DISTURBING ALBUMS ICEBERG EXPLAINED | Complete Edition

we are back i know you've missed our trips into the world of questionable mysterious and downright deranged music and today it's about time we look at albums the projects on this borderline endless list are worth getting lost in now get comfortable dim those lights and get ready to descend down the center of the earth through the disturbing albums iceberg [Laughter] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] cheers [Music] this year features famous albums that you probably already know and that are widely respected but have a darker edge to them the wall is one of the best selling concept albums of all time the rock opera tells the story of pink a depressed musician who isolates himself gradually building a wall around him pink is based on sid barrett a former member of pink floyd who had a nervous breakdown and left the band and also owned chief songwriter roger waters whose father also died during world war ii a feature film was produced in 1982 with the screenplay written by waters himself it was also adapted into an actual opera in 2016. hatfield of hollow is a compilation album made up of several bbc radio 1 recording sessions in 1983 comprised of alternate versions of the smith singles at the time while it was released after the band's debut album the songs were actually recorded at the same time but with different production because of this a lot of them sound rougher with slower rhythms and more pronounced instrumentation that sounds more brooding and melancholic lead singer morrissey's more subdued vocals and abrasive existential lyrics are subject to mixed reception but make the record bluntly incisive to this day the cure's fourth album pornography is now a hallmark of goth rock which was not that popular at the time of its release exhausted by touring in the demands of fallout musicianship fratman robert smith became depressed and used the record as an outlet along with drugs and alcohol the band slept in the record studio's office at the time to save money while recording they wanted to make the ultimate intense album which ended up costing members relationships and mental stability it was the last album to feature the group's trademark goth sound before they shifted in a more commercial direction unknown pleasure was joy division's debut album and the only one to be released while lead singer ian curtis was still alive while the band was notorious for their loud high-energy live performances and curtis's dancing producer martin hennett used songs to experiment with more unconventional sounds like backwards guitars someone eating chips a bottle being smashed and a speaker instead an elevator the result was a gloomier album known for its spacious sound that divided band members in terms of original reception while it wasn't extremely well received at first the album has since become an icon of postponed culture and its cover which is a stacked plot of the radio emissions of a pulsar star has transcended the music scene and made its way into the mainstream black star is david bowie's last album recorded in secret and meant to coincide with his 69th birthday it was a swan song of all sorts a parting gift for fans which became a charting success in the uk and number one for three weeks after release lyrics appeared to force out his impending death especially the song lazarus which references look up here i'm in heaven and i'm dying too in the track dollar days it was more experimental and sound than bowie's last record the next day and this time around he was inspired by kendrick lamar's to pimp a butterfly as well as the work of death crips and boards of canada avoiding straightforward rock and roll bowie died two days after was released from liver cancer shocking the public from which he had kept his diagnosis a secret of bowie's inspirations was death crips debut mixtape self-released for free on their website in 2011 ex-military the tape was instantly notorious for its loud blaring distorted industrial samples and overdubbed over-dubbed half-shouted vocals courtesy of m.c ride whose raw anger created a grimy and intense in-your-face atmosphere for the rest of the tracks the album begins with the charles manson sample and some speculate its story tells an overarching tale about a vietnam war veteran struggling with ptsd in fact the picture on the cover which was a symbol of power one of the members held onto for 10 years in his wallet was later identified to have been taken in 1968. for radiohead kid a their fourth album was a sonic departure from the rock oriented global success of ok computer as a response to the stress caused by the band's success the album was actually not promoted and instead offered in streaming platforms and later leaked online only one interview was made before its release with q magazine with a band providing bizarre edited photos to be published that they then plastered and projected across the city streets on billboards radiohead performed an attempt to promote it the music was also more experimental with free jazz and electronica and dark ambient influences which was a career risk of all sorts the holy bible was the third manic street preachers album recorded before the disappearance of richie edwards the rhythm guitarist was drinking heavily at the time and struggled with depression self-harm and anorexia he would fall asleep during recording sessions which should begin by fixing himself a drink the themes of suffering are reflected on the album which contains essayistic musings that are often politically charged reflections on consumerism imperialism freedom of speech violence capital punishment and revolution some of the song titles which you now see on screen already set the tone for the content of the album and are complemented by dialogue samples the music on it is also more overtly inspired by post punk and goth rock as opposed to modern hard rock like the previous albums by the band alison chain's third ep jar of flies was also the first ep to ever debut in the billboard 200 chart the album was mostly made up of improvised songs written during the band's previous years of touring and came to exist after they had moved into the london bridge studio in seattle after getting evicted and going homeless the members wanted to test their chemistry with their new bass player mike nas and so began recording acoustic songs as a means to do so and inspired by the loud electric sounds they'd been working with for a year during tours the title is a reference to an experiment that guitarist jerry cantrell conducted in the third grade where he compared underfeeding and overfeeding two separate jars of flies and found that the underfed ones were more likely to survive this bleak realization drives an equally bleak record that largely celebrates loneliness and isolation sonic youth's first album confusion is sex was recorded in their sound engineer's basement and released in 1983. it has since become one of the most notorious no wave albums of all time largely atonal dissonant without a unifying tempo abrasive angular with buzzing guitars and strong tribal drumming lyrics veer on misanthropic laments and one of the songs the world looks red was written by swan's frontman michael jira the downward spiral no not that one this time is the second nine inch nails album with more industrial techno and metal influences focusing on texture and space it was recorded at sharon tate's mansion where she had been murdered by charles manson it was a concept album detailing the psychological downfall of a man ending with a suicide and it was inspired by frontman trent rasner state at the time as he struggled with drug addiction and stormy relationships with his bandmates two dark park was the sixth album by skinny puppy the band wanted to veer away from the ministry-inspired industrial metal sound of their previous album so they revamped their art style logo and overall aesthetic that was more chaotic and electronic the title was a reference on the music becoming really dark like the feeling of going down a road with the knowledge that you're breaking down yet you continue to travel down that road themes include environmental degradation and self-destruction of humanity as well as drugs vocalist denivek ogre was arrested for possession during the recording in fact it samples horror films tv shows and documentaries but with more haunting threatening samples after signing onto a new major label lava records porcupine tree wished to shift from their previous psychedelic and rock directions the result was in absentia fretman stephen wilson had recently rediscovered metal and was inspired by bands like bursum and opeth the songs in the album reflect wilson's interest in exploring the psychology of unhinged twisted criminals with lyrics referring to serial killers loss of innocence and modern day injustice the title means in absence in latin a phrase which is used to refer to a person's rights when mentally unable to be represented in legal situations tool's first album undertow helped reinstate the importance of metal music in the mainstream 90s and earned critical respect and acclaim for the band it was largely inspired by controversial comedian bill hicks the song just constipated is the result of a sledgehammer being smashed into two second-hand pianos original art included nudes which kmart and walmart refused to sell leading to the band having to create a censored version specifically for retail however a secret somewhat satirical image of a cow can still be seen in the cd tray rapper eminem's third record blended a more introspective lyrical perspective with satire and horror core elements pondering fame and his subsequent alienation from his family it was wildly controversial upon its release because of its insensitive lyrics and references to columbine it was used as evidence to attempt to deny eminem entry into canada it was a commercial and critical success however and it is considered eminem's best album with an everlasting influence in pop culture in particular the song stan which samples dido's thank you tells the story of an eager fan who writes to his favorite rapper detailing the struggles of his daily life and upon not receiving a response drives his car with his pregnant girlfriend tied up in the trunk off of the highway it has recently re-entered the mainstream becoming synonymous with overzealous obsessive fandoms pork soda was the third prima studio album that was significantly darker in tone than their previous efforts lyrical themes included murder and alienation but the band insisted that they were not inspired by their personal lives and that their mood at the time was actually positive and happy contrary to most artists on this list the title track