Hey guys. I've been having this craving for some Halloween-oriented music. (in July, I know). Be it organs, harpsichord, keyboards, vocals... whatever makes an album sound like it belongs to the month of October. I've been having a hard time tracking that sound down. Genre doesn't matter to me, as long as the atmosphere works. Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows are not a metal band, but they definitely have a creepy vibe that fits the atmosphere. Type O Negative can do it from time to time, as can Theatres des Vampires. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

um... Mercyful Fate?

Frightmare.
The hardcore oriented riffs sound straight out of a zombie movie.
One of the few -core bands I can enjoy.

The actual band Halloween. The US Power Metal band. They're a lot of fun, representing the cheesy side of the holiday.

There are two power metal bands... One is named Halloween, and the other Helloween....

Confusing.

Well, Helloween are a pun and Halloween are just named after the day which they base their lyrical themes on. Helloween are better, but Halloween are still worthy.

Haha, I see. This thread has sparked me looking at old Helloween Youtube videos

Rick from Usurper has a new project Nightshade you might dig

http://www.myspace.com/nightshadeofficial

Otherwise...Cradle of Filth "Dusk And Her Embrace", Theatre of Tragedy "Velvet Darkness They Fear", Funeral "From These Wounds", My Dying Bride "The Angel and the Dark River"...

Masquerade! Masquerade! Grab your mask and don't be late!

Yeah, other than that I reckon you could possibly dive into Frightmare and Blood Freak for some cheesy horror movie metal.

Van Helsing's Curse was quite literally created as a "soundtrack to Halloween." It's quite good, too.

October 31

Acid Witch!

Thanks for the recs so far.

Mercyful Fate- not my type of music, as I generally steer clear of power metal. I do like parts of the songs though.

Halloween/Helloween- also not a big fan of the styles.

Nightshade- that's a pretty cool band. I'm digging the vibe from those songs on myspace.

Frightmare and Blood Freak are a little too hardcore with too little atmosphere.

I have a copy of Van Helsing's Curse, and it definitely is a fun record to play.

I like Theatre of Tragedy and My Dying Bride, but they don't really have a halloween sound. Cradle of Filth can be good from time to time.

October 31 is a little too traditional metal for me, but some of it sounds decent.

I'm digging Acid Witch, thanks for the heads up on that.

I'm definitely more a fan of the doom, black, folk, and death genres. But anything works if it is really atmospheric. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Seconded. Horror metal!

King Diamond.

If you want something kind of atmospheric, Sigh's Imaginary Sonicscape is creepy as hell.

Misfits anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qt2zuMLi44

EDIT: I third the Acid Witch rec.

I'm definitely a huge Misfits fan, good call on that one.

I liked the album Hangman's Hymn by Sigh, so thanks for suggesting Imaginary Soundscape. I will be checking that one out soon.

Hey, King Diamond seems like power metal that I can actually tolerate. Nice!

KD isn't really power metal, but if you like him you should definitely listen to his main band. Any metalhead worth his salt should know who that is.

EDIT: Wait, you actually think Fate is power metal? What the hell?

Well, the Sigh recommendation has been made in this thread already, but on top of Imaginary Sonicscape, I'll throw out Hail Horror Hail and Scenario IV for having a bit darker of an atmosphere than the trippy psychedelia of IS.

As for another band, I heartily recommend Stolen Babies. They definitely capture the "mischievous" side of Halloween, injecting a good sense of fun with the horror.

I know what you mean: I really like "Halloween" metal. This should actually be a genre, lol.

My first thought when those two words are sai together is the last part from Frightmare's "The Blood Runs In Rivers" (the Driller Killer song) as well as the last half or so of "Bringing Back The Bloodshed".
Pretty much everything that's already been said here is a good example: Frightmare, Helloween, Halloween, Acid Witch... MAYBE Children of Bodom (maybe). I wish there were more bands like this.

You might want to try Hooded Menace. Slow, melodic death metal with a creepy feeling to it. A bit of a stretch, but AW reminds me of them (and they had releases on the same label) so it may be a good idea to check out "Fufill The Curse".

