New Nightmares: The October Spirits Playlist Concludes
October Spirits, Chapter Three: New Nightmares
RRWS October Playlist, Part 3 | Originally published October 31, 2023
Over the last two weeks, we've covered some of the great spooky rock and metal music of the past. This time we're looking at some of the more recent headstones in the cemetery, if you will, of rock and metal anthems. There are a lot of new tracks that get into the enigmatic, the eerie, the outright spine-chilling. While classic rock anthems have their own haunted hall of fame, recent years have produced songs that dabble in the dark arts with fresh energy and a contemporary flair.
This third portion of our October Spirits playlist dives into that new era of haunting harmonies, featuring tracks from the past decade that have captured the essence of spookiness with a modern twist. From spectral symphonies to bone-rattling riffs, these selections stand as proof that the macabre in music is timeless.
In the middle of today's episode, we'll also pour a scotch whisky with a skull on the label that's sure to send a chill up your spine and a fire down your throat at the same time. Could it be supernatural? No, it's just peated. We'll talk about that later.
27. Halestorm, "Back from the Dead" (Back from the Dead, 2022)
We're starting with "Back from the Dead" by Halestorm. The track was actually released in August of 2021. At its core, it's about resurrection and rebirth, reminiscent of zombies and other undead creatures that are part of Halloween folklore. Lzzy Hale wrote the song about her mental health in the years leading up to this album. It was a difficult time. The COVID-19 pandemic had stopped the world in its tracks, particularly for musical artists, touring entertainers, and the crews that support them. Despite that harsh reality at the core of the song, it's written in typical hard-rocking Halestorm fashion, with killer Lzzy vocals, heavy guitar and drums, and some creepy imagery of the living dead. The video is pretty cool too.
Back from the dead, alive. Hell couldn't hold me. Back from the other side. Up from the dirt I rise. Save your prayers, don't bless my bones. Erase my name from my headstone. Back from the dead, alive. Hell couldn't hold me down.
28. Mastodon, "Halloween" (Hushed and Grim, 2021)
Good name for a Halloween playlist. "Halloween" is steeped in dark imagery, capturing the raw essence of the October 31st celebration. The track is full of haunting instrumentals, melding the band's signature heavy, sludgy-at-times sound with moments of more intricate guitar work and progressive styles. The song's cryptic lyrics and heavy tonal execution capture the mysterious and sometimes menacing spirit of Halloween.
Orange and black, take me back to Halloween. I've given to the blind as you can see. Gasoline runs through my veins, so don't you mess with me. I couldn't tame that beast with a handful of meat.
For a bonus: we had a song called "Halloween" last week by the band Helloween, and now we've got Mastodon's "Halloween." If you want a third heavy tune called "Halloween," go take a look at the very short (like two minutes long) but very loud, fast, and heavy punk anthem "Halloween" from the Misfits. Or if you just want to add a little more devil into your Halloween music, check out the metal anthem "Halloween" by King Diamond.
29. The Pretty Reckless, "Witches Burn" (Death by Rock and Roll, 2021)
"Death by Rock and Roll" was my favorite album of 2021. Like Halestorm's "Back from the Dead," Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen created this album out of difficulty. The pandemic was a factor, but also a lot of death in the lives of Taylor and her bandmates. Notably, the tragic deaths of Chris Cornell (they were touring with Soundgarden right up to the time Cornell lost his life) and their longtime producer Kato Khandwala, who passed away in a motorcycle accident.
The album cover features Momsen laying atop an old moss-covered grave, and many of the songs either deal directly with death or darkness, but overcoming darkness and persevering past it. "Witches Burn" is no different. The gritty sound of the band, coupled with Taylor's sultry, haunting vocals, paints a vivid picture. The name obviously comes from historic witch trials, but under the surface there are themes of patriarchy, objectification of women, and most importantly, defiance. Defiance and perseverance in the face of systemic oppression, and a willingness to confront wrongs, to refuse to conform to the expectations of society.
