The Metal Wanderlust Halloween Playlist 2021

Last year’s playlist was fun as hell. I may have gotten a little carried away, to tell you the truth. Too much “VUK,” and not enough… people other than “VUK” (what an ass). This year I consulted with a ton of people, so be prepared!

J. Wukotich

0. Best Time – Helloween

Helloween you say? Yes we say? Why you say? Because, well, HELLOWEEN right? It fits! They have a fucking PUMPKIN in their logo! It would be a crime not to add them even if this song is cheesier than a cheese factory in the land that first made cheese (which according to recorded human history was China… I’d have thought France but then it wouldn’t be called “cheese” anymore, it would be called “Curdled animal tit juice” if them bloody Frenchies had their way..)
I hope you all have the best time this hallows eve!

Anyway. HELLOWEEN!

– The Great Mack

https://youtu.be/u02E9e5Lj8s

1. Return to Dead – Autopsy

Daniele Lupidi from Valgrind thought Autopsy was a perfect addition to this playlist. Any Autopsy in particular? “I love them,” he said, “I should meditate on it a bit!” Such a good natured dude, Daniele deserves his Autopsy meditation. So, while he’s doing that let’s cut this motherfucker open with “Return to Dead,” because… fuckin’ Autopsy.

2. Slowly Sawn – Cannibal Corpse

Okay, like the fucking name of the band doesn’t throw the proverbial pumpkin at your FACE, Cannibal Corpse deliver the goods right here with “Slowly Sawn,” which I suppose you could almost call “Slowly Sewn” if you are into making your own kit for a holiday, which not a single person EVER celebrated in Australia until it became a mass marketing exercise and now EVERYONE wants to dress up as that chick from Suicide Squad and ask you for some cheap candy. Yeah sure mate, you look just like her. Have some Vegemite Toast, and if you choose the trick option I will hunt you down and, well. Slowly Saw you.

Exactly the right tune to cut someone in half with (or dismember piece by piece with a gardening implement) this time of year. Them riffs are fatter and more vicious than your stupid costume wearing wanna be arse could ever be! Now find me a pumpkin that is as wide as George Fisher’s neck! I’m waiting!

– The Great Mack

3. Anne – Bloodbath

UK Groove/Death Metal outfit Phobetor released “When Life Falls Silent” last year, and what a goddamned monster of an album! Debora Conserva’s voice, specifically, providing a shockingly vicious atmosphere throughout. It’s a great record! Listen to it after, if you haven’t already. Brilliance! New stuff on the way by Phobetor very soon, I’m told.

I reached out to Debora to ask what she thought might make good addition to our playlist. It was kind of her to respond, and I thank her so very much for doing so. I want you to remember how sweet this all seems. That’s important, because we’re about to hear the answer to my question. There is absolutely nothing sweet about, “Anne by Bloodbath...”

“… can be considered a perfect song for the Halloween season, as it recalls through its explicit lyrics a feeling of dread and despair, especially for those who interpret them through the eyes of the victim. The gory details are evocative of the unlawful patterns of a serial killer and the heaviness of the guitar riffs used in this piece only underlines further the macabre vibes that the track transmits to its audience.”
Debora Conserva – Phobetor

4. Drilling Your Head – 200 Stab Wounds

When a song does exactly what you think it should. A right fucking proper drilling riff fest of such magnitude that had Gandhi even heard one riff he would have been fed for a decade. The whole song contains so much BEEF that one could even compare them to Mega Corporations for their lack of duty to try and save emissions (from cows arses) that will eventually cause DEATH.

Yes, this shit will kill you. 200 Stab Wounds, who’d of thunk a band with a name like that could ever want to do that!

– The Great Mack

5. Death Curse – Replicant

Replicant released their second LP, “Malignant Reality,” over the summer this year on Transcending Obscurity Records. The entire thing is magnificent, and really just deserves to be listened to as much as possible.

“Death Curse,” like several other choices on this list, doesn’t necessarily have a Halloween vibe. Not the whole way through, anyway. But check out the atmosphere about two minutes in, and then again at about about a minute and a half later. That shit is no joke! Not the kind of song you want to be trapped in a dark alley with, that’s for damn sure!

– J. Wukotich

6. Reunited – Broken Hope

Another Daniele Lupidi suggestion. That’s all I really need to say here.

The first [song for a Halloween playlist] that comes to my mind is “Reunited” from my favorite Broken Hope album “Loathing.” Great music and the most disgusting/bizarre lyrics possible.
Daniele Lupidi – Valgrind/Hateful/Huronian

7. Flesh From Bone – Paradise Lost

Oh, how hail ye this Festive fucking day (or season, for those obsessed with looking cool and buying shitty made skeletons and other such nonsense FOR A WHOLE MONTH like they have nothing better to do than be unsatisfied by their shitty existence…) ask the mighty Paradise Lost.

Well, I recently reached out to Nick Holmes, lead singer of the mighty PL, and the response I got was the Police knocking on my door saying that my good mate Nick H said, and I quote, “Why the fuck is Gimli stalking me?!” I sent him fucking human TEETH for fucks sake! You can sell them, can you not? Meh. People are shit…

Okay, on the flip side, “Flesh From Bone” is actually quite the daunting track, and if you want to save on expenses this hallowed eve, just have this blasting from your speakers so loud that the flesh will melt from those excited eyes and maybe the fat cunts following them for scraps.

Nuff said.

– The Great Mack

8. Forlorn Hope – Matalobos

Late last year (December 4th, to be precise) Matalobos released “The Grand Splendour of Death,” which is a ridiculously ferocious and expressive Melodic Doom/Death masterpiece. It makes very little sense to me why this record hasn’t made more noise in the ten months it has been out, but that happens all the time! So much is coming at us at once, it’s easy for things to get swept under the rug and have nobody notice.

Let’s rectify this a little for Matalobos right now, shall we? One of my favorite songs on the album is called “Forlorn Hope,” which I asked guitarist/vocalist E. Santamaría for some background on.

“I guess we have spookier songs, but the general concept about this album it’s the many faces of death, and how we deal with it. Forlorn Hope is a song about finding you have a terminal disease or something in that sense that makes you realize death is near. It’s about the loss of hope.”
E. Santamaría – Matalobos

The loss of hope, ladies and gentlemen.

– J. Wukotich

9. Apocalyptic Dance – Bethlehem

“A Nameless Cult assembled in a forlorn, mouldering crypt intones a spectral Threnody of mankind’s indissoluble grief.”
Sean Zimmerman – Sarcoptes

10. My Misanthropic Kingdom – Karloff

Lots of slow, creepy atmosphere leads into a raw, thrashing crust-punk fueled offering. In league with other bands such as Cloak, All Hell, Black Anvil and others with a “black and roll” feeling. Production is just right to make it sound professional without being too polished.
Dempsey Mills – Vials of Wrath

11. Procreation (Of the Wicked) – Celtic Frost

“The band that put extreme into Metal in their chunkiest. If this tune will not get you headbanging like a fiend, you should get your brains pierced! And just when you thought you had heard it all, I will encourage you to check out the superiority of the Sepultura cover of this very same tune.”
Markus Makkonen – Sadistik Forest/Nerve Saw

12. Through Violence Worship – All Consumed

An English Death Metal band? Who’d of thunk of such a thing! Oh, the glory of being alive in 2021! What does this song have to do with Halloween? Fucked if I know, but trust me on this. All Consumed have the ability to make a man shit his pants from a thousand paces, or more depending on wind direction, and if given the chance, will eat ALL of your chocolate by pushing all the other kids out of the way

Yes, this is how bands get successful. By blatantly eating all of your lollies and making fatter riffs. FACT.

– The Great Mack

13. Sacrament of Death – Creeping Death

I fucking love Creeping Death! And, though I also love the Metallica tune of the same name, for fuck’s sake STOP comparing the two! Ya jackasses! You know who you are!

