Halloween At Modern Music Analysis
Our writers share their favorite music for Spooky Season.
October has many names: Spooky Season, Spooktober, Halloween season etc. It’s a time where we get movies, shows and music that fit in with the central theme of Halloween. Some play more into the fun side of the season while others truly try to instill fear when someone experiences them. Music is a special case because it can combine audio and visual elements to create the spooky season feeling. Of course, movies utilize music to help enhance the mood but the music can exist on its own too. Here at Modern Music Analysis, we had our writers talk about their favorite music from this season and why they love it so much.
Contributors: Mark Chinapen, Josh Herring, Robin Krause, Oluwadara Babatope and Paul K. Barnes
Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson | Words by Mark Chinapen
October always holds a special place in my heart. As a fall baby myself, I love the cool crisp air, the leaves changing colors and above all else, spooky season. It’s like the perfect precursor for the upcoming holiday season. While I haven’t gone trick or treating in nearly a decade, nor have I participated in any Halloween events I still ring in this time of year with a dash of horror. Recently I’ve drawn my attention to the 1997 HBO animated series Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. So far it’s been a great and dark series that will surely satisfy superhero/horror fans alike. Although not featured in this iteration of Todd McFarlane’s creation, Marilyn Manson’s “Long Hard Road Out of Hell” was used in the critically panned live action film based on the character, and is one song I always associate with this time of year (and with Spawn as well).
While the film is an hour and 30 minutes of pure cringe, the soundtrack just slightly makes up for it. Mainly consisting of nu metal and rock groups from that time, it meshes well with the film’s tone. Yet Manson’s “Long Hard Road Out of Hell” always stuck out to me. It’s very much in line with his work on Mechanical Animals where Manson was expanding his industrial goth rock sound. Manson’s vocal delivery is something I’ve admired, and on here he comes off as a diabolical villain with his creepy yet subdued performance on the first and second verse. Production wise, the song’s driving bass kicks it off and builds into an anxiety inducing thunderous chorus. As if there’s something terrifying just creeping up on you before it reveals itself.
I can’t but help imagine Spawn stalking a criminal or a demon in a dark alleyway as I listen to this song. Lyrically, it also epitomizes the haunting back story of Spawn, with some allusions to his creation as a soldier of hell sent back to earth and trying to reclaim his humanity. “Long Hard Road Out of Hell” taps into that dark and seedy creepiness that I always associate with Halloween, and is surely a song that I’ll keep commemorating this time of year with.
Monster House (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Douglas Pipes | Words by Josh Herring
There’s something special about dressing in horrid and uncomfortable clothing with various amounts of makeup or costumes and roaming the streets of the neighborhoods built away from the dystopian stroud one, namely me, calls a hometown. The very same houses we ding-dong ditched in the daytime were prime pickings for full-sized candy bars as they turned the porch light on and pretended they weren’t home. But there was always one house, or a few if you ended up in the wrong place, its crooked shingles looked like teeth and the busted out windows, black eyes. The personification of these houses shifting under the dying sun was the focal point of my favorite Halloween movie, Monster House, in which a living, breathing house terrorizes children the night of Halloween.
The incredibly uncanny animation and comically accurate musings of children facing their fears on unimposed dares and loose basketballs is always welcomed in the incredible tension-building soundtrack of Monster House by Douglas Pipes. Far surpassing the complexity of its audience, the soundtrack still makes my hair stand on end when Nebbercracker returns to his cursed home or the house comes to life to eat the children within.
While the themes are simplistic, the elaborate metaphor of a nearly foreclosed home and a shut-off widower haunts me, because who was this movie even for? It was terrifying to a relatively innocuous holiday, yet extremely fun as the point of view, as always the case with children, is entirely irrational, and as such, that much more exciting. These points are only elevated when stripping back the animation and reveling in the soundtrack that has a flair for dramatics and the poise to build perfect tension.
