well i wanna start a band but i wanna create a eerie sound to the music, like metal with something that will scare the shit outta almost anyone

That's impossible to do really. Different things are scary to different people. Michael Jackson is pretty scary to some but then so is alot of extreme metal bands. Or more simply put as an example for movies, some people find The Ring a scary film but others might find The Blair Witch a more scary film. I'm more of an Exorcist guy myself. Or maybe it's like I want to be a basketball player as exciting as Michael Jordan. Again, too vague. Plus, it's hard to top the original thing. The more of something there are i.e. clones, the less likely it is you will surprise someone because they've seen and heard it all before. Those are the only analogies I can make. To be 'truly scary' is just to subjective and broad a goal to accomplish if that's the bottom line. Just make whatever pleases or scares you.

While I agree with the poster above, there are no standard set of 'rules' that are universally scary.. people do tend to fear the 'unknown'. Try to get some dark, unexplainable sounds out of your gear.

The other day I was listening to some Opeth while reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. At point I remember feeling genuinely scared... Extreme/Heavy isn't always the most eerie. I also think instrumental Surf Rock is pretty freaky stuff, e.g. Man or Astro-Man? type stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHAj0fl_Pfc

Something like this?

I wouldn't say that that's scary For me, it's beautiful.

But thats just my opinion.


For me, it's scary intro/song from Negura bunget - OM - Ceasuri Rele

Do something that gives *you* the creeps, then you will have satisfied that goal as much as anything. Very little is universally scary, though more often than not, dissonance, atonality and things like tri-tones are employed for an 'unsettling' feeling.

However, if you mean "brutal" then that's another thing entirely.

To me, when music *sounds* like Lovecraft, I consider it scary.

Tritone is the key, but use it carefully. Use 4th harmonies too, and make sure it has lots of atmosphere and reverb. Real slow riffs are pure evil too.

That's what I would do, anyway, be creative.

Not very scary at all.

I don't know, "Black Sabbath" can be pretty unsettling.
Just take tips from horror movie soundtracks, go for lots of dynamics and dissonance. But really, everyone will be scared by different things, many hard asses on here refuse to be affected by anything but your average 16 year old girl may be terrified by Slayer.

I find the band Abruptum to be very unsettling and evil.
But they just have random screams and drums and guitars all over the place but still manage to make it sound sort of like music.

Get really, really, really high and listen to Wormphlegm in complete darkness. That should give you an idea.

Slow, down-tuned riffs, with some eerie and ethereal synths. Also use the diminished fifth (the tri-tone), but not a lot. What I find scary in music is the overall aura of it; it has to be music that you can't bear to walk around in the forest at witching hour with. Mostly different sounds within the music give it the horrific feel you're looking for, and only sometimes does the actual music your playing scare the individual.

My best advice to you is to study the songs you find to be the scariest. Find tabs, sounds, guitar effects, etc. that the certain band uses in that certain song, and use it to your advantage, while also keeping it original. If you need help, I suggest you looking up these songs that I personally find scary:

The Axis of Perdition - Pendulum Prey (Second Incarceration) & Entangled in Mannequin Limbs

Velvet Cacoon - Laudanum

Blut aus Nord - Our Blessed Frozen Cells, Procession of the Dead Clowns & Son of Hoarfrost

Godflesh - Basically their album Streetcleaner as a whole.

Khanate - Fields

Sunn O))) - Basically any albums of theirs I would consider freakishly haunting.

i don't know what makes something scary but the deathspell omega "si monumentum requires circumspice" album had some bits that gave me the "willies". and also the shug niggurath "les mort von vite" is also sort of scary along with current 93 "dog's blood rising".

To op:
I'm going to assume you have a guitar.
I'm going to assume its E standard, or something standard.

Play this as a chord:



Repeatidly

haha-this!

However, before you listen to wormphlegm, making sure you're already obscenely high-to a point where you wish you weren't stoned anymore- watch some beheading videos and maybe some 'general excution clips', then listen to 'cop' and 'young god' by Swans..maybe twice, then perhap some Khanate, 'streetcleaner' by Godflesh, maybe blut aus nord, then 'Outré' by Portal then finally wormphlegm. Always topping up on weed when you're not horribly high anymore, and in complete darkness.

That or pray to s8n for spooktakular frights and delights. Dabbling in stuff you don't understand is always a good idea.

You, good sir, are a genius, and an inspiration to all.

Do it in the woods at night. Being over-intoxicated in the woods where you don't remember how to get out is scary enough, but at night, jesus christ I bet that would be ten times as worse.

+ put Wormphlegm in one ear and Senthil in the other ear.

Here's something you can try....

Make a slow, brooding guitar riff that just builds up and has a creepy sound to it. That will be your base.

Once you've made the basic idea, add something strange and unexpected to the whole such as strange vocals/sounds or maybe add another guitar riff or melody that just fulfills that "scary" sound.

