Music, Sweet and Terrible, Pt. 2: Halloween Playlist 2013

Months back I posted an entry about the sounds of horror. After shamelessly stealing Freddy in Space‘s list idea, I’ve apparently still got the list fever (a deadly virus that is highly contagious–you get it by READING LISTS OH GOD IT’S TOO LATE FOR YOU). So here’s the second installment, geared towards everyone’s favorite four-months-away holiday, because, you know, I’m a planner.

Corny though it be, I’d love to hear other people’s ideas about Halloween horror tunes. Leave them in the comments, or link to your own list. One catch: no obvious choices. The more obscure and fringy, the better–no “Night on Bald Mountain” or “Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor.”

1)

“What a terrible night to have a curse!”

Castlevania… can’t get enough. This was the “night” theme from Castlevania 2, and I actually found the in-game transition to nighttime–and the freaky green ghouls that started popping out of the ground everywhere–pretty unnerving as a kid.

2) 

So, yes, okay… Like a lot of American men of my age, I went through a Metallica phase. Thankfully that’s all behind me now, but I can’t deny (try as I might) that I still dig some of their songs, in certain contexts. This one in particular is a favorite, because it’s a) instrumental (James Hetfield can only add so many syllables to the word “yeah” before it loses its appeal), b) a giant Lovecraft reference, and c) epically Halloween-ish.

3) 

Fatal Frame is definitely a theme around here, and this is one good illustration of why. The depth of the creepy world-building in the series is evident in everything from the references to real-life contemporary legends to the level design to the music. This is a fictional song, but it could very well be a real one (see Tōryanse), and the semblance of reality in details like this is just one of many things I love about the series.

4) 

On the subject of terrifying Japanese stuff, there’s this. It’s from a silly (but awesome) old anime called Yoma, which you can stream pretty easily over on that there YouTubes. Check it out if you have time to kill–it’s ridiculous, but in a fun way.

5) 

Not much to say about this one, except that it’s brilliant. Not overtly Halloweeny, but I feel like it fits the mood of the holiday.

6) 

I’m not really up on contemporary pop, but this song by The Heavy is pretty wicked. Also, for me it’s inextricably linked with Arkham City, and for that reason alone it’s worth including here.

* * *

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll add more to this as we get closer to the holiday, maybe. In the meantime, what would you add?