The Mosh Pit 10.31.08: The Darkest Music For Halloween

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 10.31.2008

It’s the second annual Halloween special and the Mosh Pit again looks at some of the best music to drain the blood out of your guests. From Carcass to Candlemass, and Danzig to Black Widow, step on in and look at some of the darkest and graphic music to play on this All-Hallows-Eve.





Hey there everyone. I'd like to apologize for my absence last week, as those who read the intro to last week's Fact or Fiction already know my computer crashed. I have since learned that a blue screen with the words "System Failure" = "You're Fucked". Fear not though, I had back-ups for any music and 411 materials I needed. My games were screwed though, so I've just gone back and regressed to some old favorites. Playing the original Doom and blowing shit up for several hours did wonders for my disposition, mindless violence compensating for graphics. BFG FTW! And incidentally, as word of advice, saving all of your pass codes is obviously a great idea, but don't put them on a spread sheet on that computer. Just saying.

Anyway, big thanks to Ben for stepping in and covering Fact or Fiction. The guy doesn't get enough credit for all the extras that get done around here, let alone bailing others out when needed.

This week we're revisiting a column I did last year, and that is some good "metal" albums for Halloween. A column so much fun, we just had to do it again! I mean, hey, how can you not think of a holiday that is renowned for hedonistic eating, creepy graveyards, and blood splattered movies without wanting to delve into the dark end of the music spectrum? Hell (pun intended), the two were made for each other. So this week we simply talk about great music, mostly metal with an odd one slipping in under a technicality. Make sure you drop in with your own choices below and tell us what you think.

Speaking of going back, on a few occasions I've decided that I will revisit albums I've done last year, but feel need a better look. Maybe I was rushed for time the first time around, or just plain see the need to do it better. Plus someday I'm going to create an album reference for what I do, and I want a better description to use. This week I'm doing that with Blue Oyster Cult, giving one hell of a great album a second run simply because it deserves more than the two paragraphs it got a year ago and really deserves to be recognized.

Let's crank this baby up and get things moving.

The Darkest Music For The Darkest Day II

For a recap, these were the albums we discussed last year for All Hollows Eve, each with a claim to the dark mood and scary spirit of candy-day done macabre.

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Merciful Fate - Melissa
Ahab - The Call of the Wretched Sea
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Venom - Black Metal
King Diamond - Abigail


So with that mighty list of new and old classics as a back bone, let's take a look at more dark albums to add to the cannon of a good scare, and why I'm at it I'll ignore the obvious cliché of just doing more albums from those same bands above. I mean, it would easy to get away with more King Diamond or Type O but let's leave that off till next year. This year we'll offer completely new albums to keep it interesting.

And remember, what we are shooting for here is atmosphere and ambience, along with lyrical content. I could easily just go for the "Monster Mash", but really (and I mean really) there is nothing truly atmospheric about that song. Well, not unless you're doing a Halloween party for your kid. Nothing wrong with that (actually, that would be a good time to introduce the tyke to Number OF The Beast - You can't start the kids out early enough with Maiden), but we're going to do Halloween the Mosh Pit style, so we're going for music that will freak out the neighbors, will scare the wide eyed goblins hunting for goodies, and hopefully wake up your local graveyard. Not necessarily all metal, since I'm shooting for atmosphere this time…




Black Widow - Sacrifice






One of the great misidentified groups from early metal history (not to be confused with the modern rock group with the same name), these dudes are legendary for their 1970's offering Sacrifice being touted as a primordial influence on metal.

Ah… No. Not even close, except maybe the lyrics influencing a few black metal bands in a quarter century, there is nothing metal about this. This is pop-like faerie music, complete with cheery harmonizing, flutes, and hippies dancing in a sunny glade… And oh, by the way, the band worships Satan. And when I say Satan I mean the real deal here, not the Sabbath way of using it to shock people and tell a store via metaphor. These guys were serious, and notorious for their lyrics romancing the dark one's religion and conducting actual rituals during their concerts. This sounds like radio rock, perhaps prog and pop for 1970, but has evil as hell lyrics, conflicting styles rubbing together so alarmingly it's almost comical. Happy music… Happy people dancing in a circle… Worshiping the Devil!