Till I get close enough for a blade, to stick it in, then I'll spit on your grave. I'm smiling all the while, you won't be at the trial. But there's a price I'll pay. For this I'll burn, for this I'll burn. One thing I've learned, you'll get your turn. All witches burn.
30. Ghost, "Hunter's Moon" (Impera, 2022)
Probably my favorite album of 2022. So we've got two back-to-back here that were a couple of my favorite records.
"Hunter's Moon" takes listeners on a journey through a night filled with spectral allure. If you haven't seen Ghost, they've got a whole backstory. The singer always has his face painted, and he goes back and forth between various versions of what I'd best describe as a demonic pope. His band members are painted up like ghouls with no individuality of their own. They're all just these faceless ghouls, which is what they call them. They stand behind him in masks and makeup. Very creepy.
First released for the soundtrack to the 2021 movie "Halloween Kills," the song loosely implies a Michael Myers-type character coming back. The imagery of a Hunter's Moon helps set the eerie scene. Traditionally, a hunter's moon is the full moon that first appears in October, signaling the time to start preparing for the long winter ahead. The band intertwines this celestial event with a sense of foreboding, using their signature melodic yet eerie sound to create a tune that feels like a dance.
Though my memories have faded, they come back to haunt me once again. And though my mind is somewhat jaded now, it's time for me to strike again. Tonight. It's a hunter's moon.
31. The Haxans, "Black Cat Bone" (Party Monsters, 2017)
I've had this in my Halloween playlist for several years now, ever since the album "Party Monsters" came out. The Haxans are a fun, spooky collaboration between New Years Day singer Ash Costello and Piggy D (real name Matt Montgomery), who plays bass for Rob Zombie and has for many years. Their 2017 album "Party Monsters" could by itself serve as your Halloween playlist. It features so much great horror-themed spooky music, mostly penned by Ash and Piggy, as well as a haunting, slowed-down cover of the Misfits' "Vampira."
"Black Cat Bone" takes inspiration from one of the most iconic symbols of superstition: the black cat. The song exudes an eerie charm, mixing gothic undertones and sexual innuendo with punk energy. It plays with themes of bad luck, hexes, and the supernatural, blending catchy hooks and macabre lyrics. The beat pulsates like a heart in the dark, and the fusion of Ash's pop vocals and the gritty guitar riffs lend the track a perfect balance of spookiness, sexiness, and rock intensity.
I had a premonition, and I don't want to be right. But I saw that black cat creeping on my front porch last night. Who's that on my telephone? When I hear that line go click, I'm gonna light a single candle, y'all, but you know I can't resist. A bad spell over me.
32. In This Moment, "Black Widow" (Black Widow, 2014)
Probably one of my favorite bands from the last decade. One of the older tracks on this portion of the playlist.
Black cats are a symbol of Halloween, like we talked about. So are spiders. And the black widow has long been fodder for creepy tales and spooky songs. Alice Cooper, in fact, put a song called "Black Widow" on his "Welcome to My Nightmare" album featuring spoken parts by Vincent Price. In 2014, Maria Brink and In This Moment added a new chapter to the music lore of the black widow with this uptempo, heavy metal dance number. The song opens with narration:
Yes, the dangerous black widow is to be approached with caution, as the black widow's bite can cause death. The black widow is easily recognized by her coal black body and red hourglass marking. She encases her victims with silk and then kills with poison from her fangs. The male spider is not considered to be dangerous.
Before going into a song full of great hooks and heavy moments, with Brink describing how the black widow slowly controls and entices the adoring male right up to the point where, well, he's dead.
Love me till you're dead. I will not forget. You'll still love me, dead or alive.
That's a song for Halloween if I ever heard one. And now that we're all dead, let's have some whisky.
The pairing: Smokehead Rock Edition (Islay Single Malt Scotch)
This is not just any whisky. It's the whisky that first got me into the smoky, peated whiskies of Islay. Islay is an island off the west coast of mainland Scotland known for the use of peat in the distillation process. It gives the whisky a very smoky, campfire-like taste. That, combined with the cool, damp, sea-soaked climate, gives Islay whiskies a smoky, briny taste that really sets them apart in the world of whisky.
