It’s that time of the year again that the whole world is interested in the darker side of the world… Samhain, Hallow’s Eve, Halloween is upon us! We found this the ideal time to have a look at the love story between horror and metal, rock and industrial music. There’s an ocean of things we could discuss here. There are horror themed bands, bands with releases with a horror theme, horror movies with metal and rock inspired soundtracks, musicians giving directing and/or acting in a horror flick a try,… Because we don’t want to scare you away with an article that goes on for ages, we’ll be selecting a small partition to take a look at this year and come back on a different section every coming Halloween. This year we’re focusing on…

Horror Movie Soundtracks of the 21st Century

The past 17 years there has been quite some horror movies having metal music integrated in them and have those songs together with some extra awesome tracks on the official soundtrack. You could even find a trend in which one artist/musician/band made the actual score of a movie with every single song having a big role in the story or atmosphere. The following list brings you an overview of some of the great soundtracks to put on while you get ready for your Halloween activities… Enjoy!

Queen of the Damned

Resident Evil

Underworld

Saw

Freddy vs Jason

Underworld

A second major horror movie franchise of the past 10 years is definitely “Underworld”. The endless battle between vampires and lycans (werewolves) inspired a very modern Gothic style and was started in 2003. Going along with this visual style was a soundtrack riddled with industrial (metal/rock) music and of course Gothic influences. Something that immediately caught my attention when hearing the awesome songs throughout the movie. The movie makers ended up with Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and many others), who contributed quite some songs under the Renholdër moniker and personally handpicked songs by bands like Skinny Puppy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Finch and The Icarus Line. With him writing some songs and picking others, there was a continuity in style and feel created that makes it a great soundtrack, creating the perfect atmosphere for the story. With for me personally a high note with the Danny Lohner mix of Bring Me the Disco King performed by David Bowie, Maynard James Keenan and John Frusciante. Worth the mention is also the last song on the album, performed by our very own Belgian Sarah Bettens.

https://youtu.be/NqwdGqKaNCc

Tracklist:
1. Awakening – The Damning Well
2. Rev. 22:20 – Puscifer ft. Danny Lohner
3. Throwing Punches – Page Hamilton
4. Rocket Collecting – Milla Jovovich & Danny Lohner
5. Now I Know – Renholdër & Amy Lee
6. Bring Me the Disco King (Danny Lohner Mix) – David Bowie ft. Maynard James Keenan & John Frusciante
7. Optimissed – Skinny Puppy
8. Down in the Lab – Rennholdër & Amy Lee
9. Judith (Renholdër Mix) – A Perfect Circle
10. Suicide Note – Johnette Napolitano
11. Baby’s First Coffin – The Dillinger Escape Plan
12. Hover (Quiet Mix) – Trust Company
13. Falling Through the Sky – Renholdër
14. Weak and Powerless (Tilling My Grave Mix) – A Perfect Circle
15. Worms of the Earth – Finch
16. From a Shell – Lisa Germano
17. Death Dealer’s Descent – Renholdër & Amy Lee
18. On the Lash – The Icarus Line
19. All of This Past – Sarah Bettens

https://youtu.be/PKYl0UwlDqY

For the soundtrack of “Underwold: Evolution” they went much the same way with a similar mix of industrial, gothic and dark elements. With the Atreyu song Her Portrait In Black being the official song with music video featuring clips from the movie.

Tracklist:
1. The Undertaker (Renholdër Mix) – Puscifer
2. Morning After (Julien K. Rmx) – Chester Bennington
3. Where Do I Stab Myself In The Ears (The Legion of Doom Remix) – Hawthorne Heights
4. To The End (RnR Cheryl Mix) – My Chemical Romance
5. Vermillion (Part 2) (Bloodstone Mix) – Slipknot
6. Burn (Alleged Remix) – Alkaline Trio
7. The Last Sunrise (Dusk Mix) – Aiden
8. Bite To Break Skin (The Legion of Doom Remix) – Senses Fail
9. Her Portrait In Black – Atreyu
10. Washing Away Me In The Tides – Trivium
11. Eternal Battle – Mendozza
12. Our Truth – Lacuna Coil
13. Cat People (Putting Out The Fire – Gosling
14. Why Are You Up – Bobby Gold
15. Suicide – Meat Beat Manifesto
16. HW2 – Cradle Of Filth

Despite the third installment of the series “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” being a prequel and thus taking place in a much older setting, they still released a soundtrack in the same lines as before. Danny Lohner made some reappearences by remixing some of the original songs being part of the tracklist.

Tracklist:
1. Lighten Up Francis (JLE Dub Mix) – Puscifer
2. Underneath the Stars (Renholdër Remix) – The Cure ft Maynard James Keenan/Puscifer and Milla Jovovich
3. Nasty Little Perv (Renholdër Remix) – Perry Farrell
4. Hole in the Earth (Renholdër Remix) – Deftones
5. Miss Murder (VNV Nation Remix) – AFI
6. Over and Out (Renholdër Remix) – Alkaline Trio
7. Deathclub – William Control ft Matt Skiba
8. Board Up the House (Renholdër Remix) – Genghis Tron
9. Stiff Kittens (Jnrsnchz Blaqkout Remix) – Blaqk Audio
10. Broken Lungs (Legion of Doom Remix) – Thrice
11. Today We Are All Demons (Beneath the World Mix) – Combichrist
12. I Want You To – Black Light Burns
13. Two Birds, One Stone (Wes Borland/Renholdër Remix) – Drop Dead, Gorgeous
14. Let’s Burn – King Black Acid
15. Tick Tock Tomorrow (Wes Borland/Renholdër Remix) – From First to Last
16. Steal My Romance – Ghosts on the Radio

And finally, there’s the 4th movie in the series: “Underworld: Awakening”. This time actually most of the songs present on the soundtrack got a remix done by Danny Lohner, which yet again makes it a very consistent sounding album despite the many different styles of the artists featured on it.

Tracklist:
1. Made of Stone (Renholdër Remix) – Evanescence
2. Heavy Prey – Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf ft. Geno Lenardo
3. Blackout (Renholdër Remix) – Linkin Park
4. Apart (Renholdër Remix) – The Cure
5. Killer & a Queen – Stella Katsoudas of Sister Soleil ft. Geno Lenardo
6. Watch Yourself (Renholdër Remix) – Ministry
7. Trip the Darkness (Ben Weinman Remix) – Lacuna Coil
8. Young Blood (Renholdër Remix) – The Naked and Famous
9. It Rapes All In Its Path – Black Light Burns
10. The Posthumous Letter – William Control
11. How’m I Supposed to Die – Civil Twilight
12. Consolation Prize – & SONS
13. Liar (Revenant mix by 8MM) – 8MM
14. You Won’t See The Light – Ryan T. Hope of the Lifeline ft. Geno Lenardo
15. Bottle of Pain – Combichrist
16. Intruder – Collide
17. Exit Wounds (Justin Lassen Remix) – Justin Lassen ft. Silent Fury

Sadly, 2017’s installment “Underworld: Blood Wars” did not have another soundtrack featuring rock, metal and electronic music, but had only a classic official score.