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

Saw

One of the biggest (and possibly most shocking) franchises started this century has to be “Saw”. The haunting first movie set the tone in 2004 for an onslaught of so called torture horror movies. Besides the gruesome content of the movie itself, it also featured a very fitting raw industrial soundtrack by Charlie Clouser (formerly keyboards of Nine Inch Nails), of which tracks like Hello Zepp and F**k This S*!t are still very recognizable. Other songs on the soundtrack were performed by an arrange of industrial and metal bands like Front Line Assembly and Fear Factory.

Tracklist:
1. Sturm – Front Line Assembly
2. Hello, Adam – Charlie Clouser
3. Bite the Hand That Bleeds – Fear Factory
4. Last I Heard… – Charlie Clouser
5. Action – Enemy
6. Reverse Beartrap – Charlie Clouser
7. You Make Me Feel So Dead – Pitbull Daycare
8. X Marks the Spot – Charlie Clouser
9. Wonderful World – Psycho Pumps
10. Cigarette – Charlie Clouser
11. We’re Out of Time – Charlie Clouser
12. F**K This S*!t – Charlie Clouser
13. Hello Zepp – Charlie Clouser
14. Zepp Overture – Charlie Clouser

The full score for “Saw II” was again composed by Charlie Clouser, but this time only one track (Don’t Forget the Rules) made it on the original soundtrack. The rest of the album was filled up with heavy metal and hard rock songs by the likes of Marilyn Manson, Queens of the Stone Age, Papa Roach and so on. Some of which were special remixes for the movie’s soundtrack. The song Forget to Remember by Mudvayne actually received a music video directed by the director of the second Saw movie and featuring snippets of the movie.

Tracklist:
1. Irresponsible Hate Anthem (Venus Head Trap Mix) – Marilyn Manson
2. Sound Effects and Overdramatics – The Used
3. Forget to Remember – Mudvayne
4. September – Bloodsimple
5. Blood (Empty Promises) – Papa Roach
6. REV 22:20 (REV 4:20 Mix) – Puscifer
7. Pieces – Sevendust
8. Rodent (Ken “Hiwatt” Marshall/DDT Mix) – Skinny Puppy
9. Burn the Witch (UNKLE Variation) – Queens of the Stone Age
10. Holy – A Band Called Pain
11. Three Fingers – Buckethead and Friends ft. Saul Williams
12. Home Invasion Robbery – The Legion of Doom
13. Caliente (Dark Entries) – Revolting Cocks ft. Gibby Haynes and Al Jourgensen
14. Step Up – Opiate For The Masses
15. Don’t Forget the Rules – Charlie Clouser

They really found their perfect formula, because nothing changed for “Saw III”: score by Charlie Clouser, of which one track was featured on the soundtrack, mostly heavy metal and hard rock songs (by bands like Slayer, Lamb of God, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and so on) and one of those songs having references to one of the torture scenes (This Calling by All That Remains).

Tracklist:
1. This Calling – All That Remains
2. No Submission – Static-X
3. Eyes of the Insane – Slayer
4. Walk with Me in Hell – Lamb of God
5. Monochrome – Helmet
6. Guarded – Disturbed
7. Drilled A Wire Through My Cheek – Blue October
8. No More – Drowning Pool
9. Burn It Down – Avenged Sevenfold
10. Your Nightmare – Eighteen Visions
11. Dead Underground – Opiate For The Masses
12. Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do) – Bullet For My Valentine
13. Fear Is Big Business – Ministry
14. The Wolf Is Loose – Mastodon
15. Killer Inside – Hydrovibe ft. Shawnee Smith
16. Sakkara – Hourcast
17. Shed – Meshuggah
18. Effigy – The SmashUp
19. Siesta Loca – Ghost Machine
20. Sh*!hole Theme – Charlie Clouser

For “Saw IV” they still continued down this path: score by Clouser, soundtrack with heavy metal, hard rock and industrial outfits like Drowning Pool, Sixx:A.M., Ministry, Skinny Puppy and so on.