was later omitted from the lyrical booklet of the album remaining a mystery consisting of what was at the time an intelligible rambling trout mask replica was the third studio album by captain beefheart in his magic band which combined r b with garage rock blues and free jazz for a distinctly avant-garde polarizing result the album was produced by frank zappa and featured captain beefheart aka don van vlie on a number of woodwind instruments like the saxophone moussette and natural horn vocals are more akin to rambled narrations and the occasional input of the band was recorded in a single six hour session remaining unsynced as a result despite the members lack of proficiency on instruments remaining an urban legend that has since been disproven while a commercial failure at the time the album has been reevaluated in subsequent years now recognized as an innovative musical achievement level two the b-sides this tier features conceptual lesser-known albums that music aficionados like but most mainstream adjacent only fans wouldn't know about themes are often dark and bleak but the style of the resulting music remains somewhat accessible tyler the creator's debut album slash mixtape was released on christmas 2009. in it he raps as a character who is speaking to his therapist and guidance counselor dr tc this framing device helps him explore misanthropic feelings in his lyrics with references to violence against retaliating women and hatred of mental illness the album's explicit bars which reference race sexuality and sexism led to a then uk home secretary theresa may to impose a ban on tyler's entrance to the country which was only lifted in 2019 some rap songs was the third studio album by earl sweatshirt which features vocal samples from personal figures in earl's life like his mother ucla professor cheryl harris and his father known by his pen name bro willy a south african poet and political activist who passed away before the record was completed the album is a dark deep dive into earl sweatshirt's mind state following the death of his father with his baritone monotone rap buried and interrupted by thick and chaotic samples songs are short accompanied by psychedelic loafing nostalgic and uncommon time signatures and beats which let listeners get lost as what starts as a breezy listen turns into a claustrophobic nightmare machine girl is the first album of matt stevenson's project as wolf girl it made an impact because of its fascinating and enchanting futuristic sonicscape the drums are fast and booming the song composition is jagged and rough making the most intense moments hit hard and completely overwhelming in their glitchy heaviness the album's defined aesthetic and sample choice coming from japanese anime and video games gave it a distinct adrenaline-fueled feminine energy that created a unique sense of atmosphere with a mystic and dreamy aura that made it an instant success on the internet unflash is the second gazelle twin album the project of elizabeth bernholz it has a more aggressive and simplified sound than its predecessor with more lo-fi spoken word structures that heighten lyrical importance some themes discussed include miscarriage colonization upbringing body dysmorphia and euthanasia the sound which features skittering beats and distorted warped vocals was inspired by elizabeth's two-year studies of medicine habermansh which means half person is einstern's a new button's third album it quickly became a staple of german industrial music because of its pulsating beats and harsh vocal delivery which is complemented by the gotero nature of the german language that i probably just mispronounced the entire title track acapella was performed with guest vocalists redefining the range of industrial and electronic music in germany at the time the group's vocalist and guitarist blixa bargold who also worked with postpunk banned the birthday party in nick cave delivered vocals that were anywhere in between labored whispers and downright screams the result is danceable albeit horrifyingly disfigured synth pop focusing on rhythm with dissonant and ominous harmonies francis demute was the second mars volta album allegedly the late sound technician of the band jeremy ward discovered a diary in the backseat of a car he'd repossessed and realized it told the story of a man who'd been adopted in search for his parents ward had been adopted himself and began annotating the similarities between his life and that of the author which became the main inspiration behind the album each track title in fact was inspired by a person who was mentioned in the diary the lyrics deliver most of the horror as they were mostly improvised and inspired by the visuals on a stack of tvs that guitarist omo rodriguez lopez owned and displayed in his apartment and that vocalist cedric bixler zavala would look at while recording citing anything from the magnificent seven to akira kurosawa as an inspiration the sound of progressive rock was interlaced with ambient music concrete interludes including the sound of koki frogs and what appears to be a woman being said f sharp a sharp infinity is the debut studio album by godspeed black emperor it was named after the secret track recorded on the vinyl's locked groove an area where the needle drifts to when a record is finished playing to avoid it scratching the label the vinyl is different from the cd which was re-recorded to be released in chicago's cranky label instead of the vinyl's original word-of-mouth diy distribution in canada it features an apocalyptic feel incorporating melodic outbursts in endless seas of atmospheric soundscapes the cd version switches between various sections more abruptly with recording progressions being reorganized songs increasing from 2-3 and runtime almost doubling director danny boyle claimed that he was inspired by the album when cutting his film 28 days later leaves turn inside you is the eighth and final unwound album a double album recorded in their own studio like their previous two albums it uses the malatron and subdued instrumentation which give it a distinctly retro and psychedelic twist to their more traditional punk sound vocals range from delicate whispers to shrieks and shouts reminiscent of the band's hardcore punk roots it begins with two minutes of static guitar drones setting a sinister apocalyptic atmosphere and ominous instrumentation with lyrics that are nihilistic and void of any hope making for a sad introspective emotional scary and slightly unnerving listen death consciousness is the debut album by have a nice life one of dan beret's projects the album was largely written and composed off of scraps and bits of songs that had been written and recorded by the band members which came together after bere's father passed away the album's recording budget was less than a thousand dollars and it was mostly recorded using dan's computer mic a 70 page booklet was released alongside it which includes paintings and lyrics something den barry would go on to do with his other releases the album features a strong undercurrent of levi darkness bordering on flirtation with nihilism it is drenched in reverb and buried under layers of feedback latent guitars while the mood and themes remain gloomy and bleak the atmosphere is strangely warm and soothing songs ranging from quiet drowsy ambient sounds to shoegazy layers while not exactly popular when it was released it was nonetheless well received and has since achieved a cult following dancing is depressing is the second album by attic basement it was a concept album about a depressed man who was at the end of his rope in 2009 mike reinhammer who wrote and recorded the album himself had an okay job but he wasn't happy a sentiment that informs the album which features plain spoken and complex songs audible anxious sighs and guttural noises emphasize the nature of the record focused on internalized tensions spilling out on tape lyrics are delivered in a monotonous helpless days cataloging feelings of hopelessness and addiction as an escape it ends on a seven minute track where the narrator goes on a rogue rampage turning wallowing self-loathing into borderline psychopathic ramblings showing that anyone can succumb to apathy and become mentally unstable even you i could live in hope is the debut studio album by low a reaction to loud 90's grunge favoring slower compositions and sparse and minimalistic instrumentation the band had recently been discovered and produced by mark kramer who had worked with another slow core band galaxy 500 as well as a number of new york downtown bands the music is sparse and skeletal guitars performing solos using only a handful of notes and the drums only resorting to brushed ride and snare the atmosphere is bleak and melancholic with cold devastating vocals that create an emotionally draining hopeless sound then nonetheless remains oddly peaceful and ethereal despite the unmitigated sadness it exudes the album was recognized as a seminal release in the emergence of slow dreary rock music hospice is the antler's third album which sees them go in a full band recording direction as opposed to peter silverman's solo project it's a concept album which uses the buddying love story between a hospice care worker which many speculate to be silverman himself and a female terminal patient who suffers from bone cancer the woman's traumas fears and disease are used to explore the deeper meaning of an abusive relationship the connection explored is one that is oblivious to the outside world intimated by impending fatality and riddled by the pain of loss disconnection and desertion through spars crescendos and sprawling melodies another album openly inspired by death is the eighth mount erie album a crow looked at me the solo project of phil elverum was also the man behind the microphones it is a raw and intimate collection of reflections dealing with the diagnosis and subsequent rapid death of his late wife musician genevieve castrae who had just given birth to the couple's daughter before passing lyrics are simple and blunt attempting to avoid finding meaning and philosophizing the mourning and loss and simply stating it is not something to make into art or just think about the album was recorded in the same room where castrae died where elverum had left the window open for several days allowing nature to overtake and dilute the bleak atmosphere he used several of her instruments for the first time completing the record digitally instead of using analog studio equipment alvram continued exploring his relationship with grief and castray's death in the next two mount eerie albums now only and lost wisdom part 2 with more melodic and less bar sounds discussed in our shock artist iceberg everywhere at the end of time is the 11th