3 Halloween albums to shock your soul (plus, an extra that will chill your bones TONIGHT)

There is an art to the Halloween song.

You’d know it to hear it, be it eerie synth or goofy jingle, spooky organ or shredding guitar – the Haunt is a pursuit of capturing Halloween’s scary bliss.

Very few have done it effectively – Bobby Boris Pickett and his Monster Mash, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell – but there is nowhere near that boundless reign of Holiday music that Christmas has over the airwaves. This season could stand to have a few more Transylvania Twists.

I’d like to share with you my remedy to such a drought, to open the floodgates of Halloween anthems – presenting three albums by three different musical artists. All of them completely centered around the holiday, produced with all that schlocky, silly joy that the season of Samhain seems to bring out in folks. Plus – I have an extra special entry from a notable pop artist that might have swooped under your radar.

The first stop in our neighborhood of tricks and treats is from internet legend Brian David Gilbert, with his 2021 novelty EP AAAH!BBA. It’s an Abba-themed cover album with lyrics rewritten from the monsters’ point of view. I’ve shared Dracula’s Lay all Your Love on Me above, but AAAH!BBA also features Gimme Gimme Gimme: a Man After Midnight sung by Victor Frankenstein, S.O.S. by a famous pirate, and Under Attack sung by BDG’s four-man boy band where all the members are himself – about robots taking over the world. An album made with so much passion for this holiday of storytelling, it transcends beyond novelty music into the realm of transformative love letters, to both Halloween and Abba.

The next stop on our haunt is a newly released album by YouTuber Piemations and his band Fries on the Side, called Musical Scares. Showcasing spooky synth symphonies about Trick or Treaters, A Witch Hunt, a Zombie Parade, a Freaky Deaky Castle and more – Musical Scares is chock full of silly sound effects, chilling stingers, and evidence that they were having just so much fun making it.

Next up: it’s a compilation album! By songwriter-comedian Nick Lutsko, known for his political-satire-turned-acoustic-anthems and near indecipherable lore about his grandmother’s basement – Nick has released an 18-track album that collects all his spookiest tracks from Halloweens past and brings them together to create: HAUNTED. From that year he uploaded a Halloween single every Friday to the time Spirit Halloween asked him to make a theme for them (twice), he’s got every song he’s ever created to appease the men in Grandma’s tunnels. Nick Lutsko is creative and weird, very talented and endlessly driven. HAUNTED is a testament to the imagination that Halloween brings out in all artists.

Lastly, I have for you a Halloween concept album, of dark synth and electronic despair. These beats are Hellish and the imagery is ghoulish. The album was birthed and released in the gloomy year of 2020, and it features a guest appearance by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. This twisted cyberpunk nightmare is called Turn off the Light, and is made by one Kim Petras – the German transgender pop phenomenon in her most chilling form yet. If you thought Unholy with her and Sam Smith was ooky spooky, you’re going to love tracks like Tell Me it’s a Nightmare, Party Til I Die, and Bloody Valentine. She uses this album as a vessel for queer belligerence, owning her abnormalities and displaying them with furious confidence (see TRANSylvania). It’s exceptionally produced too, with each track flowing seamlessly into the next. Turn off the Light is a true representation of Halloween’s strange freedom: be who you want to be, because that’s who you truly are.

If you’re searching for spooky tunes this Halloween, I do hope these albums crawl their way onto your playlists. I’m DJ Nicky – you can catch me and my friends on our show Fantastic Fridays, every Friday at 6, only on NR92.

Cover art copyrighted their respective owners. Collage artwork provided by Unsplash and Microsoft. Blog image captured by Nicky Houseman.

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