The Non-Obvious Halloween Playlist

This is not your upbeat playlist, not that it's very downbeat either. The songs are moody, violent, disturbing, with shades dark humor. Halloween celebrates the weird, the outcast, and the feared. Both grim and smiling faces are suitable. For one night the world attempts to face its fears and laugh at them collectively. Halloween invites us to be different and a little insane.

So without further ado, go ahead and vibe with the Non-Obvious Halloween playlist.

We start with Up Jumped the Devil from the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' album Tender Prey. Above all, this is the mood setter. I remember first hearing this while playing Alan Wake and instantly falling in love with the insane story of man doomed from the start.

Adore by Savages paints a struggle for love against a world of fear and apathy. Halloween is as much about human life as it is death but is it human to adore life?

Harpsichord and hellish vocals that sound like they come from a bunch of demons bottled up and shaken until the desired sound was produced? Vampire vibes aside, Micro Cuts is Muse at their operatic best.

Do not miss out on the transition between Micro Cuts and The Curse of Millhaven. It is scalding hot butter followed by a shot of espresso on your ears. It comes from the aptly named album Murder Ballads and is about… murder, what did you expect? Don't worry though, this is one of the fun songs and you'll be tapping your toes to tale of Lottie before the end.

Neko Case played with Cave live so it’s really no surprise that one of her darker songs made it onto this list. After the fun insanity of the last block it seemed appropriate to slow down and let the ears enjoy the mellifluous vocals of the one and only Neko Case.

Your ears rested so it’s time to get back on track. Ron Gallo, besides having great name for a Halloween playlist, also knows how to bring the fun against the frightening with Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me. This falls in more with the fun side of the songs and happens to be totally head bob-able. Which will be needed since after this we'll detour to a horrific circus that takes place down in New Orleans while being pack into a ghost train.

A man who has literally played the devil, Tom Waits himself is always down for spooking the audience with his unique personality and style.

I needed some creole in Halloween because after all what is an American Halloween without a little voodoo? Way Down Hadestown is upbeat as musical numbers often are, but pervading the whole Hadestown soundtrack is a sense of dread and loss.

This is our final stop down here in Tom Waits-land with God's Away on Business.

Have you noticed a pattern yet? Devil's Flesh & Bones by Eliza Rickman has always had a ghostly voice. The kind of voice that could be heard all too easily in a mausoleum.

If talking about the devil and hell is not your jam how about we sing about unadulterated evil? Not a lighter subject you say? Total Depravity sucks you in, you start out in it spiraling pattern and it drags you through layers of sonic dread.

Fun fact- The Mercy Seat referenced in the song is an electric chair and the song is sung from the point of view of a death row inmate. Take from that what you will.

After such an intense and dark section I thought this section needed a little breathing room. Dead Nature is completely instrumental. Think of it as the sounds that follow a death row inmate who reached his final destination.

I'm not much of a Metallica fan, but I love this cover album. St. Vincent's Sad But True takes the best parts, melts them down and brings her haunting tones into a song that is far better as a cover.

What better day than Halloween to battle Demons with badass riffs backing an angelic voice singing cheer leading lyrics?

Phenomena is our last stop in the paranormal realms where girls reign with awesome guitars and hard hitting drums. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O is able to scream like banshee and sing like ghost.

If you didn't know already- there could be a whole list of purely Nick Cave songs. We return to Murder Ballads for a darkly humorous and unique take on the musical character of Stagger Lee.

And lastly but least, the perfect song for Trick-or-treating. The Decemberists' Shankill Butchers.

Thanks for checking out the list and may these songs haunt your own Halloween playlists.