record of leyland kirby as the caretaker it was gradually released following the success of an empty bliss beyond this world in 2011 over the course of a three-year period which was supposed to mimic the passage of time each album in the series represents a stage of dementia with ballroom music snippets simulating memories being corroded into loud ambient and experimental sound collages this album has gained a cold following and has been discussed at large by a number of brilliant creators with even an entire iceberg video dedicated to it alone the disintegration loops was another series of albums released gradually between 2002 and 2003 consisting of deteriorating tape loops william bezinski had attempted to transfer his tape recordings from the 1980s into digital format but had discovered the sound quality degraded every time they passed a day pad he allowed them to play for extended periods to heighten the effect treating it with spatial reverb the entirety of the project was completed on the morning of the september 11 attacks which bazinski saw from his brooklyn apartment and immortalized in the cover of the records he said the events gave new meaning to the musical pieces created by catastrophic decay in his studio a few weeks before buzzinski played the entirety of the tapes at the moma museum in new york city for the 10th anniversary of the attacks in 2011. dope throne is the third album by stoner metal band electric wizard the recording process was influenced by the band members alcohol and drug addictions at the time who lived at the studio and would use and drink before beginning to record they wished to make a record that was going to be the most disgusting foul putrid thing that anyone had ever recorded riffs are painfully slow thick and heavy drowning listeners in the depths of marquis fuzz with even vocals sounding like they're buried underneath a thick fog the repetitive structure of the album creating a dense hypnotic atmosphere the occult themed lyrics are coupled with several samples from horror fantasy and witch movies monoliths and dimensions is the sixth album by sun it was the band's most ambitious project at the time which was recorded over a period of two years and featured a number of musical collaborations amongst which guitarists vocalists trombonists and a number of other string and brass musicians the end result however doesn't incorporate the natural instruments within the drone sounds but rather blends the two through feedback creating a complex multifaceted timber with detailed arrangements and jarring compositions giving the record a vaguely religious yet ominous ritualistic feel walmart 87 says about atrium glass elevators zoom up and down silently passing each other the light pouring through the ceiling inspires you the music echoing through all 47 floors sounds of wonder and new discoveries yet the concrete walls make you feel cold and small you can't help but get the feeling that you're totally alone this is brutalism and this is the hotel of the modern age the sound of atrium is an isolated take on mall soft a vaporwave sub-genre contoured by never-ending echoes ranked out storage angles clocks chiming and other banal yet flowery passages that showcase the systematic doom of the setting the album is dedicated to john c portman jr a new futuristic architect and a real estate developer who was widely known for popularizing hotel lobbies with much lauded ample atrias revered by vaporwave aesthetics my teenage dream ended is pharah abraham's debut album who was famous at the time for her appearance in mtv's reality show 16 and pregnant and its sequel teen mom the album was made after abraham reached out to an engineer in the hopes of producing a record inspired by benny banassi's song cinema she then recorded the vocal tracks by herself on a click track without hearing the music with its production being handled separately her vocals were then given an edgy auto-tune treatment which she requested because it was aim vogue at the time each track is named after a chapter in the accompanying autobiography that details abraham's life at the time dealing with motherhood fame and the death of her daughter's father while the mainstream failed to understand what abraham had perhaps accidentally put together music critics praised the album's conceptual high art atmosphere likening it to works of outsider music which coupled messy electronica with personal lyrics and a rhythmic and cheaply digitized presentation another unsettling electronic record is cat system corp's conceptual broken transmission album about the september 11 attacks news at 11. it is designed to have two sides site a has nine tracks which compile commercial snippets and other bits of broadcasts from september 11th right before the attacks one of the most recognizable samples is perhaps a mcdonald's ad that was last played before the 911 coverage began on nbc complete with the today show's intro interrupting it site b then begins with 11 tracks that are all titled weather channel imagining a future in which perhaps the event has never occurred or a mere temporal reality before the discovery of the dramatic occurrence sampling weather reports mixed with smooth jazz bits the end result is soothing and haunting a eulogy to a future that never truly existed by transforming it into an alternate past level 3 bonus tracks this tier features albums that are openly non-commercial and don't tend to be entry-level listens with experimental edges that challenge most fans shaking the habitual is the knife's final and potentially least accessible album it makes a variety of philosophical and political statements being inspired by feminist and queer theory and the title coming from a michelle foucault quote the duo criticized nuclear families in capitalism during interviews and commissioned a swedish illustrator to design a comic book title and extreme wealth feeling at odds with the commercialization of the music scene and its inherent conflict with artistic ethos the music also made overt references to works by margaret atwood jeanette winterson and nina bjork despite its critical acclaim the album was largely recognized as a difficult lesson and hard to appreciate because of its length and dissonance with eerie electronic beats that are strange disturbing and sometimes uncomfortable these electroprog tracks are often interluded with dark ambient segments that are more than 20 minutes long featuring distorted and downright demonic vocal delivery the album was the last one completed by the duel made up of siblings karen and olive drayer before they disbanded in 2014. deconstructionist was the second gel's corey release an eventful project by dan berey of have a nice life it is made up of over an hour of music designed to induce trance's possession states and out-of-body experiences not a record but a philosophical tool it was accompanied by a 30-page booklet in typical barrie fashion exploring the why and how and history of trance the illusion of the self and why some people take their lives and have their consciousness shaped by light and sound the album must be listened to through headphones as various frequencies are utilized similar to binaural beats which affect brain functioning those with epilepsy or a history of mental illness are warned by beret to speak to a doctor before listening to this album as some of the recording techniques are said to cause seizures seven idiots is the eighth album by katsuhiko maeda as project worlds and girlfriend the founder of the record label virgin babylon records seven idiots is a backwards journey through dante's divine comedy that starts with heaven then purgatory and ends in hell the descent from pure joy to absolute terror is vivid beginning with loud guitars building adding in drum and bass electronics and strings to the mix the track bohemian purgatory is where we start the descent with melancholic hunting pianos saxophones poly rhythms and an array of unique sounds worlds and girlfriend's representation of hell is also sample based but clutters itself with sounds of talking and screaming amidst distortions the album achieved moderate success despite the heavy abrasion of the latter half alienating most fans who enjoyed its idyllic beginning hush wave is the second begotten album it uses exclusively female vocal samples to paint a haunting and creepy effect that is also somewhat soothing despite still standing ghost-like and atmospheric a poem was included with the release along with a chillingly telling quote wish i could write songs about anything other than death the label which released it details a deranged story on its bandcamp page by which a mysterious uploader who has contacted begotten numerous times in the past finally gets a response after the release of hush wave this response being a letter coming from an address in georgia which led back to a mental institution and another envelope simply proclaiming you were invited this time from an azerbaijani address that led to a graveyard despite the strange story and haunting samples of spooky scary skeletons the album has been mostly debunked as an internet arg with a strong enchanting concept aphix twin's third album i care because you too is the first after his ambient compilations which reintroduces a more rhythmic and percussive beat the album was polarizing upon its release because of its stark contrast between afix's ambient soundscapes with experimental heavy break beats the grinning self-portrait on the cover an unsettling depiction of a familiar expression hints at the jarring contrast to be found in the sounds of the record the end result was comforting and scary at the same time navigating influences that verged from trans to hip-hop and experimental post-classicism in the vein of philip glass excavation is the second hacks and cloak album the sleeve already tells us all we need to know about it a dark surreal journey into an unknown eldritch chamber where vision is non-existent and only sound guides you the use of echo and reverb perfectly complements the metallic skittering thudding booms and twinkling scents in the production juxtapositions of screams and silence make it sound like the score of a horror film creating an excellent paranoid atmosphere another horror heavy record is the fourth clipping album and the second half of the horror themed project started with the previous album there existed an addiction to blood originally recorded at the same time but too lengthy to fit in one release visions of bodies being burned is filled with horror samples from slasher films and heavily inspired by horror writers with lyrics addressing listeners directly in second person or telling scary stories in third despite having a tight specific concept producer