Hallows Eve.

Off ok wiki: Mercyful Fate is an influential Danish heavy metal band often cited among the influences in the black metal, thrash metal, Power Metal, and progressive metal genres.

I dunno, I always associate power metal with the high pitched woman/octave vocals and overdone guitar riffs. Man I hate that genre.

Anyways, Stolen Babies is a fun band. I definitely enjoy the unique circus like quality to the music.

Hooded Menace is something I can get into. I'm getting a great death/doom vibe off of them, so I'll check more of their stuff out.

Hallows Eve seems like fun music, but I guess the atmosphere is a little lacking. With a name like that, you would hope to immerse yourself in the ambiance of Halloween.

/obvious heavy/power metal nub
But seriously these genres are great for halloween themes

MIZFITZLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

If you like Misfits check out Balzac. Japanese Horror Punk.

But anyways, I can't say I know much bands that sing about Halloween. But if you wanna get that "Creepy" Atmosphere. I say just look up Aggrotech bands such as Psyclon Nine, Columbine, Dawn of Ashes(old Stuff), and The Harvest. I always feel that halloween touch from them. Other ideas...look up some Industrial/Black Metal bands?

"Overdone" is one of the worst and most vague criticisms you can level at something. I'm not saying you have to like it, but really.

Wormfood are pretty Halloweenish too.

Does somebody has an halloween symphonic metal band???

Check the band Wither(can), a 1 man black metal/funeral doom band. Quite the dark and scary atmosphere you may be looking for.

This

http://metal-archives.com/release.php?id=9801

Enjoyable but and sing a long but why not listen to the Misfits, Danzig got some people vocals.

I also highly recommend these 2 albums:


and


I like We Came For The Dead but these 2 are in my top 2 list.

Ever try Carpathian Forest?

I think the Thorns vs Emperor split would be great for Halloween music. Check that out, definitely!!

You may want to try an Avant-Garde Metal band called Stolen Babies.

Their music has a very "evil circus/carnival" type twist that I think may be able to fit into what you're looking for.

You may also want to look into F.K.U. They're a thrash band with Horror-esque lyrics. Sometimes in comedic form. They're a fun band, and might also fit into what you're looking for.

Bishop Of Hexen, I think you'll like that.

Apostasy (Sweden) they got some good halloween keyboard work

Carach Angren great keyboard work.. Creepy as hell.

Nightside Glance reminds me of old CoF a bit

Dark Fortress, they have some creepy songs.

Notre Dame, some kind of Black Metal Carnival music mix.. weird stuff.

This is all black metal stuff, hope that's alright. Hope I helped!

Ghoul is decent, but not really the sound I'm looking for.

Tartaros is really good. They really go all out on atmosphere.

Carpathian Forest is something I enjoy listening from time to time. Some of their songs are excellent, some not so much.

I've been a fan of Bishop of Hexen for a while now. They got the symphonic/gothic black metal thing down.

Apostasy is pretty good too, but I much prefer Bishop of Hexen.

Carach Angren is another band that I already know of. They have a really dark sound and their song themes are all pretty much what I'm looking for.

Notre Dame is really cool, thanks for the heads up on that one. I'm a fan of their style, which is almost like avant-garde gothic black metal. You can never go wrong with that.

Thanks for the suggestions people. If you got more, I'm always on the lookout.

Halloween metal? Interesting term, I like it. Let's see what might fit that...

Samael's Passage album is a maybe

Helloween, I guess but that's been mentioned before

The gothic metal band Farmer Boys might fit that to. Check them out if you don't mind a little bit of groove metal influence.

You might have heard of these, but recently I found a few more you might like. (As you can tell I'm into the same thing your after.)

Diabolical Breed

Morgul

Esgharioth

Sothis

I'm amazed that the most obvious one's aren't mentioned yet. Death SS and Ripper (US).

If you want Death Metal

MORTICIAN

FUNEREAL MOON

THE MISFITS end of story