It’s never too early to get into the Halloween spirit! But if you’re already sick of hearing “Ghostbusters,” “Thriller,” and “The Monster Mash” on repeat non-stop, I’ve put together something a little different for you! This is a playlist filled with eerie sounds, haunting lyrics, and spooky vibes—nothing too holiday specific! Happy Halloween from all of us at The Innis Herald, and good luck surviving the scariest season of them all: midterms. 

Listen to Strange and Unusual on Spotify here!

1. “Dance Macabre” — Ghost

It would be a Cardinal sin (get it, Ghost fans?) for me to put together a Halloween playlist that didn’t include at least one Ghost song. “Dance Macabre” is a perfect example of Ghost’s beautifully melodic, heavy metal style—if you’re really digging this band’s vibe, have a listen to “Square Hammer” and “Kiss the Go-Goat”!

2. “Daughters of Darkness” — Halestorm

This is just a sample of the hard rock, female-led force that is Halestorm. From their album The Strange Case Of… (which also features their Grammy-winning song “Love Bites (So Do I)”), “Daughters of Darkness” is an ode to powerful, badass women, who are perfectly happy to be the villains of their own stories.

3. “Absinthe” — I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Regular readers of this column will probably catch how often I include iDKHOW’s work in my playlists, and I couldn’t help but put “Absinthe” into this one. From death threats to burning witches, “Absinthe” encapsulates the ‘creepy but not Halloween Creepy™’ sound this playlist is trying to achieve.  

4. “Raise Hell” — Dorothy

In a similar vein to that of Halestorm (and, as you’ll hear momentarily, to that of Dead Posey), Dorothy is a female-led, hard/blues rock group, deemed “a [band] you need to know” by Rolling Stone in 2014. Combining genres into something that sounds too metal to be country, and too much folky to be pure rock, Dorothy is definitely a band worth checking out if your musical tastes stray into the strange and unusual.

5. “Don’t Stop the Devil” — Dead Posey

I could explain the eerie appeal of Dead Posey, but their self-description does it quite aptly for me: “It could double as the soundtrack for the witching hour. A brew of rough-and-tumble guitars, melancholy lyrics, and femme fatale vocal invocations, Dead Posey casted a sonic spell that seduced as it scorched.” All in all, “Don’t Stop the Devil” is a perfectly witchy addition to this spooky playlist. 

6. “Let’s Kill Tonight” — Panic! at the Disco

From my personal favourite Panic! at the Disco album, Vices & Virtues (which also happens to contain my personal favorite Panic! song, “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)”), comes “Let’s Kill Tonight”. This song encapsulates that, as lead singer Brendon Urie puts it, cocky feeling when you think to yourself “Yeah! We’re gonna kill it tonight, this is gonna be awesome.” However, the notable omission of the word ‘it’ in the song’s title and lyrics makes for a much more morbid interpretation.

7. “Nocturnal Me” — Echo & the Bunnymen

Avid Stranger Things fans might recall this 1984 song by Echo & The Bunnymen from season one, after Nancy crawls into the Upside Down and sees the Demogorgon for the first time. A little spooky and dark-sounding, but with the driving tune that 80s songs are known for, “Nocturnal Me” is a must-have on your Halloween playlist.

8. “Intermission” — Scissor Sisters

With a 20s-style swing feel that tricks you into thinking this song is an upbeat bop, “Intermission” is a dark, deeply twisted song reminding the listener of their own impending (and perhaps untimely) death. Still, with haunting melodies that sound like something from a barbershop quartet, you’ll probably catch yourself humming this song for the rest of the week. 

9. “Welcome to Mystery” — Plain White T’s

Originally appearing on the soundtrack for Tim Burton’s 2010 rendition of Alice in Wonderland, “Welcome to Mystery” has an eerie innocence about it, echoing the kind of creepy tune you might hear at a carnival. Might want to take a look over your shoulder to make sure Pennywise isn’t standing right behind you.

10. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” — Blue Öyster Cult

A classic on most Halloween playlists (despite perhaps being the least spooky song on this playlist), it isn’t the catchy, hummable melody that makes it fit so well among these other song selection, so much as it’s the lyrics. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” speaks to the inevitability of death, and that’s nothing if not deeply macabre. 

11. “Pretty Little Head” — Eliza Rickman

With a beautiful and entirely-too-innocent tone, Eliza Rickman’s “Pretty Little Head” is surprisingly sinister. Though her musical style is vaguely reminiscent of artists like Melanie Martinez, Eliza Rickman forgoes that childlike nature in favor of much more murderous themes.

12. “Ghost Story” — Charming Disaster

Garnering fame from its appearance as “the Weather” in the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, “Ghost Story” is exactly that—a ghost story. But, unlike the horrifying hauntings you might be familiar with, this song tells the story of a couple who are still happily in love, long after one of their deaths. ‘Till death do us part’ is overrated, anyway.