jonathan stripes aimed to create a record that wasn't just conceptual with heavy production that was relevant to its themes bordering on distortion with influences from both modern industrial noise and power electronics some of the tracks contained in the field recording portions were recorded at actual murder sites like layman park where elizabeth short also known as the black dahlia had been murdered the album also contains references to racial justice movements sampling george floyd as big floyd and dedicating a track to the protests that surged after his killing [Music] but instead in a two-bedroom house in georgia on an old ampex a trek machine while this helped the band expand their creativity in limited production costs it also encouraged band members to indulge in drug use during recording this resulted in a bizarre brand of punk heavy metal and psychedelic music as well as world music beats and more noise-centric moments this varied array of sampling created a frenzied chaotic and nightmarish atmosphere leading many to describe it as a bad acid trip complete with fever dream tropes like animal noise tracks a group of cows moving outside a slaughterhouse in a song that addresses the aftermath of a woman's experience with sa the cover has become an icon that makes the album instantly recognizable a depiction of arthur cernov's fido and the clowns which reminded many of john wayne gacy a serial killer who also worked as a clown spider-land is the second and last album made by slint it was recorded over the course of four days while slint were still an improvised band of former childhood friends experimenting with music in louisville the fantastic documentary breadcrumb trail does an excellent job of retelling the story behind spiderland and the band's formation and subsequent dissolution and it's on youtube the album was virtually obscure at the time but built a cult following as time went on becoming one of the most influential post rock albums and an incisive release in the origin of math rock known for its irregular time signatures and dynamic tempo shifts vocals alternate from spoken word narratives to harsh tones and even shouting and while their disturbing narrative is often one of the most memorable elements of slint's music lyrics were actually written on the spot by brad mcmahon during the recording you won't get what you want is the fourth daughter's album in the first album in nine years from the band which had disbanded in 2009. it saw a shift in sound from the grand core math core to industrial and noise rock with the emphasis shifting from noise and abrasion to clear vocals and complexity the record is a deconstruction of tension emphasized by hypnotic dissonance martial drums cranked to incapacitating volumes and scathing repetition which emphasizes the loss of all hope love and human connection lightning bolt's third album wonderful rainbow is considered their most notorious and accessible but they are an odd band the duo is made up of a drummer who is also the vocalist who sings holding the microphone in his mouth and a bassist who plays with a five string bass that has two actual banjo strings and is tuned to cello tuning the songs are fast rough noisy possibly headache inducing in what is a challenging listening experience overall but while the album is extremely loud and fast it isn't bleak with many describing it as the sound of raw unfiltered energy raindogs is the 9th tom waits album it merges a number of styles including blues opera and jazz into one singular loose concept album about urban downtown new york city as inspired by the 1984 documentary streetwise which takes place in seattle and documents the lives of homeless youth it includes field recordings of the city and was recorded in lower manhattan waits was very adamant about the record being organic making it all the more impressive that it still features marimbas accordions double basses and trombones he wouldn't give featured session musicians the songs before they'd come into the studio letting them improvise and build upon his ideas and refusing any kind of studio editing favoring repeated takes until the sound was right keith richards of the rolling stones plays on the album but waits's gravely voice is probably the most recognizable element emphasizing the gritty street atmosphere of back alley bizarre rock and roll nico's second solo album the marble index was a radical departure from the folksy chelsea girl which saw her turning into the avant-garde acoustic drone world of john kale's musical arrangements during the making of the record niko was inspired by a desire to radically alter her image and gain artistic recognition beyond her fame as a model dyeing her hair and turning to medieval folk music as a major influence after spending a summer reading poetry and experimenting with peyote with jim morrison nico was inspired to make her own music on a harmonium an instrument that was out of tune with virtually anything she was able to secure a record deal and produce the album with kale consuming heavy amounts of heroin during the process crafting ethereally darker ambience and disturbing sonority the album went on to become a massive influence on goth music anticipating its gloomy and doomy dissonance the debut self-titled studio album by the mr bungle band mixes a variety of musical styles including ska circus music heavy metal free jazz and funk sometimes all in the same track resulting in a dizzying disconcerting schizophrenic experience the lyrics of the album are brought in themes ranging from more comedic tones to dark and sexual references often with the two becoming entwined and offering a sardonic take on their nature one song could be about the discomfort in wearing earplugs while another reflects on domestic violence most interestingly the record samples includes quotes from david lynch's blue velvet despite having a wildly different atmosphere a day of nights is the first and only album by battle of mice a super group comprised of sledge metal vocalist julie christmas her partner at the time josh graham and experimental rock band book of knots members according to julie the album mirrors the progression of her dysfunctional relationship with josh which was unraveling at the time passages in each of the songs play like little snippets of nightmares exhausting and disturbing and difficult to digest christmas's vocals are often polarizing with whispered vocals contrasting with heavy crashing screaming the second to last track at the base of the giant's throat includes a 9-1-1 call that was recorded during the incident where julie was being beaten by her ex allegedly which she has yet to confirm or deny information overload unit is the debut album of spk the album deals with psychotic states and mental retridation and was recorded in a south london squad the australian band had been staying in the band had been inspired by throbbing gristle and cabaret voltaire it also had conceptual and political themes with the lyrics offering nods to marxism and nihilistic philosophy and uncomfortable live performances which you guessed it featured animal car cases the image on the cover shows a head being operated on aching to the feelings that the album's hypnotic noisiness may induce on the listener coyle's last album the ape of naples was chief producer peter christopherson's effort in compiling 11 years worth of material after the death of lead vocalist john balance in 2004. christopherson used the process to deal with the creep of losing his longtime collaborator describing a new ability to hear songs in new ways and attribute new meanings to balance his lyrics the haunting theme of the album resonates throughout with balance posthumously musing about the meaning of death with an eerily priest and tone the sound is dark and hypnotizing a combination of muffled and stretched electronics and acoustic instruments and in particular an interesting sounding marimba while all of the residences discography could be assessed and deconstructed to find unsettling in bizarre moments mark of the mole introduces a conceptual narrative that transcends the music into something else entirely the story follows the moles a subterranean society whose gods offer salvation through hard labor and speculated to be a self-insert for the band becoming forced to abandon the tunnels that they inhabited due to flooding to survive they must integrate with the chubs who live under the sea and are portrayed as a vapid hedonistic culture representing the commercial mainstream music world the band had been pressured to penetrate they coexist successfully until the chubs invent a machine that can do work for the others instead which makes them all obsolete and sparks a war that is left sonically unresolved by the end of the album with no clear winner and leading to the two ethnic groups to lube together in an uneasy piece this satirical concept is also interpreted as a commentary in globalization at large with darker more orchestral offerings simple but relentless dissonance dark musical sarcasm and a trademark cynical attitude hi how are you is the sixth tape by daniel johnson an outsider singer-songwriter whose career reflected a lifelong battle with bipolar disorder it was self-released as a cassette an unfinished album recorded by johnston while he was in the midst of a nervous breakdown it blends johnston's signature chord organ and piano along with experiments and tape and noise collage and some tentative guitar playing and was given a widely distributed vinyl release in 1988 it was further popularized by kurt cobain who wore a t-shirt with a cover art to a number of interviews in the early 90s like other of johnston releases it became a glimpse into his inner world with plenty of soundtrack juxtapositions in lofi musings which focused on cozy and comfortable pop songs it reflects some of his most prolific and pure childlike moments of his career recorded in the basement of his parents home in west virginia with a trademark and pretentious sweetness the collaboration album between ambient musician robert rich and sound design film score composer los mort was inspired by andrei tarkovsky 1979 film stalker the film which was in turn inspired by the book roadside picnic is the story of a figure known as the stalker who takes clients to the mysterious zone a room which grants them their innermost desires the album blends the trademark disturbing noise of lostmort with rich's ethereal ambient with the atmosphere alternating between deep cerebral meditation and a terrifying sense of dread the horror of the unknown and the excitement of discovery are thrown together to create an experience unlike any other level 4 bent and bootlegged this tier features openly dark albums that are loved by fans