1. Payroll (John O Mix) – Nitzer Ebb
2. Collapse – Saosin
3. Shame – Drowning Pool
4. Tomorrow – Sixx:A.M.
5. Misery Loves Its Company – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
6. Eternal Rest – Avenged Sevenfold
7. Life Is Good – Ministry
8. Werewolf – Every Time I Die
9. Trapped – Soulidium
10. Better Think Again – Submersed
11. On the Offensive – From Autumn To Ashes
12. Spasmolytic (Deftones Remix – Habitual Mix) – Skinny Puppy
13. Beatcrusher – Dope Stars Inc.
14. Dead Is The New Alive (Manipulator Mix by Dope Stars Inc.) – Emilie Autumn
15. Do You Want to Play a Game – Oxygen
16. Crossing the Rubicon – The Human Abstract
17. Dread Prevailed – The Red Chord
18. Thrash is Back – Fueled by Fire
19. Just Begun – Charlie Clouser
20. I Believe (In Blood) – Nachtmahr

https://youtu.be/UnklQcR8r4g

With “Saw V” much was still the same with a score by Clouser, though this time the official soundtrack featured more industrial bands than ever before like Ministry, Die Krupps, Skinny Puppy, Funker Vogt and more.

Tracklist:
1. Trap Attack – Charlie Clouser
2. True Believer – Testament
3. Death and Destruction (A Vote of Non-Confidence Mix) – Ministry
4. What’s Next (The Blood and Sand Mix) – Filter
5. Thanks Again, Again – The Almighty
6. The Banishment – Prong
7. The Dawning of Doom – Die Krupps
8. Power Player – Clutch
9. ugLi – Skinny Puppy
10. Strangers – William Control
11. Unlaced – Emilie Autumn
12. Blood and Music – Fixmer/McCarthy
13. Wizard of Sextown – Revolting Cocks
14. Date of Expiration – Funker Vogt
15. What It Takes – Charlie Clouser

For “Saw VI” they changed up things a little bit. Besides (as usual) a score by Clouser, this time the soundtrack is divided in 3 parts that each has 6 tracks: 6 Chances, 6 Lessons and 6 Choises. This time the heavy metal and hard rock is back with vengeance and brings yet again an awesome mix of different styles, of which some have special remixes for the occasion. This time Your Soul Is Mine by Mushroomhead was picked for a really cool and spooky video featuring snippets of the movie.

Tracklist:
6 Chances
1. In Ashes They Shall Reap – Hatebreed
2. The Last Goodbye – Lacuna Coil
3. Reckless Abandon – It Dies Today
4. Your Soul Is Mine – Mushroomhead
5. Warpath – Chimaira
6. Code of the Road – Danko Jones
6 Lessons
7. Genocide (Saw VI Remix) – Suicide Silence
8. Ghost in the Mirror – Memphis May Fire
9. The Countdown Begins – Outbreak
10. Still I Rise (Sav VI Remix) – Shadows Fall
11. Dead Again – Type O Negative
12. Dark Horse – Converge
6 Choices
13. Cut Throat – Kittie
14. Never Known – Nitzer Ebb
15. Roman Holiday – Every Time I Die
16. The Sinatra – My My Misfire
17. Lethal Injection – The Flood
18. More Than a Sin – James Brothers
Bonus tracks:
19. We Own the Night – The 69 Eyes
20. Watch Us Burn – Ventana
21. Forgive & Forget – Miss May I

The last installment of the franchise “Saw 3D” brings Clouser back yet again for the score and this time the official soundtrack featured rather a bunch of (hard) rock songs than a mix of metal and industrial music. Some of the bands to be found on the album are Saving Abel, Dead By Sunrise, Hinder, Saliva and so on.

Tracklist:
1. Never – Saving Abel
2. Condemned – Dead By Sunrise
3. Waking Up the Devil – Hinder
4. Goliath – Karnivool
5. Promises – Nitzer Ebb
6. Love Is Dead – Kopek
7. Badass – Saliva
8. The World Belongs To Me – My Darkest Days
9. Turn It On – Default
10. Fire Fly – I-Exist
11. What Goes Around Comes Around – Boom Boom Satellites
12. Scream – Adelitas Way
13. Hoodoo Woman – Krokus
14. This Is Heavy Metal – Lordi
15. Ram The Crush – Wagdug Futuristic Unity
16. Hageshisha to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami – Dir en Grey

The prequel “Jigsaw” will have Clouser composing the score again and is promising a more stripped-down approach than before. If we’re getting another great compilation of metal, rock and industrial tracks as the official soundtrack, we can only guess…