10 Spookiest Songs Ever.

Music can be as scary as a movie, a book or a videogame. Some audible experiences are able to make you endure unpleasantness, uneasiness and fear.

For this list I am taking into account songs that grasp both, instrumentation and subject matter (or make use of one of the elements in an ominous and terrifying way) to send shivers down your spine. With that said, some instrumental songs and/or experimentation (cough, cough The Beatles' Revolution 9) or heavy-themed songs with cool and not-that-creepy instrumentation (Immortal Technique's Dance With The Devil or Eminem's Kim) will not make the list. 

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

It's been more than fifty years since the conception and creation of this song, and its impact seems to not have diminished, not even a little.

If you have ever suffered the notorious "Sleep paralysis" (or even if you haven't), you might feel/identify certain similiarities with the depiction of this song.  Considered the first proper heavy metal song, it may be as well the creepiest one. I wonder how people at the beginning of the 70's coped up with this tune back in the day.

Quote that sums it up: Oh, no! Please God help me!

Diamanda Galás - Wild Women With Steak-Knives (The Homicidal Love Song For Solo Scream)

I am not a big fan of assigning numbers to the elements in my lists, but if I were to do it here, I would give this song the first spot. No voice ever has been as suitable for outlining horror and its many textures and layouts as Diamanda Galás'.

In addition to her perplexing and expressive voice, the imagery of her lyrics and the instrumentation are a force to be reckoned with. Progressive in musicality and in offering horror, this song (whose title is as suitable as Diamanda's histrionic voice) is top notch in the musical horror department. 

Quote that sums it up: Wild women with veins slashed and wombs spread. Singing songs of the death instinct .

Tom Waits - What's He Building?

Tom Waits' music and songwriting are no strangers to novelty and uniqueness. However, he was never known for depicting emotions that veer more towards horror and spookiness.

What's He Building? is the perfect exemplification of the psychological thrills and scares provided by a concise description of something that is impossible to turn the back on. And, of course, it fulfills the requirements in the horror list. Scary instrumentation: checked. A deep and compelling voice: checked. Noises thrown here and there to create a proper atmosphere: checked. A creepy-ass neighbor doing spooky things with wood: Double checked.

Quote that sums it up: I'll tell you one thing, he's not building a playhouse for the children. What's he building in there? 

Bathory - In Nomine Satanas

If the gates of hell when opening had a theme song for welcoming its new dwellers, It would definitely be In Nomine Satanas. Being elite crafters and pioneers of Black Metal, Bathory were never afraid of reinventing their sound and amplify it to grandiose and epic scales.

Everything from the music to the lyrics and otherwordly vocals, is part of a compelling audible experience that makes you feel tiny and vulnerable.

Quote that sums it up: Among souls burning in this hole. Slaves all to the bond of blood. 

Suicide - Frankie Teardrop

The scary part of Frankie Teardrop is not the explicit nature of the song, its delivery or its instrumentation (which are apalling per se), but knowing that many Frankie Teardrops have lived and countless others are still out there, among us (I knew one myself when I was younger).

This song is pretty straighforward in regard to the lyrics, but the music supply provides a subtle and uneasy build up to Frankie's downfall. Oh, it's worth mentioning that Tom Araya's scream in Angel Of Death pales before the one in this song's climax. Let that sink in.

Quote that sums it up:  Ahhhhh! Mmh, Frankie's dead.

 Christopher Young - BBQ '79 (Silence Teaches You How)

There are good horror movie soundtracks (The Witch, It Follows, Psycho); then, there are great horror movie soundtracks (Halloween, Friday The 13th); then, there are excellent horror movie soundtracks (Hereditary, The Omen); and, finally, there are actually scary horror movie soundtracks (O.G. Suspiria).

Sinister's soundtrack falls into the latter. If there is something that has boosted the movie status to the forefront of recent horror elite, it is its untouchable soundtrack. BBQ '79 is the musical embodiment of horror. Its first half might seem very flat and not that scary, but when it breaks loose during its second half, you are in for a frightening ride. 

Quote that sums it up: Now... you are burning!

Slayer - Dead Skin Mask

Most of us are aware of the existence of a man named Ed Gein.  Having been one of the most famous, equally infamous of course, serial killers in history, Ed has been the primary source of tons of horror-related material.

If for any reason the last name Gein does not sound familiar, you just need to watch any Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, the legendary Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock or listen to this song to get the idea of Mr. Gein's lifestyle. In a catalogue like the one of Slayer's, it's no easy to stand out in terms of creepiness and grotesquery. Dead Skin Mask does.   Hello, Mr. Gein? Mr. Geinnnn?

Quote that sums it up: Incised members ornaments on my being. Adulating the skin before me 

Throbbing Gristle - Hamburger Lady

If the recently-boosted and ever present The Backrooms had a proper soundtrack, it would be Hamburger Lady. Of course, that regarding its unsettling atmosphere and vibe; but when listening to the lyrics I can't help but think of Hisashi Ouchi's (the man who lived eighty-three days in hell) case.

The title is as suggestive and evocative as it looks like. You have been warned.

Quote that sums it up: Burned from the waist down. That's what keeps her alive, the tubes.

Stalaggh - Projekt Misantropia

If you get to make it through the whole song's run time (approximately half an hour) you may feel sort of numb. The dense and hopeless atmosphere that permeates this tune is a nightmaresque journey through madness and hostility.

Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (formally known as Black/Doom) can get very shadowy and sinister at times, and this song is proof of the deepest corners it has ever reached. Curious fact: The screams and howls you get to listen throughout the song were taken from actual mental patients.

Quote that sums it up: The curious fact aforementioned.

Korn - Daddy

This (alongside Black Sabbath) has to be the most renowned song in the list, and more than scary it is deeply unsettling, unnerving and saddening (although it still is fairly scary).

Based on Jonathan Davids' actual abusive and molesting father, the song is an alternation of his and his procreator's POV depiction of what he had to endure and undergo as a child. One cannot help but feel every word he utters and experience his actual pain through his delivery.

Quote that sums it up: You rap**, I feel dirty. It hurt, as a child. Tied down, "That's a good boy". And f***, your own child.

Bonus songs:

Jerry Goldsmith - Ave Satani

花 - A Last Flower

Annihilator - Alison Hell

Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through The Tulip

Colin Stetson - Hail, Paemon!

Krzysztof Penderecki – Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima