Monuments in Ruin presents "Three Albums to Celebrate the Spooky Season 2025"
It's that time of year again! The season where ghouls begin to creep in the shadows and the passing of brighter days is celebrated by walking deeper into the night.
To help prepare for such an occasion, Monuments in Ruin has began to shovel through the graveyards and cemeteries of the artistic world to unearth some creative souls who are willing to share the music that guides them into the ceremony of the shadows.
Bethany Hartwick / Bethany Hartwick Art
https://www.bethanyhartwick.com/
Chelsea Wolfe – Birth of Violence
It wouldn't be Halloween without a Chelsea Wolfe album. This one finds its way into my rotation every autumn. Chelsea Wolfe’s voice hovers between confession and spellcraft, turning quiet moments into something sacred and eerie.
Bell Witch – Mirror Reaper
The cover art!!!
Artist Mariusz Lewandowski, known for his surreal, oil-painted visions of the afterlife, is responsible for this beautiful nightmare of a cover that continues to haunt me. I mean... just look at it.
Milo Korbenski – When Are You Going to Tell Them the Truth, Aaron?
A new find for me, this album has been on repeat in the studio all spooky season. It doesn't overtly scream "Halloween", but it’s gritty, slightly unhinged, and somehow SUPER catchy. I don’t entirely know what’s going on… but I’m completely into it.
Doob Solo / Sour Leaf Studio
https://sourleafstudio.com/da/
Modest Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain (Original 1867 Version)
This coarse and dark 13-minute piece, based on folklore surrounding a witches' sabbat, was created in 1867 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. A few years after Mussorgsky died (1881), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov reworked the original composition into a lighter, more palatable version. In 1940, Rimsky-Korsakov's interpretation was famously featured in the final scene of Disney's Fantasia, where Satan awakens to celebrate Walpurgis night with his creatures on Bald Mountain. Mussorgsky's original composition, shared here, was not released to the public until 1968.
Macabre - Sinister Slaughter
Macabre is an extreme/death metal band from Chicago, IL that uses serial killers and violent crime as the main inspiration for their records. "Sinister Slaughter" (1993, Nuclear Blast) is a full-length rollercoaster of an ode to the most infamous of these characters. Check out the Sergeant Pepper style cover image to see the faces of the sick muses for this album, and prepare yourself to sing along, and cringe, to catchy tunes like "What's That Smell?," "Zodiac," and "Vampire of Dusseldorf." Bonus: The deluxe version of the album includes Macabre's cover of Black Sabbath's "Behind the Wall of Sleep."
Clouds Taste Satanic - The Glitter of Infinite Hell
When you see the album cover inspired by the hellish creations of famed Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch, you should catch a disturbing, nightmarish vibe at first sight. If you spin this classic piece by Clouds Taste Satanic out of Brooklyn, New York, you're in for some weird, unearthly evil. "The Glitter of Infinite Hell" (2017, Kinda Like Music) is four album-sides of instrumental, moody doom born of sin and pagan revelry, a perfect soundtrack to an indulgent night of antics on the edge of the Underworld.
https://cloudstastesatanic.bandcamp.com/album/the-glitter-of-infinite-hell
Bobby Rayfield / Monuments in Ruin
Neurosis - Souls at Zero
It begins with the immediate gloom of the cover photography. Next we note the impending doom of the title concept. Eventually the internal screams showcased within the music convey the true power of Neurosis. They take us to a dark place that fights against the modern landscape of humanity and confronts the abrasive struggle to return back to our natural place in this world. Perfect for a cool evening by a fire and a comfortable hooded sweatshirt.
Eliane Radigue - Islas Resonantes
Listening to this often puts my mind in a space of the infinite. Though I can imagine the falling leaves returning to the ground, as I listen my mind continues beyond. Deeper within to a place where our bodies no longer walk upon the earth. Instead they look upward, never to feel the warmth of the sun again. Yet with that cycle we again become life in a new way. A presence within a universe that is cycling within a great beyond. This is the power of presence and the gift of peace that Eliane Radigue gives to me with her art.
Tarantula Hawk - Untitled (2000)
There are two untitled or self titled Tarantula Hawk albums to date. This is the first one with a dark reddish cover released through Life is Abuse records. The pulsing, tribal nature that pushed this sonic assault feels like a cryptic nightmare scape. A cemetery of dark horrors coming to life just as the children begin to turn in from an evening of trick or treating and the older teenagers begin to play their all hallows eve games. We have all seen how the plot to that movie goes. The question is, which character do you see yourself in when watching it all play out?
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