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It's the Heavy Metal holiday, and what better way to spend it than going around and spooking folks with a killer soundtrack. And here is a great heavy metal soundtrack for Halloween. This playlist will appear for my heavy metal radio show 'Sleeping in the Fire' on Phoenix FM, Bendigo this Saturday night, the 29th of October.
1. Intro and A Cautionary Tale - Sabbat (UK)
A great atmospheric intro, a spell is being cast, a bell is tolling, and we are immediately being thrown into Halloween. Then a wholesome tale about Faustus selling his soul to the Devil follows with the intensive thrash that Sabbat had to offer. Play it loud!
2. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Classic Sabbath with their self-titled song from their self-titled album. Old Skool evil, perfect for the scary occasion.
3. Welcome to my Nightmare - Alice Cooper
The original shock-rocker may be more at home these days on the golf course, (which is arguably scary), but this classic song deserves to be on every heavy metal Halloween playlist.
4. Mr. Blackwell - Kiss
This evil little gem appeared on Kiss's least favourite, and worst selling album, 'Music from the Elder', but Gene Simmons was at his demonic best with this classic spook-fest.
5. Magical Spell - Masters of Reality
A slow, hypnotic desert rock piece. Yeah yeah, not strictly scary, it's about being caught in the 'spell' of a woman with the 'right ass', but it mentions a 'spell' and it's a great song, so it makes it's own spot right here.
6. Dracula - Macabre
The title alone is good enough for inclusion to a Halloween playlist, but that intro seals it. Bring it on!
7. Evil Spells - Morbid Angel
Classic brutality from one of the the founders of death metal, and another song about spells. But evil ones this time. Mwa ha ha...
8. Left Hand Path - Entombed
Seriously brutality from Sweden's Entombed, and the title needs no explaining, but after the blistering downtuned assault, the song breaks out into Fred Myrow's theme song to 'Phantasm'.
9. Dead Skin Mask - Slayer
Now there's a Halloween mask to scare everyone. And get you arrested. And evaluated. And locked up for a very long time. But meanwhile, what a great Halloween! Oh, and the song is killer. no pun intended.
10. Pit of Zombies - Cannibal Corpse
What Halloween playlist would be complete without a song about zombies. And be sure that 'Thriller' is not making any kind of appearance here. With their usual subtelty, Cannibal Corpse wrote this classic about a peril that anyone could all too easily find themselves in in this modern world; inexplicably finding yourself suspended above a pit of zombies and being devoured from the feet up. Don't you hate it when that happens?
11. Dragula - Rob Zombie
Now that we have that little cliche out of the way...
12. From Here to the Hearse - Wednesday 13
More spooky rock from Wednesday 13, who seem to be attempting to corner the Halloween market. And why not.
13. Mr. Crowley - Ozzy Osbourne
Let's face it, there are any number of Ozzy songs that could comfortably fit into a Halloween playlist, but the dramatic mad organ intro to Mr. Crowley sealed it for me. And singing about a real life magician certainly adds a little cred to the whole playlist. Just put the bat down now...
14. Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
Yep, evil numbers, a song about the Big Man down there, and that Vincent Price-esque intro read from the Book of Revelation is a sealer. (For the record, the intro was read by Barry Clayton, as the band originally wanted Vincent Price to read the intro, but he wouldn't do it for anything less than 25,000 pounds.)
15. The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria - Blue Oyster Cult
If one had to put a BOC song in a Heavy Metal Halloween playlist, most folk would probably go for their famous 'Don't Fear the Reaper', which is a great song, and a great choice. But I went with 'The Siege', firstly because it's such a great name for a song, and secondly because it mentions Frankenstein, and finally, it's such a great song. Winner.
16. White Witch - Savatage
Catchy as hell, a solid song, and it's about a witch. I rest my case.
17. Tommy Knockers - Blind Guardian
A song about Tommy Knockers? Oh, let's have that.
18. Trick or Treat - Fastway
Yep, there's no escaping this song for a Halloween playlist. The memorable track from the OST from the cult movie, it's the '80's all over again. And that's probably the scariest part.
19. Halloween - King Diamond
Another must have inclusion from the spookiest guy on the planet. We don't want to know how he sings that high, just keep pounding out concept album after concept album about horror. You could probably play just about anything from King Diamond for Halloween, but he has made it easy for all of us with the title of this song.
20. Halloween - Helloween
Yep, another no-brainer. Good song from these crazy German boys, an iconic and epic 13 minute plus song covers all the bases. And given the band's pumpkin fetish, you could probably prop up nearly any of their album covers in the front window and boom! instant Halloween decoration! FTW
21. Mr. Scary - Dokken
An instrumental, but the name says it all, and it's a great song to keep things at a good solid pace. Play it loud!
22. Monsterman - Accept
Monsterman? Yeah. baby! A classic metal singalong to scare the neighbours with. And a great song as well! Remember...LOUD!
23. Freddy Kruger - S.O.D.
A song about Freddy Kruger? oh let's do that!
24. Angel Witch - Angel Witch
Classic NWOBHM about a witch. Who is an angel. An Angel Witch! Who cares what it's about, it has witch in the title, and it's a classic song. Play it loud!
25. Runnin' with the Devil - Van Halen
Yep, another song about the Devil. And running with him. Presumably to get out there and grab some Halloween sweets.
26. The Call of Ktulu - Metallica
A great instrumental to finish up with, and loosely associated with Halloween, as the title is a mongrel mis-spelling of the classic H. P. Lovecraft tale of cosmic horror. Horror, I say! And if the party isn't over, go the hell back to the first song and play them all over again!
Happy Halloween you ghastly creatures you!
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