. Light a spliff, turn this up loud, feel your mind catch on fire and slowly drip out of your ears.

Track listing:
1. Mountains Perched Like Beasts Awaiting the Attack
2. Suspended in Cubes of Torment
3. The Raven and the Crow
4. In the Tentacled Grasp of a Buried Behemoth
5. Transmogrification Into Bio-Luminoid
6. Skeletons of Steel, Timber, and Blackened Granite
7. Vespelmadeen Terror
8. The Fathomless Echoes of Eternity's Imagination

A vortex, pulling up yet pushing down
As though even cosmic omnipotence is conflicted

Pick yourself back up and try these:

Lost Soul - Immerse in Infinity (2009)

Altars - Paramnesia (2013)