#morher

10: Death - Scream Bloody Gore

Chuck Schuldiner's voice on Death's first album has always stricken me as really intense. It sounds like he was actively being torn to pieces as he tried to sing. Combined with the way that this album had a very unpolished sound in comparison to much of the rest of their work, if I'm being honest pretty much any track could have been put in this spot, the title track only made the cut because of how I felt at the time. An honorable mention goes to the track 'Back From The Dead' from their demo of the same title; it only didn't make it because I arbitrarily (and perhaps unsuccessfully :3c) chose only to include stuff from mainline releases.

9: Megadeth - Looking Down The Cross

One of Megadeth's slower songs, but one that slowly builds in its speed and tension until it sounds absolutely devastating. Taking on a particularly dark retelling of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, with Christ resolving to damn humanity as vengeance, the lyrical darkness matches with the furious musicality and all comes together for what I think to be a terrifying piece. Another honorable mention goes to 'Last Rites / Loved to Deth'; the album version was a close competitor with this one, and the demo version (for how much faster and more bitter Mustaine's vocals sound, as well as the generally lower sound quality) would've taken it, if not for previously mentioned arbitrary rules.

8: Slayer: South of Heaven

Slayer have a number of rather spooky tracks, and ultimately I think that Revolver's list settling on 'Dead Skin Mask' is both an obvious choice and an incorrect choice. It's more obviously horrific in its lyricism, being (at times quite explicitly) a detailing of the actions of Ed Gein. In addition to that, it has some very horrific musicality, but in my opinion it can sound somewhat cliche at times. Furthermore, selecting Ed Gein specifically doesn't mean much to me; why not 'Angel of Death' for specifically dealing with nazi war crimes? Ultimately, for me, 'South of Heaven' takes the cake for being extremely dark and brooding from a standpoint of musical structure, and while it doesn't deal with real world tragedy, I don't feel that that is a necessary factor; the lyrics of 'South of Heaven' paint an exceedingly dark picture without that.

7: Morher - Soothsayer

The first of rather few non-metal tracks on this list, Soothsayer by Morher (known as Wrtch when I bought the album it is on) is an experimental piece that includes some rather spooky vocals towards the end. There isn't too much that one can say to convey the dissonant, spooky nature of this track, but it's atmospheric in a very compelling way. I highly recommend seeking this track out, as Morher are quite certainly the least renowned artist on this list, and the track itself is an extremely interesting listen.

6: Mercyful Fate - Shadows

Mercyful Fate have always been a delightfully spooky band in their sound and this track is, lyrically speaking, the kind of schlocky horror that sits at heavy metal's backbone. Combine King Diamond's incredible vocal performance with the rest of the band's almost magical sense of musicality and dark harmony, this track is a very solid example of the band in their prime. Happy Halloween :)

5: Pig Destroyer - Jennifer 2

At first, this track sounds like a continuation of 'Prowler in the Yard's opening track, a narrative told by a text-to-speech voice detailing a pair of women doing some stuff in public that they should, perhaps, be doing in one of their bedrooms. As the track continues, however, the narrative becomes increasingly surreal, and in the background discordant noise begins to slowly intensify along with the sound of laughter. The only deathgrind band on this list and the track isn't even a deathgrind piece; it's something of a disappointment, but there were a number of such tracks that I could have included that didn't quite make the cut. 'Lifestalker' by Cattle Decapitation was another track I considered including.

4: Motörhead - Make 'em Blind

Motörhead weren't a band who made particularly spooky tunes very often, but their album 'Sacrifice' to me is quite an exception. 'Make 'em Blind' is a very dark song, and while there are a few of those on the album, the slow drumming and chanted vocals create a particularly eerie atmosphere that engrosses me; it's almost hypnotic. There's also something darkly humorous about the way that the lyric "There are worse things than death in here" becomes a refrain in 'Don't Waste Your Time', the very next track, where its meaning is flipped for a far more upbeat track. An honorary mention for Motörhead goes to the track 'Jailbait' from 'Ace of Spades', because there are few things more terrifying than a grown man expressing sexual interest in an underage girl.

3: Robert Johnson - Stones In My Passway

I've often heard it said that when people listen to Robert Johnson, they get the feeling that they're doing something they shouldn't. For what it's worth, I have never felt this way, and I think that people who say that are just combining the rumors surrounding the man with their (presumed) inexperience with such old recordings. Whatever the case, Johnson certainly did have a way of stringing words together that he often used to paint a dark, distressing picture, and I feel this song to have been a particularly good example of such.

2: Type O Negative - Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath Cover)

Putting Black Sabbath's self-titled song at number 1 on their list was one of the best decisions on the part of Revolver's listicle. For what it's worth, I feel that Type O Negative's cover of the song is even spookier, but if covers didn't qualify or if the original just beat this version out, I understand. The dissonant, slower pace and the lyrics, altered to reflect the satanic perspective, outdo the original in terms of spookiness, and the lyrical refrain of 'Ave, Ave Satanus' emphasises the fact. The closing lyrics of "Worship the Sun / Worship no one" strike as chillingly beautiful in combination with the musical backing. Ultimately, while I generally prefer the original, Type O Negative's take is a lot scarier.

1: Sunn O))) - 0))) Bow 2

A crushing drone doom piece that combines crushing, dissonant guitaristry with unpredictable bursts of surreal, bludgeoning electronic sounds; the first time I listened to this album I made the mistake of falling asleep to it. I woke up to the sounds of discordant piano keys being beaten with a hammer, and it was the only time I can think of since I was a child that I can recall being genuinely scared by a piece of music. The majority of the track trends towards being loud and noisy, but low-pitched, so when there is such a sudden tonal shift towards the high-pitched, disturbingly altered sounds is jarring. It becomes a sonic jumpscare, but one that is set up ever-so-well by the rest of the track's atmosphere.