This isn't even close to heavy (The Beatles were heavier than this), and there is definitely better pop-rock-prog bands from the era, but man the band makes up for it with style. More novelty than art, and certainly only gets a spin from me this time of year before it retreats to it's coven for another year, but I can think of nothing else like it on the radar.

Think a lighter Jethro Tull doing a concept album based on the exorcist, and you'd be close.





Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus






As promised last year, here is the mighty Candlemass with their epic opus of rafter rattling doom, metal so heavy and crunching it pounds the ground six feet deep. Heavenly laments on the finality of life and death, a dirge for the inevitable and melancholic in atmosphere save for the riffs, which OWN you seven ways from Sunday. Seriously, this is guitar work that channels the right hand of Iommi, and it crushes in methodical fashion. Theory being, why hit someone a hundred times when you can hit them ten times at ten times the strength. Add to the weight soaring vocals that reach for the heavens, almost a prayer on the curses of life that shines with it's own pale light, and you have one sweeping album for a late Fall night.

The mad monk is the most popular singer for the band, and understandable since he is damn good, but for my money there is a certain magic to Johan Lanquist's singing here on the debut and how it marries to Edling's compositions. This is doom on an epic level, like a power metal band playing Sabbath with a few thrash riffs thrown in to bruise the skull. More a journey than a succession of tracks, but stand outs above the awesome is "Demon Gate" as fan favorite that thumps mightily with methodical magic, "Crystal Ball" and "The Sorcerers Pledge" that shift uneasily under the massive axe weight (damn the tone of this album rocks), and of course the bands ultimate statement "Solitude" that serenades the ghosts of the forgotten.

"Please released me, and let me die in Solitude" indeed. Combine this album with Trouble's Psalm 9 for the twin ultimate punch on doom metal.

TESTIFY!





Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction






Oh My. Talk about the soundtrack to your favorite slasher film, assuming that slasher film featured a mad doctor surgically dismantling his victims in gory detail. This is nothing but primordial death metal/grindcore that glorified viscerated body parts in its blood drenched tracks. Those tracks? How about 35 tracks varying from 30 seconds in a couple of minutes, each it's own ground up bits of raw meat, somewhere between proto- death, brutally rhythmic thrash attack, and an axe slicing off offending appendages. This thing is ugly, yet compelling in its anti-social love of cut open bodies. Nothing screams horror film like your gatefold featuring a picture of a corpse with its throat ripped out!

I'm going to warn you who don't wade into the deep end of the metal pool, that this is very primitive and extreme, more disturbing than structured. In fact, at this point the band has as much in common with hardcore punk via the grind scene as metal. Just look over the lovely album names, like "Genital Grinder", "Fermenting Innards", "Vomited Anal Track", "Regurgitation Of Giblets", or "Necro-Cannibal Bloodfeast" and you'll get the idea. Don't get me wrong, there is a violent charm and even a scared catchy rhythm to the whole mess, but this is still raw meat. Perfect for those who love the Saw movie franchise end of Halloween!

Bonus points if you can display the original cover art. Yikes.



Dead Can Dance - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun







A gothic symphony of sounds ran through the medieval dungeons of the dark ages, this thing just DRIPS haunting melodies and sorrowful imagery. This is a ghostly trip through cathedrals and crypts, and the soundtrack to the best ghost story never written. This is not a metal group by any stretch of the imagination, but a gothic group of rich classical compositions using clean male and female vocals that soar with melancholy. It doesn't rock, roll, or groove in any way, but swirl like a tattered tapestry depicting the sad state of human history.

Less story and more emotional imagery, nothing screams to trick-or-treaters that this is a forbidden and forlorn haunted abode like this album, and truly a great play on some dark and windy fall night. Desperate but passionate violas reach with brilliant vocals that lament like the forgotten story in some black and white photo. Truly, this is all atmosphere, but I can think of few things that would match the smell of burn leaves and a chilly night like this expedition in a mausoleum.

Truly haunting in every true sense of the word gothic, and not in the way mall kids fail. Even the name of the album sounds like something Edgar Allen Poe would write: Within The Realm of A Dying Sun.