but considered difficult lessons rooted in genres that don't appeal to the mainstream and are often acquired tastes for most prize of the commonwood pile is the third album by carolina rainbow open wound chorale a purely experimental folk record featuring what the band is mostly known for creaking instrumentation and frog vocals with dissonant jarring banjos and off-kilter beats a lot of the songs are 1800s covers given an avant-garde twist with hellish accordions building off of normal song structures in disturbing white noise and buzzing songs are bent high-pitched and borderline listenable for most with weird clunking instruments peeking in creating a deranged prairie atmosphere through silver and blood is the fifth neurosis album and their most popular marking a new level of darkness in their experimentation with notably slow distorted and heavy influences perhaps the mood of the record was deliberately influenced by the difficult circumstances surrounding its recording with vocalist and guitarist scott kelly being homeless and struggling with addiction and guitarist steve von till also experiencing turmoil at the time the album includes a number of lengthy epic tracks with ritualistic instrumentation tribal drumming and moments of rapture choirs of screaming and a surprising set of acoustic instruments behind them it was largely seen as a spiritual successor to black sabbath's self-titled album with a roaring powerful groans complementing mammoth blood curdling riffs and tormented distorted base of the instrumentation converge's fourth album jane doe was the first to feature the band's definite lineup which has since become one of the most important releases of the metal core sub genre the band's new edition in particular drummer ben kohler and new songwriter and bassist nate newton were instrumental in the experimentation of the record which was mostly inspired by converged playing tracks originally conceived by vocalist jacob bannon's side project super machiner the band intended on creating an abrasive and divisive hardcore record inspired by a dissolving relationship in its emotional fallouts the record was made in two studios the larger one intended for slower tracks which required more ambiance and the smaller one for the faster tempos the resulting sound is a suffocating oppressive sludge of relentless musical cacophony every song becoming a violent collision of speed screaming dissonance and chaos metal machine music is the sonically controversial fifth solo album of lou reed which featured no discernable songs and instead favored an experimental collection of compositions of modulated feedback and other effects mixed at varying speed lou reed who was famous for being in the velvet underground claimed that he had invented heavy metal and that he had intended to conclude the genre with this record the album was panned by critics with the discordant sustained notes and loud amplification disliked by most of the time with even a rolling stone review comparing it to the tubular groaning of a galactic refrigerator despite this it has received better reviews in recent years with music lovers recognizing its importance in the no wave industrial noise and harsh noise scenes to come in the future the wall of sacrifice was the fifth death in june lp and by then the band was essentially a one-man project by douglas pierce although a number of musicians collaborated on this originally the band had only produced 666 copies of the record's martial minimalistic drumming and keyboard effects with atmospheric neofolk soundscapes mixed with vocal fragments and spoken word pieces the record is characterized by hypnotic droning in sound collage experiments with either expensive and atmospheric hints or concise and melodic structures with spectral voices and sonic territories that make statism and electronic manipulation as well as old german singing in the 16 minute long title track crazy clown time is the second david lynch studio album which we didn't expect to be named anything else described by him as a collection of dark songs in the style of modern blues with trademark elements of avant-garde feedback noise and descendant soundscapes with dense layers of texture like his movies lynch incorporates a twist on the 50s influence in this case the guitar with an addition of tremolo reverb and delay lynch's vocals are also treated through vocoders and modulation lyrics which were written by lynch are as expected enigmatic stream of consciousness style with spoken word interludes that emerged out of jam sessions with sound engineer dean hurley karen out from the yeah contributes a guest vocal performance on the opening track the big problem does not equal the solution the solution equals let it be is the first album by eccentric actor crispin glover of back to the future fame according to legend ex-divo frontman mark mothersbaugh took crispin to a party one fateful night where he met barnes and barnes main stains of the dr demento show with their song fish heads who wanted to do a record with him the result is a bizarre david lance affair filled with freak polka spoken word pieces barnes and barnes wanted to get a potential hits on the album which might explain the inclusion of the three cover tunes including a fitting rendition of a charles manson song and nancy sinatra's these boots his four original songs range from a psychotic ram about a clown to a warped rap about the lighter notes state that if you can discover what the big problem is then you can call 213-464-5053 to tell glover what you think it is listeners would then receive postcards as a response for their tips but as of 2007 the line has since been disconnected public and is a good idea is the first live album by swans recorded during their early years as a no wave band during the greed and holly money tour of 1986. this is the closest any of us will now go to experience an old school swans gig which went beyond noise and into some sort of cataclysmatic abyss of pain cynicism and emotional entropy the production was low five but it was needed to give a sense of just how loud these concerts were with their trademark miserable self-loathing misanthropy punishment spite and nihilism translated into something resembling music rough scratchy screamed vocals complement the thick heavy noise beats that in the midst of an intense experience contribute to a dark grotesque skulking stinking mame depressing and obscene atmosphere the seat was the second and final studio album of this heat a more song-oriented collection assembled from improvised recordings accumulated since 1976 with varying degrees of audio quality like its predecessor this heat the music included new improvisations along with songs that the band had been playing during live performances making for some very unconventional sounds sometimes it would sound like the machinery was breaking up as though the record player was exploding an experimental confrontational and politically charged take on post punk music and music concrete mayhem the record was inspired by the fear and angst the band members felt at the possibility of dying under the threat of nuclear warfare and addresses missiles with endearing names much of this radiation-soaked masterpiece was recorded at cold storage a disused refrigerated storeroom at a former meat pie factory digilog was the 20th album by the british avant-garde band soviet france filled with dissonant industrial textures and dark ambient this was the first album that the band recorded using digital techniques as well as analog which alienated several fans who felt the group sold out when they made the switch because the decay of the analog recordings a key aspect of their warped sounds was finite and corruptible and digital corruption wasn't appealing or as interesting to listen to this record represents two worlds colliding and melting into one another a mixture of failing analog and high end digital equipment with a heavier emphasis on industrial thumping beads low bass rumbles weaving in and out of beeps creating a record that is the embodiment of sound as dirty and clumsy as anything else we perceive with our senses as of today it's the only soviet france release in circulation worldwide oh and beware of the last five seconds what sounds like a nuclear explosion may just rip your heart in two with fright doa the third and final report is the second throbbing gristle album a stylistically varied distinct collection of tracks ranging from captured conversations to thoroughly compose creations with a mixture of studio and live recordings and collaborations as each member provided a solo track as well the band was collapsing under the strain of their personal relationships at the time not helped by the demise of guitarist kosifanitouti's relationship with vocalist and leader porridge in her affair with synth player chris carter this led porridge to become more paranoid taking on most of the band's ferocious lyrics which discussed and the desperation of his newfound loneliness i shall die here is the fourth album by the body and produced by the hexan cloak communicating a horrific plunge into darkness of pure sonic terror plotting scream infested bass lines meet stark electronic textures and rhythms with monstrous guitars thick heavy and bleak bursts of guitar distortion combined with the occasional vocal screams dark and nightmarish sounds mixed with drone metal incoherent screaming and some really heavy drums and bass this is one of those albums that just takes you in an entirely different world you can hear him screaming and rambling in the rooms above you the electronic production greatly augments the body's aesthetic and sound ghastly screams drowning beneath the murky layers of agonizing noise jarring distortion blotting martial snares and eerie atmospheres debut studio album by american heavy metal band body count was produced by iced a rapper who co-wrote the album songs which deal with political issues police brutality with lead guitarist ernie c and performed as the band's lead singer although the album itself does not feature rapping the controversial song cop killer was the subject of much criticism from various political figures of the time and iced eventually chose to remove the song from the album body count was intended to reflect straight anger it was supposed to be the voice of the angry brother without answers ernie c and ice-t were inspired by the dark ominous tone and satanic lyrical themes of black sabbath but based their lyrics in reality to be scarier initial copies of the album were shipped out in black body bags and local police had told the management of a retail store in grinsboro north carolina that they would no longer respond to any emergency calls at the store if they continued to