My Heavy Halloween Playlist

Making a perfect Halloween playlist requires a lot of thought. Obviously the songs should at least loosely follow a Halloween-based theme. I created my playlist with the intention of including a mixture of different artists and different Halloween-related themes. I have to admit that the music I chose for my Halloween party playlist would not appeal to everyone, but I feel like it is well-suited for the purpose of keeping the spirit of Halloween going strong.

My first group of choices are all werewolf-related. Werewolf/wolf-themed music is by far the largest category and is apparently a popular theme to write songs about.

The first two songs are from my favorite band of all time–Metallica. “Of Wolf and Man” is about shifting into a wolf and going out to hunt and run.

“All Nightmare Long'' is inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft. It’s about the hounds of Tindalos, which are wolves that hunt through their nightmares.

The next werewolf song on the playlist is an Ozzy Osbourne song called “Bark at the Moon.”

Yet another song about turning into a werewolf is by Disturbed and it’s called “The Animal.”

And the final werewolf song on the playlist is called “Moonbaby” by Godsmack. This song starts out being told from the point of view of the wolf and then switches to the human’s point of view.

No Halloween playlist would be complete without a song about vampires. My choice for this category is a Slayer song called “At Dawn They Sleep.”

Of course I must also include a monster song in my list. This one is another song by Metallica and it’s called “The Thing That Should Not Be.” This is another song of Metallica’s inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s work. The monster referred to in the title is the Cthulhu.

The next song on the playlist is actually written about a serial killer named Ed Gein. It’s a Slayer song called “Dead Skin Mask” and I think it’s an excellent choice for the playlist because it’s one of the eeriest and most haunting songs I know of.

The next choice for the playlist is not really Halloween-themed, but I chose it for its title and because the intro is one of my favorites. The song is called “Skeletons of Society” by Slayer.

The last group of songs all center around the theme of hell and the devil, which is another popular theme around Halloween. The first song in this group of the playlist is a tribute to Bon Scott, who was the lead singer of AC/DC until his death in 1980. “Hell’s Bells” is a popular song at Halloween.

The final two songs on the playlist also belong to the devil/hell theme. They are both by a band from Huntington Beach, California, which is just a couple of miles from where I live. The name of the band is Avenged Sevenfold. I was actually introduced to these songs by my son, who discovered them playing Call of Duty. The first song is called “Nightmare,” and a word of warning: it does have profanity in the lyrics.

The last selection for my Halloween party playlist is the Avenged Sevenfold song “Shepherd of Fire.”

I really hope you have enjoyed my playlist. I know my playlist doesn’t work well if people want to dance, but as someone who is absolutely terrible at dancing that’s actually a relief for me. I also think I would have to encourage guests to make song requests in an effort to keep more people happy and prevent everyone from making an early exit.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!