Woods at night and Wormphlegm? I scoff at the idea! Maybe an abandoned warehouse or the sewers, or a subway tunnel would be more suitable.

Haha. Thread should be renamed ' Inducing psychosis'.

Perhaps combining the two..go to the woods after my advice, take an unneccesary amount of magic mushrooms, also bringing along the 'inspiration' music, as well as more weed, wander about, praying to s8n, then after hours wandering, making sure its still dark of course, find a nice abandonded warehouse or subway tunnel.

Sounds like good times.

Hahaha you stole the words right out of my mouth. That or The Work Which Transforms God.

Oh yeah, and by the way, something else that's cool that i do, record pure feedback from your guitar or bass (it's better if it's a more dynamic feedback, you probably have to record more than one take because it's usually up to the amp how the feedback sounds, but you can also edit and alter the feedback in whatever mixing ware you use), then record acoustic guitar in two tracks. It could be the same riff(s) or different ones. Mix those into L and R at different points, so that one starts before the other. Then record some heinous screams and insert the same way as you did with the acoustic parts, so that the screams are panned to L and R and they play at different times in respect to each other. This isn't necessarily SCARY however, there is a definite psychedelic and creepy atmosphere. Because it cant be scary without a lot of atmosphere.

then add water dripping and silent distorted guitar which comes in in random times playing random notes (maybe tremolo picked) and youll be almost there...

//it will probably not be metal but noise/industrial :)

Playing in a minor key on a keyboard with a sort of echo effect sounds kinda "spooky" or "haunted." Also, dont play too fast, it takes away the haunted atmosphere and that is what makes it scary in the first place!

Listen to the Soundtracks of the Silent Hill games.

if you want scary-sounding music you should play some riffs from minor or blues scales, and also use the thick strings of the guitar ( basically the top 4 strings). you can also play some tritones and use slow tempos. the sound should be of a dark/doom ambient

Find very alien and unknown sounds, like keyboards doing bizarre chords... one song that scares the shit out of me while in total darkness is "Portal To The..." by Mithras... there's something about the silence, the reverb and the bizarre notes used that is unsettling

A stomping groove can be very menacing, something like World Eater kills me every time.

They suck and are retardedly overrated, not to mention boring as all hell.

@ the OP, think of the things that scare you in music then utilize them, whilst not overdoing them.

The Axis of Perdition did that and ended up with one of the most boring albums ever. That kind of thing is not scary when not accompanied with visuals.

If I wanted to create the scariest song ever, this is what I'd do:

Evil sounding scales. Not unlike the scales often used in black metal. Guitar leads could give the song a melodic element, making it easier to approach, and if the guitar sounds eerie, it's even better. Tempo should be very slow in my opinion, possibly at drone doom level. What could give the music a very ghastly atmosphere is synth. Just listen to Lurker Of Chalice: the music sounds eerie simply because of the ambient synth thing (see Spectre As Valkerie Is). There should also be a intro of strange, otherwordly sounds before the song really starts: this should give it a very unnatural vibe.

The vocals are a very important part. I think the vocals should be rather loud in the mix and the singer must be very skillful and his performance good. The main style should be extremely low-pitched mumbling type of growling. Think Abbath, but lower pitch and a tad growlier maybe. The words need not be decipherable, and in fact, if the lyrics are sung in a non-existant language, it could give a very alien feel to it. The singer needs to sound evil, convincing and powerful. No screams of pain or anything like that. The singer has to sound like he's controlling the listener, if you understand my meaning.

The music should be very repetitive, the song itself should be extremely long, and there should be abrupt changes in the songwriting, such as a climax ending suddently, and the song beginning over.

The most important thing is subtlety. Let the listener's imagination do all the work instead of pushing the scariness into their face. Overdoing it will only result in a unintentionally hilarious piece of crap devoid of musical value.

So yeah, as you can see, it's a completely personal thing. If you try to create universally scary music, you get an abomination like Xasthur - Defective Epitaph.

Listen to Abruptum on repeat for 12 days in a row and you should have a few ideas.

Listen to Deathspell Omega "Bread of Bitterness" from 2:30 onwards. Notice the weird chord usage and the creepy pick scraping on the strings.

I second Outre' by Portal. That's a pretty fucked up album. Maybe some Esoteric, not necesarilly scary but it could sure as hell suck you into it if you're stoned enough, got an interesting to it.

Take a tape recorder into a middle school cafeteria and record about an hour of babble. That should be enough to terrify all but the most hardened souls.

then play it backwards(possibly sped up?) with some extremely distorted rapid guitar notes and some blast beats. nice and raw/overwhelming kind of disgust, possibly?

You just took my joke idea and made it potentially awesome!

would this project be called SCHOOLAGH?

SCHOOLAGGH - Cafeterrror