sell the album winter an alias of tobias mako plays all the instruments and tends to alternate between live and programmed drums in pizzagiver he recorded his first six albums over an undisclosed period of time and then released them all over a much shorter period of time he wanted his work his initial progression as an artist to be untouched by public perception the extremely low-fi raw production style tends to alternate between and even combine black metal and ambient music it incorporates elements of drone and dungeon synth as well production emphasizes the atmosphere as the most important aspect all instruments including otherworldly keyboards are soaked with incredible amounts of distortion so it's hard to tell the difference between them drums and guitars melt and create one massive drone full of trembling trebles where what truly matters is the sound and the fury signifying impending doom when the kite string pops his ass at bath's debut album and one of the only two albums i ever released now an underground classic the album's artwork is a self-portrait made by notorious serial killer john ray gacy while in prison awaiting execution and it's even signed by him it plays a big part on the record as well as the nihilistic urges brought about by it songwriting is vulgar and gruesome dax rigs vocal performances consisting mostly of guttural painful yells and a back and forth of different styles riffs are chunky enough to combine doom sludge stoner grunge and death metal influences altogether the band themselves have described their sound as death rock and gothic hardcore like others on this list some of the album samples blue velvet and the clockwork orange first recordings 1973 is saxophonist john zorn's second album featuring recordings that he made while still a student between 1973 and 1974 but not released until 1995. zorin calls his collection the craziest stuff he's ever done an oddball mixture of noise radios saxophone and distortion pursuing the direction of music concrete the bulk of the material here seems to be concerned with pure and immediate sounds he would record performances made surrounded by tor percussion glasses pots and pants a cassette player turntables tv sets vacuum cleaners and his soprano saxophone resulting in a total cacophony of spitting artificial farts random yelling tinkering tinkling bellowing the shrieks of anguished symphonies paper being folded and scrambled music and a random tv in the background revolutionary pekingese opera was the third album by the band ground zero which was formed and inspired by john zorn mixing free jazz improvisation and experimental noise altogether the album is a sound collage piece combining noise music and samples a resampling of an avant-garde jazz performance of a chinese opera called consume red on which the performers improvise around a short sample of hojok music played by the korean holy musician kim sayok chul and featuring operatic singing saxophone freakouts and more the band plays heavy rock instruments over it with occasional chaotic moments of pure noise level 5 degenerate demos this tier features even darker concept albums that seek to alienate their listeners with inaccessible complex sounds black metal lamentations and depressive ambient abound european is the second and by many consider to be the heaviest of all asylum albums the project of german musician pedro rangel who became an underground icon in the world of aggro attack it features aggressive hardcore edm beats and harsh distorted vocals that despite holding onto melodic structure offers skull crushing intensity and abrasion with titles like the ones flashing on screen it's not hard to notice why some of these releases remain novelties say for those who dare to stomach their harsh confrontational intensity joy shapes is the fifth album of the avant-garde musical group made up of former husband and wife tom and christina carter it is a neo-folk effort with a creepy atmosphere and extended dream-like improvisation for 75 minutes of only 5 tracks featuring high-pitched psychedelic droning letting loose with moans and whispers songs unwind with a gradual near-violent climax of howling feedback doubled by voices disconnected from their bodies this album doesn't welcome you in but it does defy you to listen with eeriness and dissonance heresy is the second universe zero album by the rock and opposition band featuring the heavy use of dissonance and dark brooding and extremely complex melodies the release features a sticker carrying a warning the most sinister album ever recorded it sounds more like classical chamber music than rock with dark foreboding misanthropic strings and reads and gets quite close to the proto-industrial and gothic genres the atmosphere is oppressive with nervous jabbing ostinato patterns and rich instrumentation which include oboes bassoons and string instruments the place where the black stars hang is the fourth last word album which we have met while he collaborated with robert rich in stalker in our previous video the album consists of a 75-minute title track that is broken up into five movements a sonic absence of light minimalistically changing synthesizer waveforms backed by subsonic heartbeat and breathing rhythms are the hallmark of the album thick swooshes sound like some entity breathing heavily down our neck swallowing us in sinister undertones and vast open spaces at the empty vacuum of the dark bottomless infinite abyss through this record we embark on a journey to what exists outside of our universe the sounds that exist at the bottom of the subatomic world i have a special plan for this world is a long-form single by the english band current 93 and despite being a single it is too experimental not to warrant to mention it marked a return to the band's experimental roots which by then had been abandoned using unconventional techniques like drone synths custom-made instruments and even a modified speaking spell child computer it is named after a poem by a horror and weird fiction writer which is recited by band member david tibet who was nicknamed by genesis porridge yes that genesis porridge of throbbing gristle the story is about the world being nothing but an illusion without a clear narrative but part of the appeal is its lack of clarity is he a supernatural being or simply an insane man whose plan is a massacre as the unsteady ambiance breathes in and out the narrator encounters various people and thoughts each experience leaving him with muddled wisdom the sound is marked by disembodied cut up voices occasional blips and tibet's surprisingly restrained almost monotone delivery and after a devastating 22 minutes the music dies slowed and glitching hamatapi to marie is the fifth official nurse with wound album but the first real nurse with wound album according to leader stephen stapleton because it was made without the intervention of the original trio lana it was recorded every friday from 6 to midnight at london's ips studios for a year it is less musically conventional than its predecessors relying on tape editing construction and classical avant-garde techniques combined with resonating gong tones and disembodied children's voices it's terrifying music concrete obtuseness is a mysterious surrealist nightmare consisting of various tool parts people speaking people sobbing water drops noise percussion toys and other miscellaneous sounds that belong in horror movies as opposed to albums the laughter heard on the track the tumultuous upsurge of lasting hatred is sampled from the king crimson song easy money from the album larks tongues in aspect which i may or may not have tattooed on my wrist from how much i love it girl with basket of fruit is the 11th and most recent zoo zoo album co-produced by member angela seo and indie rock band dear hoops drummer greg sonier it features thematic nods to rituals mythology and mundane and divergent beliefs as well as films and music many of which are references to previous zuzu albums imbued with the agitation tension sorrow and anger the band is known for the title is a reference to caravaggio's painting boy with a basket of fruit but the gender was swapped in order to emphasize the ominousness of female martyrdom referencing sa and femininity the most common topics throughout the record lyrics were taken largely from the internal effects of internal events in the band's history reactions too and explorations of other people's texts and images a combination of several different sounds that the band has implemented over the years noisy textures burst from left to right strange vocal overlays that give way to frequent complete freakouts and some of the most wild lyrical content the band has put out thus far makes this release cryptic and unabashedly disturbing norwegian four if the light takes us hebeasly said that us is the third bursum album it was recorded alongside the previous three releases between 1992 and 1993 with its actual release spread out throughout that period during this time berezin frontman vicarnus befriended euronymous the guitarist of fellow black metal band mayhem and stabbed him during a fight which we discussed in our shock musician's iceberg video this album came out while vicarnus was imprisoned and it is a concept album about what existed before the beginning of the world a kind of nothingness in which bickerness calls others to seek the darkness in hell to find nothing but evolution vicar nurse's shrieks detail about how miserable and angry he was at the world in general it is made up of three epic black metal drones of sheer unmitigated depression plus a closing dark electronic ambient piece despite or potentially because of vikrnes's deranged state this album too many is a perfect expression of every negative emotion imaginable darkthrones fenris was one of the people visely said tarous was dedicated to in his own album which came out during the same time trained sylvanian hunger also happens to be on our list which vikranus wrote lyrics for it was the band's fourth studio album but the first to be recorded with just two members fenn was performing all instrumentation and nocturnal koto providing vocals it was recorded on a four track recorded set up in fenris's bedroom dub studios by the band the band's anti-semitic remarks on the slave caused controversy which they went on to apologize for on the following album with fenris condemning his behavior as going through a phase of being angry at several races the ending of one of the tracks can be heard saying in the name of god let the churches burn backwards as a reference to the norwegian church burnings unluck the shrine is the debut album of extreme metal band the ruins of beverage and multi-instrumentalist alexander von malenwald who also plays in nago