Anything On Your Mind?
We’ve got three more posts before Halloween, which is…kind of a musical holiday? Like, songs directly about Halloween are sparse and mostly shitty, and so it’s not really a holiday with a musical canon the way Christmas has one. I think it’s because the holiday itself is just cartoony and goofy, and mostly bands can’t pull off that vibe. But, there is a very distinctive mood around the holiday, obviously, and there is plenty of music to support that mood. Plenty of spooky stuff, lots of tunes about devils and demons and whatnot, scary music, all sorts of options. Also, Misfits.
So, let’s tackle some categories! Let’s do metal today, we’ll do atmospheric stuff next time, and we’ll do whatever else is leftover on the last run through. Should be fun! No Misfits will be involved. You know where to find them if for some reason you need them.
Gimme Some Spooky Shit!
A sampling of some Halloween appropriate metal, because it’s that season.
Look, it would be pretty easy to fill this list with just Satan-worshiping, demon-laden stuff, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Or just throw on some Sabbath or Maiden, you’ll get no pushback from me! But I thought I’d highlight some music that maybe puts me into the Halloween mood, that spooky place where you start thinking, huh, maybe there are ghosts in the walls? Albums you can let wash over you on a foggy night and creep yourself out.
3: Flight of the Behemoth, SUNN O)))
Like this, for instance. This is drone, pure and simple, but it’s heavy as shit, it’ll make your skull rattle, and it will make you start contemplating the possibility of other dimensions. It’s slow as hell, there’s plenty of noise there, and you can easily imagine this sort of thing rattling through a demented maniac’s torture chamber.
Sacred White Noise, Thantifaxath
I think it would be easy to put a lot of black metal on here. Known as a genre for a chilly iciness, it obviously fits the season and certainly there’s enough bleakness in it to be seasonally appropriate. I’ll resist cramming too many of those albums into this post, but this record for sure belongs. There’s enough dissonance and unpredictability in this record to keep you off-balance the whole time. It’s noisy, it’s unpleasant, it’s weird, it’s Canadian, it’s great. Try listening to it sitting outside with no jacket.
Vermillion Pyre, Lucerne Hammer
I wrote about this one in the year end roundup for 2025, but I’m going to bring it up again here. It’s a wonderful, atmospheric raw black metal record that totally nails the melancholy feeling that I want for this time of year. When you get to the fire noises, you’re going to be solidly in that Halloween feeling. It’s hard to see how this one could be improved. Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to do a lot of black metal and then immediately put another black metal record on here. Whatever! Write your own blog!
Rien ne Suffit, Plebeian Grandstand
You want a vision of hell? Sure you do. Here you go. Plebeian Grandstand’s 2021 masterpiece is hair-raising. It’s not about demons eating your liver or whatever. It sounds like a hell that crushes you with simple indifference. I wrote about it in the 2021 piece, so I guess you can read that, but it’s really a remarkable piece of work and absolutely worth appearing in this roundup. It’s not spooky, but maybe it’s scary? Harrowing, at any rate.
Under the Sign of the Black Mark, Bathory
This one feels pretty obvious. Not Sabbath or Maiden obvious, but still. This album laid down the blueprint for what black metal would become, and it still sounds just evil as hell. Quorthon’s strangled croak genuinely sounds demonic, and the murky churn really puts the whole thing into a nasty frame. I’ll say this: this is the only album that inspired me to write an entire D&D adventure based around it. If that’s not Halloween music, I don’t know what is.
(Yes, yes, I know, more black metal. I did say it would be easy to put a lot of it on this list!)
May Our Chambers Be Full, Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou
Another one I wrote up recently, in the 2020 blog, and maybe that’s lame I’m bringing up the same records. I guess you can go read that, but the spookiness inherent in hearing Rundle alongside the sludgy power of Thou feels very appropriate for the season.
To Be Cruel, Khanate
Here’s one that hasn’t appeared on the blog before. Harsh, caustic, and dissonant, Khanate knows they’re taking you to dark places and they take their sweet time bringing you there. 14 years passed between this record and the previous one, but that certainly didn’t dull their edge at all. This album is three twenty minute pieces, and it simultaneously feels like it takes forever and no time at all. You’re going to go into a trance, and you’re going to see that all the devils of the world have been around you this whole time. Really amazing record.
Maggot Mass, Pharmakon
Pharmakon is the noise project of Margaret Chardiet, and it’s the closest thing to body horror we have in music. Menace is in every crevice of this thing, like a poorly lit basement full of rusty (you hope that’s rust!) and bizarre metal instruments. Every part of it is ugly, from her vocal shrieks to the distorted bass noises to the various industrial clatters, it’s really quite an achievement.
Folks, this blog might have skewed too unpleasant. I’m going to stop here. My goodness. Next blog will be less of a bummer!
Five Random Songs
Yes, it’s the “classic” five random songs format. It’s been told before on this blog many times, but basically, on an old forum, people would post the last five songs their shuffle pulled up. I liked it, so I made it into a blog. And now, here we are.
“Shadow on the Wall”, Video Age
Oh, thank god. Some shiny pop is just what the doctor ordered after that mess above.
“Fantasy”, BOOTCAMP
A fun hardcore LP on Convulse Records, a reliable purveyor of this kind of thing. You’re not looking at a lot of nuance here or anything, but if you like this, this whole album barrels along cheerfully in this same vein.
“Fingertips - 17 - Mysterious”, They Might Be Giants
Myyyysteeeeeeeeeeeeeerious whispERRRRRS!
“Satellite”, BT
Movement In Still Life is one of those albums where I’m not entirely sure how I ended up with it, but in a twist, it’s from the pre-Bandcamp age. So it’s not like I clicked a button and ended up with a record I forgot about, I instead bought a CD…and then forgot about it. I don’t know a ton about electronic music, and anyway, this is fine, I suppose. Not really my thing.
“Values Here”, Dag Nasty
I posted about a list of “emo” albums on Bluesky the other day, but I continue to be mystified by it. Anyway, this is on the list. I guess it’s emo now and not pop punk. Whatever, I know nothing! This blog is over! Cue the footer!
Josh, What Are You Doing Here?
I’m just writing about music. A structure like this blog helps me get my thoughts out, and it’s a way for me to explore my own music collection through various lenses. My sincere hope is that some folks out there find some new music they love. That’s all I’m up to. Sincere thanks to everybody who sends me feedback, with news that they’ve found a new favorite especially fun for me. There’s no monetization, no metrics, no ads, no promos, no nothing. Just some static web pages, some links, and my scribbling. If you want to support it, just shoot me a note! Thanks for reading.
Some Better Places To Learn About Music
Check these folks out, you’ll learn more for sure. In no particular order: To The Teeth, Wolf’s Week/Plague Rages, The Devil’s Mouth, Burning Ambulance, Lamniformes Cuneiform, Hex Records, See/Saw, Starkweather, Treble Magazine, The Quietus, Stereogum.