Lustmord is the recording name of Brian Williams, a Welsh industrial musician, sound designer and film score composer born in 1964 in Gwynedd, Wales. He is associated with dark ambient, industrial and ritual ambient music, and is often credited with helping to define dark ambient through work released under the Lustmord name.

Background

Williams is raised in rural Wales and later moves to London in his late teens. There he meets Throbbing Gristle members Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter, who encourage him to make his own music. He begins recording as Lustmord in 1980 and joins SPK in 1982. In the early 1990s, he relocates from London to California with his wife Tracey, who works as a fabricator at Legacy Effects.

Style and methods

Lustmord’s music uses field recordings made in places such as crypts, caves and slaughterhouses, together with ritualistic incantations and Tibetan horns. His work is described as focusing on acoustic phenomena processed into digitally expanded bass rumbles, giving it a dark ambient character. His experimental output is described as not conventionally musical and as having more clearly visual qualities. He is an atheist and has said that, despite the ominous tone of the music, he does not take himself especially seriously.

Albums and collaborations

His 1990 album Heresy is regarded as a milestone of dark ambient. Other notable releases include Stalker, a collaboration with Robert Rich, and [ O T H E R ], released on Hydra Head Records in 2008 and featuring Adam Jones, King Buzzo and Aaron Turner. He also works with Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Monte Cazazza, Clock DVA, Chris & Cosey, Paul Haslinger and The Melvins, including the project Pigs of the Roman Empire.

Film, television and games

Williams contributes as a musical sound designer and occasional additional composer to 44 Hollywood film soundtracks, including The Crow and Underworld. He also works on Tool-related releases, including DVD singles and remixed versions of “Schism” and “Parabola”, and contributes storm sounds to “10,000 Days” on Tool’s 2006 album 10,000 Days. With Maynard James Keenan, he works on Puscifer’s debut album V is for Vagina, the remix project V is for Viagra. The Remixes, and the dub collection D Is for Dubby - The Lustmord Dub Mixes. He also contributes “The Western Approaches”, featuring Wes Borland on guitar, to the documentary Blood into Wine.

His other screen and game work includes music and sound design for Far Cry Instincts, Master of Orion, NVIDIA demos and, with Paul Haslinger, other projects. He is also involved with Planescape: Torment, although that work goes unused when the project changes direction. In 2015 he composes the soundtrack for Evolve with Jason Graves, and in 2018 he composes the soundtrack for First Reformed.

Performances

Lustmord performs live only occasionally. A Church of Satan high mass observance on 6 June 2006 marks his first live appearance in 25 years, and a recording of the performance is released as Rising. He later performs at Unsound Festival Kraków in 2010, at Art’s Birthday at Södra Teatern in Stockholm in 2011, at Unsound Festival in New York in 2011, at the Incubate Festival in the Netherlands in 2011, and in Moscow in 2012.