In our society, we are taught from an early age that anything “heavy” is what sounds like evil. Deep growling vocals are used as the voices of demons, death metal is the music of the devil, etc.

Yesterday I wanted to start a Halloween station on my Pandora, and, after a brief search, found the station Spooky Symphonies. I got some great classic tracks: songs from the scores of movies such as King Kong, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Son of Frankenstein, for a few examples. It’s definitely a great way to keep in touch with your inner spooky self.

But what really fascinated me was the way they all sounded. Perhaps it’s because these songs have been around for so long, but they aren’t thought of as “evil-sounding” anymore. When these movies were first coming out, people were legitimately terrified of them.

The song which prompted me to start this post was:

Even when it sounds like classic traveling music, there is a mad urgency in the sound, indicating that something’s not right; that something evil is about. And then it hit me: songs like this make me feel the evil that lurks in the heart of everyone, rather than giving it an outlet.