far it builds the atmosphere of a slow-burned psychotic journey through compositional skill slow somber passages low pitched whisper-like vocals and occasional samples the entirety of the album is made up of these interchanges between the slow and fast riffs with primitive rhythms spoken passages and gloomy processional explorations prompting violent black metal tantrums and it will take you places not necessarily places you would want to go subliminal genocide is the fifth album of american one-man black metal act disaster who also goes by malefic real name scott connor he was inspired by astral projection darkness choosing to express himself through despair and verging away from the satanism other metal bands were inspired by the album is a reflection of the utter indifference of the world oppressively doomy and experimental numbing and yielding an anesthetic haze delving into the heart of the grotesque the record has a lo-fi underproduced edge that gives disastrous music its characteristic repetitive eerie and despondent sound conor was featured in one man metal a 2012 noisy documentary and moved on from black metal in 2010 switching his focus to neofolk projects dictus tanakara is the second album by bethlehem latin for it is the only album with vocalist rayner lanferman's vocals which were described as some of the sickest and most extreme and sometimes over the top a straight-faced blood-curdling performance that is difficult to forget lyrics are surreal and nonsensical but the imagery isn't random sparse notes create a feeling of desolation black metal riffs making way for slow atmospheric doom that is disturbing scary and painful the music is stripped down to an eerie almost ethereal baseline before kicking things back to chaos in wild aggressive spurts but by the 1998 follow-up len fuhrman had been replaced by marco carran as vocalist hatred for mankind is the debut album by mysterious english band dragged into sunlight made up of four anonymous balaclava wearers known to play with their backs to the audience with minimal lighting and candles to set the mood it features increasingly violent shifts between hostile death metal rifts like the various vocal and instrumental screeches and thicker more venomous do metal grooves the album cover sets the tone [Music] illustrated in one terrifying visual the album also features a number of serial killer quotes including some resident favorites like eileen wernes and charles manson teetering guitar riffs oscillate between death and black metal with suffocating thickness blurring a mix of sludge death black and doom metal that sounds insanely evil another fully anonymous band is portal who'll perform in executioner suits and utilize stage names for album credits concerts and interviews their debut album sepia called for vocalist known as the curator to wear a tattered wizard hat it features distorted guitar riffs down-tuned rhythms and vocals ranging from menacing and echoing sound effects to death grants the band has commented that they explored depth and atmosphere in the aim of a descriptive soundscape where the feeling must flow exploring different planes of darkness and atmosphere and not being extreme for the pure sake of it their low-fi production approach involves striking a balance to allow the instruments to spill forth and explode when necessary to accentuate the impact of the music and enhance its soundscapes the massive guitars create the gritty sound playing fast and predictable choppy riffs that forged the band's own breed of coarse gritty and evil death metal colleguli is the third album by kristin hader whose stage name linguenyata translates into unknown language in english it is the first to be recorded in a professional studio featuring collabs from other musicians and guest appearances including lee buford of the body it is named after the hedonistic sadist roman emperor caligula as a concept of a psychotic fugue kristin was going through it deals with hater's own [Music] it's experience those present in politics as well as haters own madness as a result of trauma the album combines elements of classical music with opera metal and noise creating a large and powerful sound on one track hater reworked jim jones's tape complete with screams and panic she also uses her striking voice the sound of rambucha's lament ache into a wolf's humiliation to proclaim her impending revenge on keeping her larynx low to restrict her more feminine timber and often using her worst vocal take on the final track also released on profound lore records was purien's fifth album frozen niagara falls the project of dominic inferno originally it was planned to be recorded exclusively using non-musical acoustic sounds like things being destroyed rocks being cracked in half and hurled around the highest of volumes to channel the spirit of homelessness ferna recorded the album of new york city despite conceiving its concept in power electronics haven italy rushing static distant growls and harsh noises are featured prominently as the dominant sounds of the album that transcend most common genre conventions be they power electronics harsh noise or even metal veneriology is harsh noise pioneer mers bow's second album his take on death metal after having been signed on a death metal label release entertainment the release brought american fame an audience to mursbaugh who had been previously only widely known in the japanese harsh noise circles perhaps then it isn't a coincidence that it was named after the branch of medicine that studies stds according to legend the track i lead you towards glorious times is the loudest track to ever be recorded on cd format mars merspa was more inspired by the concept of death itself than the musical limits of the death metal genre wanting to move beyond sonic rules of music and citing taboo photographer jp witkin as an influence he recorded the album while drunken beer and after its release returned to a more traditional sobered harsh noise sound mommy and daddy is the 15th white house album steve albini of big black fame who had also helped produce spiderland contributed to the production of a track on the record called private while controversial artist peter sotis was responsible for writing the majority of music along with permanent band member william bennett even bennett himself recognizes this offering as possibly the darkest in whitehouse's career with an explicit thematic focus on domestic abuse there is a neurosis present on the music that he found genuinely shocking and did not think of himself as capable of discovering fearing that fans of the band's original work would have disliked it also it was then natural that it could have only been sodos and albini to put together a track as depraved as private which compiled recordings and interviews with victims of violence in what would have become sodus's terrifying signature style zandra met kafsa's project dubois fourth album the origin of my depression reflects on her struggles with transgender identity and mental health she associates the sparse instrumentation with bare and quiet interludes to signify her deep sadness with only few and far between harsh noise interludes for enduring contrast of all sorts a lot of the songs where improvisations refined into compositions usually after several attempts while some were happy accidents blunt bleak vocals are produced so as to mimic the transition she had experienced through sound shifting from male to female and back again within a single track and using the title track to actually list all the origins of her depression as it builds in cacophony and intensity we reach the climax crashing walls of noise becoming a darker and more oppressive look into someone's journey with coming to terms with an intimate part of themselves level 6 this file is corrupted this tier features albums that can only lead one to wonder why did anyone make this listener discretion is advised and mysterious lore is plenty behold total rejection is the fifth album by chaotic black death metal band revenge while many describe this release as war medal the band refutes the label emphasizing heavy barbaric chaos with violence and long songs that implement complex song structures with a brutal wall of sound lyrics explore various militant themes of anti-religion into humanity and the collapse of mankind but the vocals of the record are perhaps its most contentious and controversial aspect descriptions range from pitch shifted and hellish to a frog gargling melted cheese who swear blasting this album is the perfect way to alienate friends family and any soul in the vicinity the con at project recordings of shortwave number stations is a series of recordings of number stations which are geographical markers to unknown locations conspiracy theories believe them to be operated by government agencies to communicate with spies the decision to release the set was based on the work of number station aficionado akin fernandez and the collection was available for free download along with a pdf transcript in 1997 the title comes from the mishearing of the czech word conic which marks the end of the transmission on the check number station faint female vocals static silence monotonous tones and childlike melodies characterize the collection it went on to be featured and sampled by a number of artists from porcupine tree who we saw in our previous video to wilco who was sued for copyright infringement as a result in 2013 the collection was re-released with an additional disc added which includes exclusively recordings of noise stations its terror emerging not from over-terrifying imagery but the idea of finding something unintentionally lurking underneath the surface deep into reality darknet portfolio is the project that follows the mixtape by the enigmatic group of rappers releasing as world corp enterprises the story behind the record is detailed by both nexport and mudahar from some ordinary gamers and other videos but essentially this is the companion audio only piece to a series of visual vaporwave inspired surreal videos that were released by world corp on youtube which then led to a website tied to what is believed to be a cpu organization or an insanely intricate arg the production is low-fi with palatable vintage beats and what appears to be steady flowing rhythms to many the music can be rather innocent and unassuming and if taken by itself rather belongs in the upper tiers of her iceberg if at all but everything changes once you get to the interlude some dismiss it as an edgy sample but it's hard not to find the screaming and lyrical content downright terrifying a parody of an advertisement that offers anything you can possibly think of no matter how depraved after the interlude bars become more depressive