Metalloween Pt. 1: The Vampire Playlist

Vampires have taken a lot of shit lately. In the name of dumb fads and attempted relevancy, they’ve been turned into sparkly lust objects and bad Alien ripoffs. But unlike Axl, I’ve never lost my love of the undead, giving no credence to their revamped (ba-dump TSS) incarnations and always returning to the creeping shades of Sheridan le Fanu, Bram Stoker, and Stephen King.

What fascinates me about vampires is the idea of creatures born of pure darkness. While they’re obviously satanic in their hatred of the sun and the cross, nosferatu are not fiery or hoofed, but rather cold and graceful, seeking only the siphoned warmth of human life. The sexual metaphor, born from a time when taking off all twenty layers of your clothing was the ultimate sin, is obvious — really, most literary vampires are just misty boners floating through the night — but the vampires of folklore were much weirder, much less human. With them came storms, sickness, vermin. They left their coffins without disturbing the earth, and snuck into houses through cracked doors and windows, so long as they were invited.

In many ways, vampires are the black metal fans of the monster world. Obviously, both vampires and kvltists have similar appearances — those iconic white face streaked with black and blood. But it’s also the vampiric attitude that suits black metal. Vampires are immortal elitists, standing above or hiding from those who would destroy their single-minded purpose. Any sense of community and “scene” they have falls apart pretty quickly when the blood starts flowing; if anything, they exist as a sort of hive (please, please let the term “black metal hive” replace “black metal scene”). They are intelligent and thoughtful, and yet when all is said and done they’re here for what they want, nothing more.

Below is a playlist of songs about vampires. If I missed any classics, feel free to add them below in the comments section. The blood is the life.