Horns Up For Halloween

Halloween, the greatest time of year! The decorations, the scary movies, the costumes, but most of all the music, nothing goes together better than metal music and the greatest holiday in the world. So here is a look of songs, bands, and albums that come to mind when I think Halloween. Please feel free to add to this list with anything I might have missed or forgotten.

                So let me start with a not so metal band, but the kings of sci-fi and horror. I am talking about none other than the Misfits. From their Glenn Danzig days to present they represent rituals, movie monsters, sacrifices, and the holiday itself. Their new cd which consists of only one original member, Jerry Only deals with zombies; “Twilight of the Dead” and “Land of the Dead”, Frankenstein’s monster; “The Ghost of Frankenstein” (Which happens to be one of my personal favorites), mummies, vampires and werewolves. The Misfits have stayed true to their path for many years. They also put on a killer show.  Only’s bass guitar looks like a skull, as well as the microphone stand, and the show is nonstop Misfits songs delivered with enthusiasm and energy.

                Force of Evil, which is pretty much Mercyful Fate minus King Diamond did an album which focused on horror movies. The album Black Empire has songs that focus on Leather face from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Candyman, to a song that pays tribute to the master horror author Steven King. If you are looking for an old school metal feel with a horror movie twist, this is the perfect album for you.

                Metal music fits the Halloween tradition so well, even without trying. Death metal and black metal are proof of that. Horror and gore are what a lot of death metal bands prided themselves on. Look at Deaths first album; Scream Bloody Gore!!!  Zombies anyone? Even when they went more real world, it was still scary stuff. It doesn’t hurt that they were one of the greatest death metal bands to ever grace a stage. Cannibal Corpse is another fine example of horror and gore. Who needs music when you have Gory album covers, much Like Cannibal Corpse does. It also helps their music is gore infested metal!!!  Iced Earth even has an album called Horror Show that puts all the classic horror movie monsters into songs. Who doesn’t want to hear a song about Dracula, or better yet, The Creature from the Black Lagoon?

                Ok, now onto everyone’s favorite subject, ZOMBIES. Who doesn’t love zombies? Heck, even my 2 ½ year old loves zombies. What better way to pay tribute to the living dead than by putting out a whole EP album dedicated to the flesh eating monsters? That’s what exactly The Devil Wears Prada did. Their Zombie EP is a 5 song sledgehammer to your face. The songs include sound bites like a shotgun blast, chainsaws, and even have a public service announcement warning the public of a zombie outbreak.  This album is great if you’re a metal fan, but even better if you’re a zombie fan.

                I could go on forever about what bands tie in great with Halloween and horror, but I’m going to conclude here and hopefully people chime in with some of their favorite Halloween or horror themed albums.