venetian snares who we've briefly met on our previous iceberg teamed up with experimental industrial breaker artist akade to produce nin from matriarch in 2003 literally the couple got together and consummated their relationship opting to record the end result and remix it into a full-length album the hard-hitting beats were constructed from the sounds of flash slapping moaning shouting and music concrete like interjections of dirty talk recording sessions were creative despite the concept however the album itself is melodic and surprisingly listenable giving his pitchfork writer alexandra laura lindhardt said a whole new meaning to the term drill and base if the legends behind stalag and gulag have led many to question the legitimacy of their recordings diagnose leben's guifar is the real deal this project soul members natran who had previously released black metal music as silencer in the famous death piers me album where he gained notoriety for his high-pitched streaking allegedly exacerbated by self while recording this album however sees him radically shift direction as transformerlin it is a bleak voyage into dark ambient power electronics marshall and noise influenced industrial sounds and a jarring experience that can be harshly rhythmic only to dive into one metered dragging ambience and a real study into madness natran who resided in a mental hospital at the time samples doctors talking paralyzing wines and screaming along with controlled clean vocals serving as a kind of narrative all that is known to this day about natrem is that he is from sweden that he was born between 1975 and 1977 and while he is anonymous he did write a book in 2011 entitled pig's heart containing his photographs in poetry bish bosh is scott walker's 14th and last album and also his longest in what was a 50-year long career of the former 60s pop idol and member of the walker brothers turned a vanguard experimentalist walker who didn't write for pleasure and took several years to compose his albums actually set aside time to create bish bosh and recorded it within two years due to a series of booking problems and the death of one of his producer's father the record sees walker playing with language a lot more than in previous releases from the name of the album to the complex and oftentimes mysteriously and unsettlingly humorous delivery of the dramatic lyrics and concepts in it walker's longest song to date the 21 minute long sdss 14 plus 13b zircon a flagpole sitter sees him performing as zircon hun ruler adela's court chester only for him to become a dwarf star and burning out it follows another jarring and experimental release by walker the drift but it becomes even louder weirder and more reckless dissonant asymmetric and defiant than ever daring to challenge even walker's most devoted fans who were used to his off-kilter sound walker went on to release one more album a collaboration with drone medal act sun before passing away in 2019 the litanies of satan is the debut album of avant-garde musician and artist by amanda galas whose straining voice is capable of the most unnerving of vocal terrors the experimental acapella release is made up of two longer pieces the litanys of satan and wild women with steak knives the text for the first track was taken from french poet charles budelaire's life ledumal devoting itself to the maridine perversity of the life struggle in hell the second track is a cold examination of monomania the devoration instinct for which the naive notion of filial mercy will only [ __ ] a vestigial grin some only hear gimmicky grotesque screams and gabbles while others consider the experience to be a cathartic exorcism and easily one of the most unsettling experiences of sonic relentless hostility frederick hoffmeier's project poose mary's sixth album the drought knits music concrete haunted spoken word and distorted synths into a sonic journey through infernal realms of a dystopian future with long drones and scar speeds harsh screeching drones and minimal mechanical rhythms keep pounding throughout the album ambient industrial sounds abound with noise injections that pierce through your skull like a knife and spooky spoken word sections that disrupt any semblance of melody hopeless anguished noises lay behind deranged generations of a woman who sounds like she lost everything she could lose especially her mind like a real horror movie the same year the drought was released hoffmeyer would co-produce a song in up-and-coming psychedelic soul musicians eve toomer's album safe in the hands of love gaining significant notoriety for his ominous addicting sounds ramlay was one of the og bands in the power electronics scene of industrial music of the early 1980s by then made up of gary mundy and what was a 14 year old philip best who was already involved with white house at the time despite them disbanding in 1984 monday's record label broken flag continued releasing their music including 1987's hole in the heart until years later like many of their earlier releases this one veers towards the power electronics and harsh noise style stirring controversy because of its nods for shock value which mundy has since disavowed buried synth textures nevertheless steered the album in a more detailed and complex direction with worldless distorted chanting and a remarkable sense of structure in space which separates it from harsher contemporaries it's fascinating and frightening with a dark atmosphere that remains impossible to shade paranoia is one of the later releases of marco corbelli better known as atrex morg who we've met in our previous shock artists music iceberg paranoia was attributes morgue's potentially biggest release the only one out in the old europa cafe label and it describes a slow death with great sorrow marco's sick vocals are aching to those of us using power electronics mixed with a dangerous feedback inducing collection of noises he manages to infuse death obsession and darkness into every recording sounding like the most perverse and nightmarish italian mystery jello soundtrack of all time spectrum ripper was the 29th missana album the work of japanese noise musician mazu yamazaki featuring an extreme collage sound of insane vocals the name of the act is a combination of the japanese words maso meaning masochist and ana meaning woman as well as a pun on the name of pop singer madonna screams and feedback create a unique palette that some equate almost with a structure that throws down one layer for an even interval and then another slightly escale brutal frequencies and rabid screaming vocals mix to create textured sounds for some of the most brutal abrasive and ear shattering noise records of the 90s mazel also dabbles in psychedelic music using analog synthesizers and has since started releasing music as control death as of 2018. the rita's fifth album sea wolf leviathan is an excruciating dissection into one of the most sonically dense explorations in the world of harsh noise walls seawolf leviathan is made up of two 30-minute long tracks that defy listeners into an ear bleeding array of doom because of its lack of distinct shifts and noises the album is indeed very polarizing either loved by musical aficionados who find an interesting pleasure out of appreciating the calming repetition of thick noise or absolutely loathed by those who find it abrasive and even boring the only way to find out where you stand is to give it a listen with a band name and album as blatant as this one it wouldn't make sense for this outfit to go anywhere else but this tier on this list make a change was a dark debut that cuts three years like a thousand razor blades at a mind-blowingly slow tempo that emphasizes despair and hopelessness with the vocals matching the pace the soul crushing the balanced by hints of dark ambient which make the release feel even more dense and sparse a repetitive downward spiral into complete hopelessness with surprisingly softer moments the album is made up of four songs divided into chapters which are each longer than 13 minutes with a whopping 27 minute long closer that only emphasizes the slow overtaking of deep depression what more can be said about buyer's market we talked about peter sotos in our previous video who worked alongside steve obini as the compiler of what most considered to be the most upsetting and unsettling album of all time the entirety of the record is made up of snippets and samples of audio interviews with essay and csa family members or the victims themselves there are many reasons beyond the obvious subject matter that make buyers market as a concept truly terrifying consuming it in one sitting through all its hour-long run time could be akin to watching a new segment to some but that negates the openly artistic endeavor of the album which does intend to shock and absolutely dishearten listeners an open confrontation with some of the most harrowing material recorded on tape which most people don't willingly want to subject themselves to not to mention the process itself which i can't help but wonder how much more of this was out there then and what about now what qualified these particular clips and samples was it impact is there more what was discarded does it get even worse perhaps just those thoughts are scarier than buyer's market itself a roku's basilisk of music existentialism don't google it pseudoscorpion is the mysterious singular output of a once fortune poster whose name has since been banned by the site itself senjin those who were able to hear it confirm that it isn't an album but rather a collection of audio recordings that focus exclusively on the harrowing attempts to essay young girls any trace of the album has been scrubbed clear on the surface web with many left to speculate on whether this was real whether this was made by zenjen himself or if it was just a publicity stunt for deep web cp the full story has been broken down in a detailed video by plagued moth which discusses the potential theories behind the horror of pseudoscorpion for now i will stick to the music and i hope you don't mind [Music] [Music] ah thank you so much for watching we hope you will subscribe for more content coming soon i cannot thank you all enough for following sets in the cd on our journey which i assure you has just begun excuse me while i refrain from speaking for the next 30 years but i promise we'll see you soon for more stories behind the music [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Sets And The CD

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Keywords: iceberg, iceberg explained, disturbing albums, disturbing music, disturbing music iceberg, weird albums, music, disturbing

Id: Kb6fq-xppxQ

Length: 86min 4sec (5164 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 11 2021