(Our Italian friend Tito Vespasiani has brought us a Halloween-themed playist of extreme metal songs, both very new and somewhat older, from nine bands, which he introduces one-by-one in the following column. He’s got the collection up on Spotify too.)
Hello folks! It’s external contributor Tito V. here again. Long time no see. It’s been a while since my last playlist for No Clean Singing and I decided to come swinging with a new one suitable for this time of the year… haunting and eerie tunes only!
I know, there may be TONS more deserving to be added here. From zombies to monsters of all sorts, passing through ghastly guitar tones and more scary tunes, but we wanna keep this “fairly” short in order to be able to check it out properly and revisit it, alright.
1) Qrixkuor. One of the most fascinating, mesmerizing records in quite a while if you ask me. Wonderful music too from this UK/New Zealand combo. The stronger addition of symphonic elements works just splendidly here.
2) Leviathan’s back. ‘Nuff said. Listen to that guitar tone.
3) Convocation. Monumental, opulent and yet gloomy. These Finnish sorcerers never cease to amaze. This feels like Danny Elfman went extreme metal. Oh wait, Danny Elfman actually did. But you get what I mean. This is that sort of Tim Burton feel, way less cheesy.
4) Bianca. The slow yet inexorable pace (not devoid of accelerations and blast beats when needed) feels like a parade of ghosts and Bianca’s voice leads this like a Sabbath.
Come and Dance […] We’re outside the boundaries always known
All we need to do is imagining
We’re outside the boundaries always known
All we need to do is transforming
5) Tyranny. When I think of something frightening related to metal, Tyranny OFTEN comes to mind. Especially their record Aeons in Tectonic Interment, which is unfortunately not available on Spotify (Why, band? Why, Dark Descent?). In any case, this feels like something immense and menacing looming upon us all, emerged from within the bowels of the earth to tower over a powerless manking.
6) Desolate Shrine. Another band from one of the same members of Convocation, multi-instrumentalist L.L., this one dwells more in the death and black metal territory while Convocation has a stronger doom/funeral doom feel to it. Just splendid.
7) Hideous Divinity. A discography largely lyrically based on horror movies/books, latest record Unextinct being inspired by Nosferatu by Herzog and In the Dust of This Planet by Eugene Thacker. “Technical” (albeit very old school rooted in this case: Hate Eternal, Nile, Monstrosity) rarely feels menacing or atmospheric enough for most fans, especially those outside of the tech-death circle, but if there’s a band capable of challenging that, it’s Hideous Divinity (not the only one of course, Ulcerate comes to mind, but they long ago abandoned the strictly Technical Death Metal roots of Everything is Fire). Songwriter Enrico’s passion for Black Metal cuts through the Death Metal and the lyrics add to the music reminding us of old school gothic horror prose:
The unthinkable
The absurd unknown comes to rise
To open his hands, to die again
The nest will swarm Its horrid form
And spread its pest
Never thought the time would come, The time to meet
Then those eyes blazed, unextinct, In the dark for me!
😎 Hail Spirit Noir. With a title like this, they definitely belong to this playlist. Not only the H.P. Lovecraft mention, but also the music being adorned with a certain subtlety, feeling dark and creepy in a fascinating and psychedelic way, luring you in.
9) The Great Old Ones. Were we speaking about Lovecraft? Sure thing we were. And we will again. Maybe no other band has devoted its own carreer to the visionary of Providence to such an extent. I chose this track due to the title being so self explanatory, but I recommend a dive into the Frenchs’ whole discography…
Tito’s Spotify playlist of these songs is below, and if you’d like to chat about it you can find him on Facebook here and on Instagram here.