Texans don’t fuck around with their Death Metal. They don’t fuck around with anything, though, to be fair. If a Texan wants to be a raging dickhead who shoves gummy worms up his ass… that’s what said Texan will do. But if a Texan wants to be in a Death Metal band, that band becomes known as a Texas Death band. We’re talking about shit like Kombat, I Am, Scattered Remains, and Frozen Soul. For me Creeping Death is the leader of the pack, but I’ve only ever driven through Texas. I don’t know shit. I do know this song rips, though, so maybe turn that bastard up loud! Here are some of the lyrics, ya freaks!

“She came to end your life

To end eternal strife

Creeping death comes to visit

Did you live your life perfect

She’s here to make you pay

In her kingdom bodies sway

Creeping death comes to visit

Did you live your life perfect?“

– J. Wukotich

14. Lurkers in the Capsule of Skull – Veilburner

What in the actual fuck LURKS IN THE CAPSULE OF SKULL? Does that title even make any sense? Brainworms perhaps? Dudes in dark robes carrying candles and chanting the names of long forgotten deities maybe? Fucked if I know, but this is some pretty evil sounding shit. So evil in fact a glass of milk I had sitting next to my beer just curdled and I’ve suddenly become left handed, and some dude named Pazuzu keeps ringing me…

Yep, from the demented sonic torment dished out by these guys, and the vocals that sound like those ones in your head when you are blind fucking drunk barking into the toilet bowl at 4am in the morning invoking the names of even old Norse gods to save you from this living hell and swearing you will never drink again (until tomorrow around lunch time at the very least), this is some fucking scary stuff. Forget what I said about that Paradise Lost song, if you play THIS loud enough, Satan himself may well knock on your door and say “Have you got a moment to talk about devil worship good Sir?” HOLY SHITBALLS! Haha!

– The Great Mack

15. Illuminate eliminate – Mayhem

“A continual branch into experimentation on the traditional Black Metal sound. Arguably darker than much of their earlier material, with elements of a style similar to Blut Aus Nord. The production is notably closer to that of the modern era – no longer offering the “kvlt” lo-fi aesthetic. Highly recommend as an overlooked gem in their catalog.”
Dempsey Mills – Vials of Wrath

16. Spill the Blood – Slayer

Slayer just hypnotizes you into an onslaught of Metal. From the opening guitar swells to Araya’s iconic drone-like melodies, you’re held captive for this macabre ride. It is beautiful.

– Subliminal Ed

Really? That is all you have? Slayer do not “keep you captive!” They pummel you around the head with a good hammer aka Dahmer or bite your cunt off like Andrei Chikatolo! How long have you been listening to them, a week?

– The Great Mack

Subliminal Ed, a man of few words, responds by suggesting the following song, and asking that The Great Mack just “take a good look” at the accompanying photograph. Shit is getting real, folks!

17. Mandatory Suicide – Frozen Soul

18. Creeping Death – Metallica

I’d personally call this more of a seasonal disease type song than a Halloween one, considering it is all about Moses and such shite, you know with all that plague shit and people painting their doors with lambs blood… But death is death and Halloween is kinda about that… No it isn’t.

Fucking hell. METALLICA!”

Love,

The Great Mack

I’ll echo what Subliminal Ed once told me and say this: Well, you’re not wrong. But “Creeping Death” can fucking go where “Creeping Death” wants to fucking go! If “Creeping Death” wants to violently insert itself within the belly of the holiest of organ pipes during Mass, that’s what “Creeping Death” will fucking do! If “Creeping Death” wants to run naked through the frozen forests of Norway, pissing on churches to put out the fires, that’s what “Creeping Death” will fucking do! Opposing its presence on a Halloween playlist will only get you run over by an angry, angry mob of middle-aged men screaming “Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!” Are you fucking kidding me?!

Love,

VUK

19. Am I Demon – Danzig

Imagine a song that has a very similar riff pattern to “Am I Evil.” Could you? Just saying.

But, Danzig. I can think of nothing spookier than having his fat arse bloated corpse appearing on my doorstep. I’d give him the diet cordial and a lettuce sandwich whilst he regaled me with tales from “The Lost Books of The Bible.” HA!