Most people who like Islay whisky typically had their first experience with one of the more common brands: an Ardbeg, a Laphroaig, a Bruichladdich. I came to Smokehead through a visit to the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre in Edinburgh back in 2016. At that tour, we tasted several different whiskies. One, Smokehead, stood out as something very different and unique from the others. It had character I hadn't yet gotten from another whisky. Since then I've moved on to the other Islays and other peated whiskies, and it's become my favorite category in the world of scotch. But I got my start with this particular bottle of Smokehead, the Rock Edition. You may not be able to find the Rock Edition on your local store shelves. I'm not clear on if they still sell it. But they still have a line that I can find in local stores here in the U.S. If you look for Smokehead in the scotch section of your local store, you'll find it.
The tasting
On the palate, the experience gets deeper. The first sip brings a robust peaty punch, that smoke we talked about. Followed by hints of dark chocolate, vanilla, a dash of pepper, a little fruit. The smoky flavor, almost ghostly in intensity, mixes with subtle sweet undertones. I had some Smokehead the other night sitting by a fire on a cool October evening, and it's just a perfect scotch to enjoy while you're sitting by the fire listening to good music and staring out into the darkness.
Edinburgh on Halloween
As an aside, last Halloween I was actually in Scotland and had the chance to spend Halloween night in Edinburgh. I attended the Samhain Fire Festival in the hills outside the city, which is a kind of personified recreation of the battle between seasons, ushering out the warmer summer and welcoming in the new winter. There's fire, there's arrows, there's dancing and chanting. It's a spectacle. If you happen to be near Scotland on Halloween night, I'd very much recommend going. Edinburgh isn't anywhere close to Islay where this whisky is from, but it all fits together somehow.
33. Kamelot, "Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)" (Awakening, 2023)
Kamelot, renowned for their symphonic metal style, offers "Opus of the Night" with a touch of operatic grandeur. The title itself suggests a work dedicated to the night, which instantly brings on feelings of mystery and darkness. The added descriptor "Ghost Requiem" implies a musical composition in honor of departed souls, a haunting tribute to the spirit of the night. Tina Guo guests on this track. She's a renowned cellist and she adds a real layer of depth to the song. The blend of haunting melodies with lyrical themes of phantoms and nocturnal wonders makes this track a natural fit for the playlist.
A dark silhouette, lingering age-old desperation. Reviving grand nostalgia. Come shivers of pure admiration. Close your eyes, now let your emotions take flight, goddess in white. Rise to the queen of the symphony. Watch her step into the light. Surrender your heart to the melody. Let it take flight. She'll sing to you the opus of the night.
34. Nightwish, "Pan" (Human. :II: Nature., 2020)
Hailing from Finland, Nightwish is a powerhouse in the symphonic metal genre. Been one of my favorite bands for years. "Pan" is a track that gets into mythology and old-world tales. In ancient lore, Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds, and flocks. Often depicted with the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, Pan's haunting flute could induce panic or awe. Nightwish captures this duality with both soaring melodies and darker, heavier sections. The song's mythological undertones and the wild, untamed nature of Pan himself make it a bewitching addition to a spooky October playlist.
Then something wicked their way came. Showed a way to the great escape. Evoke the worlds, sparked the brain, an ape in awe before a door to labyrinth. To Keystone Earth, to fallen stars, to there and back. We're the writers of another way to be. We're the writers of whatever we cry home.
35. Sleep Token, "The Summoning" (Take Me Back to Eden, 2023)
Probably the newest song in our list, only a few months old. And to show you I'm not just an old guy that likes old music (I am just an old guy that likes old music, but I like some new stuff too), one of the most exciting, creepy, and popular new bands to arrive on the metal scene (and I'm using that term loosely, because they're much more than that) is Sleep Token.
Hailing from the UK, there is a lot of mystery and enigma surrounding this band. They wear masks, like a Ghost-type thing but a little different. They remain anonymous, also like a Ghost-type thing but a little different. The frontman uses the name Vessel. They also defy genre. I called them metal, but they include progressive elements, indie rock elements, pop elements. It's hard to pin them down, which I like. Makes them unique and different.
