Ultimate Halloween mixtape

Sick of hearing “Monster Mash” every October? Yes, we all are too. Halloween is about all things spooky and scary, and the background music should follow suit. This year, step away from the cheesiness of grandmother’s Halloween albums and sink your teeth into this deliciously heavy mix-tape.

“Forced Gender Reassignment” by Cattle Decapitation

Once you’ve pressed play on this song, you’ve doomed yourself to four minutes of aural discomfort and terror. Cattle Decapitation writes lyrics where humans are subject to typical practices that happen to animals within different industries, highlighting issues like animal testing and slaughter. On top of that, the vocals are all high pitched squeals and the instrumentals move downward into a hopeless sounding spiral. If you can stomach the song itself, check out the music video. This one is sure to repel any potential trick-or-treaters strolling about with their parents.

“Miseria Cantare (The Beginning)” by AFI

This track isn’t necessarily frightening, but it still fits the Halloween mood. A fizzy intro leads into a few solitary bass drum hits and then the song really starts to pick up with a chorus of chanted vocals. It’s a dark track for sure, and it’s a great for chilly October walks. This is also the opening to AFI’s album, Sing the Sorrow, which is a noteworthy classic.

“Escape” by The Devil Wears Prada

Some Halloween fans are into zombies. The Devil Wears Prada liked zombies enough to produce an entire extended play dedicated to them. This track is opens to the EP, and features tons of theatrical elements, including the sounds of gun blasts, rainfall, car alarms and more. Terrific synthetic work binds the piece together and creates a great backdrop for sci-fi Halloween fanatics and average metal core

fans as well.

“Emergency Broadcast: The End Is Near” by Underoath

This Underoath track has an apocalyptic vibe to it, which takes the listener on a mental trip through the ruins of mankind. This atmosphere is boosted through the use of low fuzzy bass tracks and a spacey synth backbone characterized in Underoath’s later albums. Fans of postmodern Halloween themes will be right at home here. The song’s lyrics and the energy behind them add to the theme and it makes the line, “This is it for us, it’s time to panic” sound all too real.

“Enter By the Narrow Gates” by Circle Takes the Square

Epic chanting goes straight into cut- ting guitar riffs at the beginning of this seven-minute song. The mood follows the same sort of doomy apocalyptic sound the aforementioned Underoath track does. Traded male and female vocals that range from spoken word to grating screams make this track stand out from the rest. Your Halloween playlist wouldn’t be complete without it.

Masen Matthews can be reached at [email protected]