– The Great Mack

Well, I look at it like this… I would say that a lot of Misfits songs center on old B movies, while this Danzig song doesn’t. It’s not like “I Turned Into a Martian,” or “Vampira.” It’s less centered on the aesthetic of old B movie horror and more centered on the question “am I a demon?” To me that idea is quite terrifying.

– Jonah M.

I can dig that. Unlike the scary monster-type songs where you’re running from something, (and as the Great Mack suggests, perhaps one of those things should be Danzig himself) what you’re suggesting is, Danzig be damned, what if the demon is YOU?!

– J. Wukotich

20. Casket Lid Creaks – Nunslaughter

Ah the good old english language God bless it and all of its fuckery. If one reads this the wrong way they could think it is “Nuns laughter,” and really is there anything more terrifying than a chick in black robes who has given up their entire life to a mystical sky fairy having a bit of a chuckle? I mean, what the fuck do they even laugh about? The Jesus and Mary Chain? Pope on a rope? And why are their dresses called Habits? I have several habits, none of them good, but I don’t fucking wear them now do I! Oh, the stupidity.

Anyway, Halloween-wise you won’t get much creepier than a song called “Casket Lid Creaks,” and it doesn’t take that much of an imagination to get that this song is about dead things in graveyards, so I’d say they’ve nailed it right here. Dirge like in essence, with the obligatory cheesy soundbite towards the end. This song is a guaranteed pumpkin pleaser, of that you have my word!

– The Great Mack.

21. Zombie Apocalypse – Evile

It’s a goddamn Frankenstein’s Monster of Red Fang being eaten from the inside by Slayer. I would listen to this nightly as a lullabye.

– Subliminal Ed

22. Vulturos – Cattle Decapitation

Cattle Decapitation is awesome. Megadeaf recommended this song. Everybody scream “Fuck yes, Megadeaf!” and then drink a beer as fast as you can. Burp. Do that again, then go to your nearest supermarket and purchase a bag of potatoes. Peel them, mash the potatoes, mix them with the raw meat of a freshly killed muskrat, and then email a picture of yourself eating it like a taco to us here at TMW. We’ll be sure Megadeaf gets your message.

Fuck! This song is insane!

“The carcass beckons to the buzzards

Entitle to its pound of flesh

The wake picks clean the remnants of once fertile lands

Cleaned by corporations, distressed by the fucking shit-stain man.”

– J. Wukotich

23. Frankensteina Strataemontanus – Carach Angren

Oh the majestic wonder that I find in Carach Angren. Okay, Lord of the Rings based name. Check. Operatic at times like the mighty Cradle of Filth around “Thornography.” check.

Heavy fucking shit! CHECK! The film clip is amazeballs as well. Want that girl you could never have because you are a FREAK? This is the way!

– The Great Mack

24. Necromantic Fantasies – Cradle of Filth

There is only one day of the year that the mighty Cradle of Filth hate more than the day their shitty whore mothers gave birth to them, and it is indeed Halloween. Why I hear you scream? It’s quite simple, really. Every other day of the year they get to walk around looking like fucking circus freaks with small children yelling out “Hey mum, isn’t that Dani Filth!” but on this day of days kids yell out “Hey Mum, look at that short dude dressed up as Dani Filth, he looks ridiculous, even his hair colour is wrong!”

As for the tune? Well, it’s not gonna please the “I think ‘Dusk And Her Embrace’ is their masterwork” crowd at all, who are so self involved that they stare into the black abyss that is the shiny ends of their Doc Martins every morning before considering either worshipping the devil or suicide, nor will it please the “I like ‘Thornography’ and ‘Damnation and a Day’ because I like stories and my Mum used to read them to me before she became a crack whore” crowd either.

It doesn’t also suck as much as that woeful release they did about that fucking Gilles de Rais cunt. Oh lordy, what a crock of shit THAT was, pardon my French… Hang on, this song is called “Necromantic Fantasies.” Well, here I am digging up their dirty past…

I’m not gonna call this a “Return to form” or any such nonsense, but it is actually rather good, and quite fucking heavy, so I suggest that you listen to none of the rubbish above and just give it a good listen! Happy Halloween fuckers!

– The Great Mack.

25. Born of Death – Throne

Throne is a Death Metal band from Jackson, Michigan. I recently saw them at a club in Detroit, and holy fuck! They kicked my face through the back of my head! Such a great band, I just went and bought all their shit from the merch table after the set. The bass player (Leslie Drake, I would learn later) sold it to me with a look on his face like, “Fuckin’… really? Okay! Here, take a sticker!” He didn’t actually say that, and Leslie and I aren’t really on a first name basis, BUT there’s a good chance he remembers the overly enthusiastic old dude who damn near jumped in his lap after their set in support of Imperial Triumphant a few weeks back. If not… well, that’s probably good for both of us.

Jokes aside, Throne is an incredibly talented and intense Detroit Death Metal band that I have NO doubt will become a familiar name to many a Metalhead, and with a quickness. Their debut full length, “Pestilent Dawn,” came out this spring on Redefining Darkness Records, and believe me when I say… this will not be the last time you hear about Throne in The Metal Wanderlust.

The entire album is ridiculous, but “Born of Death” is a great place to start, if you’re unfamiliar with the band. Even if you’re a seasoned fan who “knew them back in the day,” or whatever the fuck… “Born of Death” works on every possible level.

– J. Wukotich

26. To Wither The Golden Rose in Bloom – Fell Ruin

So, I saw this band called Throne a few weeks ago in Detroit. They made an impression. I fanboyed all over their bass player. Dude is a fucking wizard named Leslie, and I think he’s the reincarnation of Cliff Burton. I shit you not!

I wrote to Throne several days after that show and asked them if there was another Detroit band they’d recommend for a Halloween playlist. Here is what they said, collectively:

“Fell Ruin has some spooky tunes”

– Throne

Fuckin-A, Throne! Fell Ruin do, indeed, have some spooky tunes! Find one spookier than “To Wither The Golden Rose in Bloom,” and… well, do that and you win the contest. Yay! But I bet you can’t.

– J. Wukotich

27. Shub Niggurath Awakes – Maze of Terror

Our mate Long Stretch just wrote a damn good bit on Maze of Terror’s new record, “Offer to the Fucking Beasts.” Dude spent so much time listening to it, I think it really fucked him up! Its heaviness, it seems, has caused some sort of trauma.

When I mentioned using this particular song for the list to Long Stretch, he said ‘Holy sheeeet’ and just passed out. Fell face first into the ground. Didn’t get up for like a half hour. Yeah, I waited. And when he woke, he hissed at me “Shub Niggurath Awakesssssss” and then passed out again. Creepy shit!

28. Dark Night of the Soul – Crypta

I was bummed when Luana Dametto and Fernanda Lira quit Nervosa, but I got over it pretty quickly after hearing their new band, Crypta. This quartet is loaded with talent, and songwriting chops, as well. Dark Night of the Soul is a blistering death metal romp, built around badass riffs and supercharged for maximum headbanging.

– Derek Neibarger – Atomic Zombie Records

29. Beyond the Tomb – Fuming Mouth

The ominous chorus (the graveyard, the graveyard grows) of this track rattled around in my skull for days after my first listen. Beyond the Tomb is heavy as hell, and catchy as fuck. Shifting from pummeling aggression to a sludgy crawl, Fuming Mouth delivers big, grimy riffs and a ghoulish hook.

– Derek Neibarger – Atomic Zombie Records

30. The Torture Never Stops – Hooded Menace

It’s hard for most fans of Hooded Menace to know where to start, if we’re tasked to choose one song. What sort of psycho asshole would ask for one Hooded Menace song? The answer to that question, this time, happens to be… me. I did that. To myself. Psycho asshole, indeed!

I almost didn’t put one one on this list at all, because they’re all so good, and most are so fucking long! Choosing a single Hooded Menace song would take forever! It would go on and on and on, and at the end of it all not only would we be no closer to choosing the song, we would have neglected basic personal hygiene tasks for so long, the people around us would begin to run screaming. In fact, you could say the torture would never stop!