They've got a lot of spooky music, but I chose "The Summoning" because it's got a mix of all of those styles along with some truly spooky moments. If you're a fan of prog rock, you'll find some interesting guitar work and progressive rhythms and time signatures. You'll find some really nice melodic vocals as well as a hint of the sinister here and there. It's also got that mid-2000s emo-goth feel to it in places. It's amazing how many genres they seamlessly cover in six and a half minutes. There's kind of something for everybody in Sleep Token, which is probably why they're pretty popular at the moment.
I've got a river running right into you. I've got a blood trail, red in the blue. Something you say or something you do, the taste of the divine. You've got my body, flesh and bone. The sky above, the earth below. Nothing to say and nowhere to go.
36. Lacuna Coil, "Black Anima" (Black Anima, 2019)
Lacuna Coil is a gothic metal band from Italy, and they're no strangers to dark and moody themes. They've had a lot of songs over the years that would fit well into this playlist. "Black Anima" is the title track from their 2019 album, and it goes deep into the shadowy recesses of the soul. The term "anima" is often used in Jungian psychology to describe the inner self or soul, while "black" obviously denotes darkness, the absence of light. Didn't need to explain that one, but I did.
The track is a journey into one's darker self, exploring themes of personal demons, inner struggles, and the more haunting aspects of the human psyche. Brooding melodies, intense instrumentals, and Cristina Scabbia's haunting vocals make "Black Anima" a perfect reflection on the darker side of humanity.
The countdown has begun. Control. Delete everything. Destroy. Erase and rewind. Rebuild. Repeat. Go. Together we'll erase the suffering. Smash. Disarray. Our world is afraid and falling. Pain. We are chasing the ghost that's trapped inside. I can see your anima. Together we'll erase the suffering.
I just saw Lacuna Coil about a week and a half ago. They put on an amazing show. Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro, the male vocalist, both sound amazing still, and the band puts on a great show. Recommend catching them if they come through your town.
37. The Black Keys, "Fire Walk with Me" (Let's Rock, 2019)
Let's move from the metal to a little bluesy rock and roll. Still real spooky, though.
The song "Fire Walk with Me" appears on "Let's Rock," and both titles are references to Twin Peaks. The song doesn't really invoke any of those themes or feelings directly, but the simple utterance of that phrase makes any fan of the David Lynch and Mark Frost-created series think about everything that went on across those two series, the movie, and the associated books.
"Fire Walk with Me," the movie, gets into the final days of Laura Palmer, whose mysterious murder was the central event of Twin Peaks. The film, much like the series, is riddled with unsettling and often surreal imagery that blurs the line between reality and the supernatural. There's a sense of dread and foreboding that runs through the whole show. One of the most prominent elements is the Red Room, a space that exists in the mysterious Black Lodge, characterized by its red curtains, zigzag-patterned floor, and eerily calm atmosphere. The room is home to various entities, with the unsettling reverse-speaking Man from Another Place and the terrifying doppelganger-creating Bob among the most notable.
The phrase "fire walk with me" itself is used in the series and film as an incantation. It symbolizes a passage between the realms of reality and the otherworldly. The very utterance of those words invokes a sense of unease and indicates the presence of malevolent spirits. Lynch utilizes visuals and sound design to craft a world that's hauntingly beautiful yet deeply unsettling. Scenes in the movie are full of distorted voices, cryptic messages, and eerie silences set against moments of sheer terror.
Why do I talk so much about the show and not the song? The song is a cool song with a pretty typical Black Keys bluesy groove and the words "fire walk with me," but beyond that it's not that connected to the show. It just makes it fit in for me, and Twin Peaks is one of the spookiest and most eerie bits of content I've ever experienced.
Fire light the way. Burn the night today. Bathe in afterglow, everywhere I go. Roll on fire, higher and higher. Living in a fever dream. Feeling that fire walk with me.
