Media Meditation #5: Scariest Album Ever

Lustmord
Heresy (1990)

Tracklist:
1. Heresy, Part 1 (7:26)
2. Heresy, Part 2 (10:16)
3. Heresy, Part 3 (16:04)
4. Heresy, Part 4 (6:35)
5. Heresy, Part 5 (7:47)
6. Heresy, Part 6 (14:42)

Now, Lustmord is an entirely different beast than the music I’ve looked at so far on this blog. He doesn’t play any sort of rock music, not even rock thinly disguised as techno. Rather, Lustmord, whose stage name is a Swedish term for “Lust Murder“, is a composer of dark ambient music. In fact, he is frequently credited as the founder of the dark ambient movement, and his first recordings date back to 1980. His recent forays have included collaborations with minimalist composer Robert Rich and sludge group The Melvins, as well as a pair of remixed Tool songs, which were released on their DVD in 2005. His latest album, [ O T H E R ], had guest appearances by the guitarist of The Melvins and Tool, as well as the guitarist of post-metal band Isis. His 1990 album Heresy is considered a landmark in the genre of dark ambient, and indeed it is dark as pitch and it will scare your socks off.

Lustmord’s music is characterized by his use of field recordings from underground locations such as caves and crypts, as well as slaughterhouses and more. He has also included ritualistic incantations and samples of screams and moans, as well as the use of Tibetan horns. These sounds all wander through a landscape of deep drones and spacey, minimalist synth sounds. Lustmord’s music sounds huge and empty, similar to how the cold blackness of space would sound if it were burned into an mp3 file. Very few of his songs maintain a constant melody or motif, choosing to instead slowly form and recede like objects in the darkness. The tremendous, dismal drones sway to and fro, like planets weaving through space or boulders slowly descending into the depths of the ocean.

Heresy is the epitome of this sound. While many of his other albums are fantastic in their own right, Heresy is head and shoulders above them in a black depth all it’s own. While some of his recordings can become too empty, or too full, Heresy straddles the line with just enough happening at any one point to maintain interest and atmosphere without damaging either. Fancy literary imagery can only go so far; if you’re in the right mood, get this album, get some good headphones, and turn off the light. Heresy might not be packed with screams and gore like horror movies today, but in terms of real scariness it blows them out of the water.