Scream (Original Motion Picture Score) by Marco Betrami | Words by Robin Krause
Technically, I don’t have much to do with Halloween. I know that it takes place around me; I also notice the ringing children and also see the numerous costumes. I know just as well about the numerous Halloween parties that take place, one of them happens barely 50 meters away from me. Still, I don’t have much to do with Halloween. But if I had something to do with Halloween, I would know where to look — at least when it comes to music. In 1997, a movie was released that lived up to its genre of the slasher movie. But that wasn’t all: full of wit and more or less subtle meta-allusions to the horror genre itself, it gave birth to a film that has remained relevant to this day.
We are talking about Scream, of course. There’s already enough to read about the film and its postmodern themes, but rarely does anyone talk about Marco Beltrami’s great score. After all, it’s not just Ghostface’s voice that triggers the feeling of oppressive tension in us right at the beginning. Without the music and its subtle nuances between the individual instruments that, among other things, evoke unease in ourselves through the repetition of the devil’s interval, the phone call scene wouldn’t feel the same. For this purpose, a simple experiment: just listen to the soundtrack in the dark of night without watching the film.
Actually, you will realize that you don’t have to because the music itself is already scary enough. Now, one could say that this applies to all horror movie soundtracks and that the one from Scream is not special in this regard. But surely, it is. Hardly any other soundtrack from that specific genre manages to work out the relationship between the horror elements and the actual narrative like the one from Scream does. It’s precisely the quieter moments that reveal the distinctiveness of this soundtrack. A wonderful soundtrack, and a creepy one as well.
Beware by Deftones | Words by Oluwadara Babatope
The song off of Deftones’ textured and sonically sensual album carries many elements of the thrill, horror and spookiness that Halloween movies often give off. Basically, the lyrics describe a relationship on the verge of crumbling, along with some hints to drug addiction. The commanding title itself –”Beware” functions as a warning, inducing a sense of impending mystery or danger.
Its ethereal guitar riffs, driving bass line, distinctive vocal delivery (thanks to Chino) along with the drum fills give off a different kind of fear- like a pounding heart. The lyrics speak of caution and perhaps something sinister, evoking a feeling that resonates with themes of uncertainty and the unknown, often linked with eerie scenarios or events such as Halloween. Creepy, pulsating keys and reverberated minor harmonies make this song a must add to your Halloween playlist. There’s just something about “Beware” I can’t put my finger on that makes it sound so good. Whatever it is, I know I’m not going to stop listening.
Without Warning by Metro Boomin, 21 Savage and Offset | Words by Paul K. Barnes
Halloween is not something I grew up “celebrating.” I’ve only been trick or treating in my neighborhood once making it the first and last time I ever did it. I also didn’t grow up watching horror movies regularly. However, I did enjoy looking at Halloween decorations in stores and people’s houses — once I got over my fear of them. While in middle school, I went all in with reading and learning about the characters horror fans loved through YouTube, Wikipedia and of course, caught up on the movies I had missed out on.
Once I got to college, I attended on campus events throughout October and especially enjoyed the maze we had with various horror movie characters in it. I also remember the TV being on AMC for FearFest pretty much every day when I turned it on. During my sophomore year in 2017, an album called Without Warning came out on Halloween. This album quickly became my go-to album for Spooky Season and I have listened to it every year since.
Without Warning is a collaborative album made by producer Metro Boomin with rappers 21 Savage and Offset. With 10 songs and two features, the album clocks in at just over 30 minutes and not one of them is wasted. Metro crafts eerie beats that incorporate bells, synthesizers and other haunting soundscapes that make the album feel super immersive. The project made me a bigger fan of all three artists because of how good they all did on it. I can listen to it all the way through and feel like I’m inside a horror movie. 21 Savage’s usual bars about his exploits sound even more menacing over Metro’s production and Offset brings a certain spooky charisma that compliments the production just as well.
Almost every song from this album is on my Halloween playlist — in fact, I believe I made the playlist in the first place because of this album. It’s on replay all month and even if I tried listening to it at a different point in the year, it wouldn’t hit nearly as hard it does in October.
We hope you enjoyed our list and saw something you also love or discovered something new. Stay tuned to our publication to see more in depth reviews on releases from all over the music spectrum.