Danzig - III How The Gods Kill





He of the side burns and deep voice, the 90's answer to traditional heavy metal (the first four albums that is, things got more "experimental" after that). Almost doomy in style and tone, but still all traditional structures, it's as if he skipped half the 80's to pull from the play book of the 70's. Plus the mans vocal style, Danzig pulling a page from people like Elvis or Billy Idol by letting his voice carry things at times as an instrument into itself. At times that is, because damn that rhythm section just coats your ears with textures, all dipped in the lower spectrum to support Glenn's underappreciated range. And then the axes stop playing accompanying texture and hit with a brilliant solo, more style and passion than technical display (less math, more skilled feeling). Man, this scorches. You don't need to play at 256 bpm when the six-string just coats you with pure win, Danzig's voice rising above the mass like a grinning preacher who just wrote the dusty tome on some dark forgotten cult.

I mean, just let "Godless" rattle and ooze out of your speakers, the guitars almost sobbing with the burden of supporting Glenn's rumbling voice, heavy metal's answer to Jim Morrison if there ever was one. But then he switches gears into the title track that flows with beautiful grace - Before that riff rips you apart three minutes in, and then slowly retreating again into a soothing retreat. No wonder this man writes classical compositions, with the depth we're handed on a silver platter of simple structures.

This is fore all the year round, the first half the man's catalog being essential to a metal collection, but this fires on all unholy cylinders; an almost bluesy rock vibe to one dark metal deep rumble and one of the best albums of the early 90's. Solid for any party, but how can it not be a Halloween party with out the Lord Aria himself tempting the ears of your guests. Turn it up all year round, but play it again tonight!


Encore

OK everyone. those are some fun choices for this year, and it was fun throwing a few non-metal curve balls at you. But hey, its Halloween. Hit the comment box and lets here some of your choices!

OK music fans, I need to find someone who can play this bad boy.
.
.
Good luck!
.
.

Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties


Lost in the greater scheme of rock history lies the mighty Blue Oyster Cult, a band that is huge within the inner circle of those in the know but really more of a legend that is hinted and teased at on the corner of music's culture. In many ways, the band has become the very cult and secret mythos similar to the strange conspiratorial stories they started out singing about. Part hard rock, part 70's metal, they would eventually evolve their cold claustrophobic shades of grey for more progressive textures of primary colors, going from distant to immediate as the years rolled by, and turning in more rock friendly tunes that at times belied the depth of content we we're given.

BOC got their *big* break thanks to Sabbath. The godfathers of heavy metal had the usual routine in trying to get signed to a label – As in they we're repeatedly rejected. And like many times when the labels post-facto went "Oops" there was an immediate hunt for someone they could sign on that would replicate what they missed. The label wanted an American version of Black Sabbath, an with that in mind they signed Blue Oyster Cult, seeing in the groups strange heavy and alien sounds that which could be their offering on the new music frontier. Well, BOC certainly wasn't a Sabbath clone, nor did they try to replicate that sound. To the bands credit, they just kept doing their thing which was its own unique monster. The full blown concept of the band's lyrical content, the original story, and the convoluted mass of its alien conspiracy is beyond this review. If you're curious I'll do a whole column on the band proper some time.

The band started with what is now famously known as their "Black and White Era". This is the bands first three albums, titled appropriately for the color of their albums. The first two being black and white graphical/geometric depictions of futuristic cities, while the third was a concept drawing of World War II German fighter plane before takeoff on some secret mission, the crew posing like the old mysterious photos you see on History Channel specials. This last album would be "Secret Treaties", and for many members of the secret society that is the greater Cvlt collective (and this writers opinion as well) this is the bands ultimate statement. A mighty thing indeed when you consider the totality of great albums this band has in their catalog.

The very first thing that will grab your attention is the production. It is very cold and sterile, with the best analogy I could use would be the production for Metallica's …And Justice For All. Except the bass isn't buried, just another part of the clinical steel wash. It's a very jarring affect, and disarming for those use to having textures and bottom end rumble up their spine. But the distant steel sheen is a very honest sound that, once digested, leaves you alone with no illusions between you and the music. And it's when the music seeps into you and you get the nuances that it claims you. There is no just getting the rhythm with this album – You need to pick up all the instruments, each adding its own layers, parts equally interesting whose sum still manages to be more than those great parts. This includes the lyrics which range from irreverent to adventure to half-hints of a universe full of epic stories.