Of course, there is another way to spin this. What if we were forced to listen to W.A.S.P. for as long as the time frame of, say, two times through the exact same song as performed by W.A.S.P.? Maybe that’s what Hooded Menace was trying to suggest by including this cover tune on various versions of their latest glorious Death Doom masterwork, “The Tritonus Bell.” We may never know the answer, but either way one would sound awesome, as the other induced vomiting. Together, I suppose, they would be unstoppable.

– J. Wukotich

31. — Well, this is the final song on our Halloween playlist. We do so hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves, and welcome any lively debate as to what we’ve left off, or maybe what we should have left alone… whatever. Halloween or not, we’re here to talk about and listen to all of the heaviness and creepiness we can manage to stuff into our lives.

To say farewell this year, I can think of nothing better to leave you with than some words by the great Serena. Imagine sitting around a campfire, wearing your favorite hoodie, and sipping your favorite beverage. Our friend Serena puts on a record, takes a seat herself, and just… listen… to this…

Through the Dense Woods – Dunwich

By Serena:

On their debut album Tail-Tied Hearts, Russian doomy Death Metal band Dunwich included one particular track that is the perfect backdrop for a chilly October evening. “Through the Dense Woods” tells the tale of what one might find when venturing deep within the woods. The song seems to be about the nasty trick that fear can play upon the mind, and with Halloween so close I thought it would be fun to read into the lyrics.

Imagine it – The branches have become so thickly pressed together that it is now hard to see between the narrowing spaces in the trees; there are noises that come alive in the dark that immediately make the knees tremble with fear; and the light from the moon has grown thin and can barely manage to push itself through the leaves down toward the forest floor where the protagonist has quickly become lost and… alone?

‘Crawling bugs along the spine…’

Immediately, the listener is thrown into an uncomfortable situation. Either imagined or real, the spine tingles with fear, like millions of legs attached to unwelcomed insects. The song carries on in an unnerving manner. Lyrics aside, the pounding of the drums and scathing guitar that build up to the first set of words are rather terrifying to witness.

‘Wolf howls in the ear and webs in hair…’

A mournful call one does not want to hear when unsure of their surroundings in the dark of night greets our protagonist. To make matters worse, stumbling through the trees for hours on end has allowed for the webs of spiders to wrap themselves tight within the hair. The senses have grown overwhelmed, and the fear sets in deeper and deeper.

‘Through the dense woods, woven branches are a funeral wreath…’

The cleanly sung voice quickly turns into a more threatening growl during the chorus. Galloping drums like horse hooves and a ghostly voice eek out a warning to the lone traveler: If the protagonist does not make it out of the deep, dark woods soon, the deep, dark woods will become their own burial ground.

‘Through the dense woods, predatory suspense exposes teeth…’

A shine of white is exposed in the undergrowth from the faint glow of moon that shines down; a gnarled smile belonging to no human being, perhaps?

‘There’s a devil on your shoulder.

You look through his horns.

Pointless to run away from demons.

You wear your fears like a crown of thorns’

The protagonist has the awareness that they should not dwell where danger lurks, but there is a voice telling them fleeing is entirely futile.

‘Through the dense woods, run, run, run.

Don’t turn around.

Through the dense woods, cover yourself;

Lie on the bottom down…’

However, now thickly adorned in their own fear, the feet get to running until they can no longer run. The only other option now is to hide.

‘Through the dense woods, close in yourself, but it does not help.

Through the dense woods, there you will be alone with your fears…’

Buried deep beneath the brush, the protagonist lies in wait, never knowing where the source of danger is in the dark. Hours pass and the only thing they can hear is the pounding in their ears, or maybe it really is the sound of that creature they are certain they saw now running toward them. It’s better to hide a while longer than to risk running into that thing, right? The fear has now completely taken over the body, and the protagonist is entirely paralyzed with it. A round of what if’s circle through their head, along with the staunch refusal to get up from where they are hidden. Hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into a body, frozen with fear and rotten in death. The song ends with a dramatically haunting organ-filled outro.

Moving away from lyrical content, this song is such a spooky stunner with the great growled vocals from Margarita Dunwich; the guitar and creepy organ inclusion from Anton Bronikov; and the powerful drumming from Mikhail Markelov. Check it out this Halloween!