If you want another great Twin Peaks-themed song, I recommend "Black Lodge" from Anthrax, off their album "Sound of White Noise" from the '90s. It's not that heavy, so don't get scared by the Anthrax name. It's a moody, ethereal, dark piece. Got some metal, but it's got a lot of weird sound design and effects in it. Very creepy, very cool. I often put it in my playlist. It just didn't make it in this year.
38. Larkin Poe, "Bad Spell" (Blood Harmony, 2022)
More blues. If you don't know Larkin Poe, you ought to. Sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell have been making great blues rock for the past decade or so. They have a number of bluesy tunes, some originals and some covers, that would be right at home on this playlist. I picked "Bad Spell" because, though it's an original, it has dark themes and spooky lyrics that call back to their Southern blues roots.
"Bad Spell" is a bewitching concoction of dark magic and musical chops. Gritty guitar riffs and a foot-stomping rhythm create an atmosphere of a ritualistic dance, while the lyrics tell a tale of enchantment and curse. It brings to life images of shadowy bayous and midnight incantations. We talked about "Cross Road Blues" from Robert Johnson and the legend around him in the first portion of our series. This fits in with that really well, which is part of why I included this song and the next one.
I had a premonition, and I don't want to be right. But I saw that black cat creeping on my front porch last night. Who's that on my telephone? When I hear that line go click, I'm gonna light a single candle, y'all, but you know I can't resist. A bad spell over me.
39. K.K. Hammond, "The Bone Collector" (Death Roll Blues, 2023)
We're going to close out this part of the playlist the way we started it, with a number from a British slide guitar player and singer who focuses on the dark, gothic, Southern blues themes that would have been right at home in the Mississippi Delta 100 years ago during the time of Robert Johnson. I'm talking about K.K. Hammond with "The Bone Collector" from 2023's "Death Roll Blues."
This song is a new favorite of mine, and it seems to be about an evil yet enterprising capitalist (scary, right?) who collects the bones of the dead, grinds them to dust, and sells them as what he claims is an aphrodisiac. Everybody's got to make a living, right?
And every child born onto this land will end up dust inside of his hands. And they won't pine, no they won't pine, no they won't pine, won't pine for you. The bone collector's gonna come your way. He'll plunge his wicked hands into your grave. What's left of you he'll crush up to be sold as an aphrodisiac, or so fine folks were told.
"The Bone Collector" is one of many songs on "Death Roll Blues" that are spooky, haunting, and filled with eerie slide guitar and distant, dark vocals. If you're looking for a more chilled, laid-back Halloween soundtrack that's very spooky but still very fun and bluesy, you won't be disappointed with this record.
Track 40: Alice Cooper, "Welcome to My Nightmare" (Welcome to My Nightmare, 1975)
So that brings us to 39 songs. Now it's time for number 40.
The 40th song, and actually going to be the first song of the October Spirits playlist, is from the artist who has been dealing in the dark, the supernatural, and the macabre for well over 50 years now, and still doing it. That's Alice Cooper, from his first official solo record, 1975's "Welcome to My Nightmare."
This is the third Alice Cooper song on this playlist. One of the other Alice Cooper songs from the first batch of 13 tracks was "Steven," which is track number nine from this actual album. "Welcome to My Nightmare" is a great song to kick off that record. It's very theatrical, very 1970s. It's got a real groove to it. It's also a bit dark and mysterious, and it sets the tone for the whole concept album, which features songs about the devil, madmen, murderers, domestic abuse, evil spiders, necrophilia, and more delightful things.
Welcome to my nightmare. I think you're gonna like it. I think you're gonna feel you belong. A nocturnal vacation, a necessary sedation. You wanna feel at home 'cause you belong.
It's also welcoming. The word "welcome" is right in the name. So I'm putting it at spot number one of the October Spirits playlist to set the tone. Then we move into the list, going back to the 1930s with Robert Johnson and onward through the decades, everything we've talked about over the past couple of weeks, concluding with the new spooky music we covered today.
That's the October Spirits playlist. It's available in its entirety on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music. Go listen to it. Have a great whiskey, maybe one of the three we've talked about these last few weeks or something else, whatever you like, and have a great whiskey-and-rock-and-roll-filled Halloween, everybody.