Hey guys,

New guy on these forums but certainly not new to metal.

I am writing to ask if any one knows any decent metal bands that focus on 80's horror, preferably I would like to hear some bands from the actual 80's do this. I am yet to find an 80's band but I know there are a few from the 2000's like Frightmare.
Alice Cooper did an OK song about Jason with 'He's Back' and Dokken did their song 'Dream Warriors', which was cool.
Does any one know any good bands that sing about Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and all that kind of awesome shit?

Any help would be hugely appreciated as I am into horror movies as much as metal.
thanks

do you know necrophagia?

Goblin was dario argento's soundtrack for his classics

You mentioned Frightmare, so i can only assume you know of Maniac Neil's other Horror-inspired thrash/death project: Blood Freak, his death/grind project: Maniac Killer, and to a lesser extent his other band Whore. And going on that vein of 'Horror Metal', you would be worth your while checking out Ghoul, Revolting, Fondlecorpse, Crypticus and most of the Razorback Records horror-hive.

Bile's (re-named Skullhog) first two albums are slabs of killer sludgey goregrind that just worships TCM and Friday The 13th. And another horror/zombie/goregrind band you may want to check out is Gruesome Stuff Relish. Then there is always the awesome Mortician. If you say your a horror movie buff, you are gonna love remanicing about movies in days of yonder when your listening to the minute long samples that run before the majority of each Mortician track. And if you like one Mortician track, you'll like them all.

Look no further than Mortician. Completely dark, horrific atmosphere, samples from horror movies, and the music is absolutely crushing.

Toxodeth was an 80's Death Metal band that had lyrics focused on Horror.

Gloomy Grim makes keyboard driven "black" metal inspired by horror movies. The lead singer, Agathon, is a horror movie fan and actualy collects them. This was the band that introduced me to black metal and still has a special place in my playlists.

I highly recommend their last album 'Under the Spell of the Unlight' which is a concept album greatly inspired by the movie 'Evil Dead'. It describes the one year retreat of a person inside a cursed cabin deep in the woods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eix09HpHrbs

One of the instruments Agathon just loves to use is the chainsaw on their awesome track 'Chainsaw Blast'. Behold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdgud9qdFNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOPgyHCQRA4 (listen in HQ otherwise the guitars get drowned in those awful youtube compressors)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtEYsz86q6Y (REALLY cheesy video, I like it but I'm one of the few so just close your eyes and listen haha)

Devil doll is what you're looking for. One word - AWESOME!

Anyway, the music got the horror-movie feeling to it, but doesn't fit your exact need. Sorry, i wrote before i read at first

This might not be what exactly your looking for, but Akercocke's music has always reminded me of horror music in a sense, especially the album "Antichrist".

Some of these recs are more like general horror than horror movies.

Razorback's a good general bet if you like that kind of death metal. Impetigo is a particularly interesting band of that sort... Razorback reissued their albums. They're more 70s splatter than Freddy/Jason though. Deceased is another good one; I'm pretty fanatical about their music, although they're more into horror fiction or more obscure topics than Freddy/Jason too.

To get a good horror movie vibe from Razorback bands is like feeling the real essence of heavy metal from watching a VH1 special. In short, most of the bands on that label see old horror movies as something funny and silly, and attempt to make them even more cheesy, sucking out any real scariness or fun that the movies originally had. I wouldn't recommend them to fans of actual horror movies at all, but more to people that lived through the 80s and casually watched a movie or two that want a nostalgia kick.

holy crap guys there is just way too much for me to listen to!
Lol I didnt expect there to be so many results, I had no idea so many bands actually played songs about horror movies.
I will check these out slowly, all of your responses are greatly appreciated by the way.

Most bands mentioned here don't really fit your request though.
I'd add Evildead. The name already gives an idea (The Awakening for example is about the movie), and they are from the eighties.

RIGOR MORTIS.

The only thing I can really think of that very exactly fits yoru request is the song "Jason Lives" from Chakal's "Abominable Anno Domini" album.. I'd classify them at this point as thrash with some early death metal tendencies. The song is great; you won't be disappointed.

Razorback bands seem to go for the more zombie/splatter-kind of horror image. Still, Acid Witch plays the most horrifying death metal I've ever heard.

You should check out Death SS from Italy. They formed in the mid/late 70's, and initially were some prototype mix of heavy/speed/doom/black metal. In their early years, guitarist and doom metal legend Paul Chain was involved in the band. The idea behind the band was to make "horror metal" and portray different horror characters on stage. Both albums they did in the 80's are pretty cool, as well as the "Story of Death SS" compilation, which covers the Paul Chain years. They later went to a more industrial sound, but oh well, the 80's stuff is fucking rad!

Electric Wizard

Completely slipped my mind. 'The Death of Steve Sylvester' is an amazing album, bouncing of typical horror cliches yet doing so in a convincingly scary manner, one of the albums that actually peeked my interest in metal back when I was a mere horror fanatic.

I love that song. My favorite album along with I.N.R.I. from the early Brazillian black/death/thrash style.



I will add Ripper, especially And the Dead Shall Rise which was released in the mid 80s. Very much rooted in Horror and the music is quite influenced by Mercyful Fate. Very underrated album in my opinion.

:edit: And check out F.K.U. Their name stands for Freddy Kreugers Underwear after all...

The first decade of DEATH SS is all about horror.

Not exactly ABOUT horror, but..

The Axis of Perdition

Listen to in a dark room, and you'll need new pants.

Sodomizer have a song called Cenobytes and begins with a Hellraiser clip.

The song Svart Industriell Olycka by Shining uses the theme music from the movie Halloween whether they meant it or not.

Almost all the songs from that album starts off with horror samples. Including some Goblin and shit.

Seconded. This is really essential listening if you like horror movies and death metal. Killjoy has a thing for (what were) obscure splatter movies and Italian gore flicks. If you can get Seasons of the Dead, I'd start there... the Phil Anselmo played material feels a bit weak to me. The Divine Art of Torture is pretty decent (Mirai of Sigh makes that album's high points, IMO) and Harvest Ritual isn't too horrible.

Speaking of, what the fuck happened to these guys? I've been waiting for a while for them to rear their demented heads.

Also, Impetigo (US) has a lot of horror themes (zombies, gore, etc). Surprised they weren't mentioned.

Also, surprised Autopsy wasn't mentioned - they're gore in general, but I know certain songs on Severed Survival were based on horror movies and books (Severed Survival is based on Survivor Type, a Stephen King short story; Pagan Saviour is based on Clive Barker's Rawhead Rex, etc).

You could always used the Search Function on the Main Page to find more horror-based metal - just change the pull-down menu from "Band Name" to "Lyrical Themes", search for Horror, and you'll get 755 bands to peruse at your leisure...

Deceased - Fearless Undead Machines

Denial Fiend - Very good mid-paced death/thrash

And from what I've heard Denial Of God play some kind of horror themed black metal.

Alas, got nothing from the 80s.


I agree. If you want to be scarred by the music, Razorback stuff isn't really the way to go. Although there ARE bands SOUNDING kinda dark and hair-raising like Acid Witch or Crypticus (awesome voice) the consensus there seems to be as much over-the-top-cheesiness along with the riffs as possible. At least the ones I've heard.
Some extreme atmospheric black/industrial/ambient like The Axis Of Perdition, Gnaw Their Tongues, Verdunkeln, etc. on the other can be pretty interesting when listened to in a dark room, as Deadly_Slaughter mentioned.

But if you're just in it for the references then I think there's no better way to go than Razorback Records.

Evildead, THRASH!