Happy Halloween! Whether you're out partying, heading off for a spooky pub crawl, taking the kids trick-or-treating or just cosying up in front of the TV with a nice cuddly rewatch of Terrifier 3, we hope yours is a suitably ghoulish one.
No Halloween is really complete without a scary soundtrack, so Team Metal Hammer banged our skulls together to pick out some of the essential heavy metal bangers you need on your Halloween playlist this and every year. From old school power metal classics to sultry gothic masterpieces, it's all here, and it'll put you right in the mood for celebrating all things dark and evil. Enjoy!
Type O Negative - Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)
A timeless ode to the beauty, darkness and hair dye routine of goth women. Spooky, sexy, funny, the way Peter Steele rolls the 'r' of 'Nosferatu'... the perfect song to put on while me and my black cat get ready for Halloween night (joking: she's already ready). Eleanor Goodman (Editor)
![Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare -All) [HD Remaster] [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vFwYJYl5GUQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
Ghost - Stand By Him
Is there another band on Planet Earth that mixes spooky shenanigans with outrageous fun as convincingly as Ghost? Probably not. Stand By Him isn't quite as glitter-rolled as the band's modern stuff, but it's devilishly good and packing one of their most simplistic but brilliant choruses. All together now: 'Tis the night of the witch...'. Merlin Alderslade (Executive Editor)
Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie
'Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?' You can't have Halloween without a zombie or two! Rob Zombie blessed us with this dancefloor tune back in 1998 and it's as killer today as it was back then. Special mention must go to its brilliant The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari-inspired video, with Sheri Moon Zombie as the titular Living Dead Girl. Beauty as well as braaaaaaiiiiiins… Vanessa Thorpe (Production Editor)
Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark
Fear Of The Dark was my first time hearing heavy metal – and I was terrified of it. When Bruce Dickinson’s voice came out of my mum’s stereo and snarled about nighttime paranoia, it scared three-year-old me shitless, but now I recognise the song as the melodramatic good time that it is. No Maiden gig, nor Halloween playlist, is complete without it. Matt Mills (Online Editor)
Purson - Spiderwood Farm
Rosalie Cunningham’s now-defunct spooky psych-rock project Purson is as well-placed on a Halloween playlist as a wad of cash in a trick or treat bucket. You’re surprised to see it in there, but what a joy - more money for egg lobbing! Mischievous and jaunty, Spiderwood Farm follows the story of a local council trying to evict ghosts from the derelict property of the track’s fictional namesake. Plus, its dusty and spider-webbed tone gives it an early Sabbath 70s charm, and the main guitar riff makes you want to do a creepy walk. The best kind of Halloween fun. Liz Scarlett (Content Editor)
Slayer – Bloodline
Slayer do Dracula. You could easily sum up the brilliance of Bloodline as just that, but the song’s magic is in how the thrash metal legends up-end their usual approach. It’s all about looming menace, violent, doomy romanticism and looming shadows that are a total contrast to the usual ‘run for your lives’ manic energy you’d expect of them. Rich Hobson (News Editor)
Skin - One Thousand Years
Skin, aka World Of Skin, was a Swans offshoot, featuring then-vocalists Jarboe and Michael Gira. This track equated vampirism with emotional dependence (‘I destroy what I love, I drain what is filled / And I live by the heart of the things I’ve killed’), Jarboe’s stately, spectral vocals broadcast from a place beyond remorse. Lasting four minutes and lingering for a lifetime, One Thousand Years didn’t just belong to the netherworld, it sounded sustained by vast roots reaching to its every recess. Jonathan Selzer (Reviews Editor)
Helloween – Halloween
What happens when you let a bunch of German pumpkin fetishists loose on spooky season? Thirteen minutes of quasi-mystical power metal madness that sounds like Jack Skellington has overdone it on the trick or treat sweets. They‘re called Helloween, for christsake – what did you expect? Dave Everley (Associate Editor)
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