"Career of Evil" features one of many Patti Smith lyrics the band would use over their career, and is a wash of organ-scales and a heavy rhythm, and what is a great bit of story telling as the singer acts like a James Bond villain – Telling you exactly how he is going to run (ruin) your life. Although I never heard a Bond villain say "I'll do your daughter on a dirt road"… So I guess this villain really is bad news.

Another lyrical turn is the hard rocking "Dominance and Submission", the overtones teasing sexual overtones in reference to a New Years Eve joyride, but actually another hidden journey into the history laden conspiracy that dots the bands content almost like the suggested stories themselves. A live crowd classic today, built upon those thumping power cords, bristling riffs, and cutting lead/solos, but mostly just a fun excuse to get carried along chanting "Dominance… And Submission!" Damn good song right there and a good exercise in the BOC mystic: Ostensibly a simple and catchy song on the surface that reveals amazing depth for those who dare to scratch the surface, the more you look the more you see.

And speaking of guitar work, another insider favorite of those card carrying members to the secret society is "ME 262", which incidentally is the name of the very German fighter plane featured on the album's cover.

And what can I say about "Astronomy" beyond the obvious. One of the big three songs from the band, and the most covered. Another journey of subtle walls of rock with even more subtle analogies that acts as metaphors for life while embedding the Cvlt's mystique for hidden messages; winding and rhythmic, subtle but awash in flavor, arguably one of the bands most poignant stabs at minimalistic grandeur and literally reaching for the stars with little effort. They succeeded.

The Set List
What's Playing In My Head Phones

1. Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery : OH. HELL. YES. Opeth's singer needs to do these pure old school death metal projects more often, because this bad boys smokes. The clean production is a little surprising, but man…

2. Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction : OK. This one got help getting on the list today because I've been playing the new re-mastered digi-pack all week. Glorious gory fun!

3. The Gates Of Slumber - Conquer: Traditional old school doom, with a little NWOBHM and a lot of love for the heavy arm of the 70's. Man, its good knowing bands today are doing this kind of music still. The underground for the win!

* Michael L: Damn good point on Ozzfest. I agree it's not worth seeing today, but it certainly did help break the ice in getting festivals running in this country (again). Europe is still kicking our ass on quality metal festivals, and I'm still trying to get Mitch to send me to Wacken, but at least we're trying these days and Ozzfest helped. Thanks for a great post!

* Gee fixer, I thought you would be a big Sharon fan! Just kidding man, no angry emails. I know how you feel about the catastrophe that is the greater Ozzy collective.

* Well, I would respond to CharlesBronson but Sandeep Murali pretty much nailed it. Ozzy was always a better front man, loaded with tons of charisma, than singing ability. My only caveat I'd add is that there are songs where I feel his voice worked perfectly for what was being done with the music. For example, I still maintain that "Megalomaniac" from Sabbath is a brilliant vocal job from Ozzy who put on the performance of his career. Good shit.

* AndrewCrow: Man, you must have a link to my notes, because I have a Burzum album on the radar. Probably in a couple of weeks. STOP THAT!

Seriously, you got one of them coming. Good ideas though, and maybe I'll do Mayhem for the holidays. Either that or Immortal. Nothing says Christmas like Sons of Northern Darkness!

Music Trivia

At the end of Rush's opus "2112", during the final sub-track "Finale" a voice blares above the instrumental climax of the ending:

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation

We have assumed control
We have assumed control
We have assumed control

That's an interesting end to the album, and it makes you wonder who won the fight of free choice (the ancient race of man) versus collectivism (The Solar Federation). BUT, there is a secret hiding in those lyrics…

The first three lines together add up to 21 words. The second three lines add up to 12 words.

Put it together and you get 2112.

It's been fun everyone, now get out there enjoy your day. Keep it real, have a drink for me, and play it on 10.